Local Councilmen Protest Childcare Cuts

Sheepshead Bay’s representatives to the City Council joined more than 100 advocates on City Hall’s steps yesterday to fight a proposed slash in childcare funding.

City Councilmen Mike Nelson and Lew Fidler were among a slew of Brooklyn’s Council representatives that came out to rally alongside educators, childcare advocates and labor organizers. The group – led by City Councilman David Greenfield – is fighting the elimination of Priority 7 childcare vouchers as well as the closure of 16 ACS-operated daycare centers. The Brooklyn delegation is claiming the cuts disproportionally hurt the most populous borough, since 10 of the 16 centers targeted for closure are in Brooklyn. Additionally, the majority of the more than 1,000 families receiving priority 7 vouchers are Brooklynites.

Priority 7 vouchers assists families who are below the poverty level and are in special need of child care.

“Cuts to daycares and Priority 7 vouchers hurt families, and make parents choose between working to pay for family expenses and their children,” Councilman Fidler told Yeshiva World News.

Advocates say that the cuts will not only put pressure on families, but closures to ACS schools will displace hundreds of students.