June 1, 2012
By Marc Bussanich, LaborPress City Reporter
The negotiations over the City’s Executive Budget for FY 2013 are in the home stretch, but Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed cuts to child care and after-school programs are still on the table. The cuts could potentially lead to 47,000 fewer slots for children whose parents depend heavily on the subsidized care as they are the only affordable option for many low-income single women.
The cuts will also lead to jobs loses among the 6,000 DC 1707 members who work in day care centers, Head Start centers and after-school programs. To prevent that awful outcome, DC 1707 leaders and rank-and-file and a coalition of fellow union leaders and children advocates held a large rally on Thursday, May 31 next to City Hall Park to express their outrage over the proposed cuts.
A sense of urgency to stop the proposed cuts was palpable in light of the EarlyLearn awards that were administered on May 4 to providers of early child care services. The speakers at the rally expressed anger over the lack of awards to community organizations that have been providing the services for decades, while providers with no track record of providing services in the City were handsomely rewarded.
Raglan George, Jr., DC 1707’s Executive Director, said from the podium:
“EarlyLearn is wrong and must be scrapped. More than 100 day care and Head Start sponsors who have build the futures of our children have been tossed to the side because the Mayor wants to open the door to privatized child care, no matter who it hurts.”
LaborPress conducted multiple video interviews of City Council members, labor leaders and other pols at the rally expressing their outrage over the proposed cuts. Be sure to visit LaborPress’ YouTube channel soon.
