Lobbying Helps Get More Child-Care Funding

The hard work and lobbying by a coalition of community groups, nonprofits and local governments to restore child-care subsidy funding has paid off.

New York state increased Monroe County’s share of Child Care Block Grant funding. That $4.8 million, plus $2.9 million in federal stimulus money, will allow the county to restore the subsidized child-care eligibility threshold to 165 percent of the poverty level. Making this change will make it possible for almost 1,000 families to qualify for funds to help with child-care expenses.

“When child-care subsidies were cut by the state, the Rochester community worked together to show Albany that these subsidies are critically important to our children and families,” Jennifer Leonard, president and executive director of Rochester Area Community Foundation, said at a press conference hosted by Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks.

In September, 961 children from low-income families lost their child-care subsidies when the state trimmed Monroe County’s child-care subsidy program by $1.8 million, prompting the county to reduce the eligibility threshold.

“This child-care subsidy crisis was poised to undermine the community’s long-term investment in a quality child care system that has garnered national and international attention for Rochester,” Leonard said. “We couldn’t let that happen and we didn't.”

In addition to the lobbying, Rochester’s Child launched a Child Care Scholarship Campaign and in four months more than $200,000 was raised — with contributions from 62 individuals, from Wegmans Food Markets and Frontier Communications, as well as $50,000 each from the City of Rochester, Rochester’s Child and the Community Foundation. This effort allowed 46 children to return to safe and quality child care.

Last year, more than 8,500 children and their families benefitted from the county’s child-care programs.