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Welcome back to this episode of Power in Politics and staying on the topic of affordability this week, free child care is a major part of Mayor Zorwan Mamdani's campaign promises, and with help from Governor Kathy Hochle, it's already becoming reality. One person who will be key in the rollout is the state's Children and Family Services commissioner Damia Harris Madden, who sat down with our Tara Rosenblum to break it down. The governor's proposed budget brings childcare to $4.5 billion. What will that funding actually change for everyday families, and you know, tell us what the big takeaways are. Thank you for that question. We are so excited. The governor, since taking office, has invested heavily in child care. The last four years has actually been over $8 billion invested. This year's budget of $4.5 billion will, uh, support multiple ways, uh, for child care. One of which is through our very popular childcare assistance program to the tune of $3 billion and that is $1.7 billion increased since last year. We also have the good fortune of a number of pilot programs, so you've probably heard about New York City and the 2Care, but also in Duchess, Broome, and Monroe counties we are investing in pilots to test how universal child care could actually work. There are additional funding set aside for the pre-kindergarten services. So while places like New York City are doing very well with pre-K, we want to make that scaled, and we want to ensure that all of New York State has access to pre-K services. The budget, as I understand, also includes millions for youth sports and youth development programs. How will the state make sure that this funding reaches the communities that need it the absolute most? Listen, the state has been providing funding for years. However, Governor Hochkel last year made a huge leap in terms of investing in after school programs, particularly, uh, positive youth development programs. She's very concerned about mental health and so the sports and education program is an example of where we saw a $15 million increase in last year's budget. We also. Or an additional increase to that in that same amount for positive youth development and so there's been investments all along through our sister agencies as well. Very proud to say that where we are today at the uh Carver Center, they are recipients of our LEAPS grant which the governor placed two budgets ago $100 million to support after school. They also received boost, which is additional funding for older. Youth and after school, so all around we recognize child care does not just, uh, is not limited or relegated to 5 year olds or up to 5 year olds. An 8 year old can't take care of themselves, right? So we invest in after school. So the budget also expands the Empire State Child Credit. How much of a difference do you think that that will ultimately make specifically for families with young children? Wow, this is the largest expansion we've seen in history as it relates to the child care tax credit, so families can earn up to $1000 per child, and we are really encouraging our families to file their taxes and take advantage of this credit. Some people may have trepidation given different things that are happening and also, you know, we wanna reassure them. That if they're receiving other types of benefits, for example SNAP or Social Security benefits that they need not worry because that will not impact their ability to claim this tax credit and you know though, um, even with the tax credits and the additional funding there's so many families out there who at the end of the day still find uh quality child care completely unaffordable. What is your message specifically to those families? My message is that relief is here, it is growing, it is something that we are all very excited about and the governor keenly understands the challenge of finding high quality child care that is affordable. She's shared openly her story about having to make a choice between the workforce and, you know, taking care of her children at home. I've also been open about having to make that choice at one point in my life and so we understand what family. Are going through and I think that's why she is investing this historic amount of money. I mean $8 billion we've never seen that before and certainly this year the $4.5 billion to support all of the different initiatives really are going to go a long way and I'm particularly excited about the pilots because once we, you know, implement pilots we can then evaluate, assess what is working, what is not, and this is going to give us a better sense of how we proceed. And you know you mentioned the governor sharing her personal story. It's well known your personal story, not as much. Can you share now with us about the harrowing experience that you went through after your own daughter was born? Sure, so my daughter. By the way, is doing very well. She's 20 years old and so two decades ago I had my first child and I was set to return to work and unfortunately there was a tragedy where the uh caregiver was involved in a domestic violence dispute and unfortunately she was shot. And that sent me into a downward spiral. I was clearly very concerned about what to do as a mother and so I then took additional time off unpaid. And that placed me in, you know, a lower income bracket and I was fortunate in that I was able to access a program to allow me to get back to work but these are the realities that people face I mean mothers, fathers, they're often put in impossible positions where they just already have trepidation about. You know, leaving their children and and returning you know you're bonded with your child and you wanna spend as much time as possible with them but this is why Governor Hochle is investing she understands the real stories of real people and that lived experience is invaluable and that's why we're here that's why we're excited and we wanna support our families. The conversation continues when power in politics returns.

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Clearly I can see that this is still something that's very emotional for you um going through an experience like that with your caregiver, um, very fortunate that that she survived that experience um but now all these years later it going through that it's got to impact the way that you work on these policies and your leadership style running this office. Absolutely every experience that I have had many, many lived experiences that touches the systems that I now have the distinct honor and privilege to oversee, um, but yes in that particular instance it still resonates with me because I know the change that I see today is so critical and important versus 20 years ago when. You know, it was really out of reach child care. I mean if you think about what the uh eligibility requirements are today for our child care assistance program, a family of four can earn up to $114,000 whereas. When I had my child, I think you had to make at least $40,000 maybe the max $50,000 for a family of four. You've addressed the growth, but where do you see the biggest gaps in our childcare system today? I think one of the large gaps is acknowledging the child care deserts, which is why the governor invested heavily in child care desert grants. We were just in New Rochelle a couple weeks ago where an operator was able to speak to how she was able to expand due to accessing the supports from the governor. Uh, when we look at pockets throughout the state, you know, there's challenges to establish some. Of the uh child care centers, which is why the governor's also very focused on, you know, cutting the red tape and making it a little more accessible for folks to be able to start their own businesses, open up more child care facilities, and even for the family based uh care givers we have funding available to support them. We are on a path to universal child care and I think everyone should be excited. The governor. Means it when she says your family, your future, my fight we see that every day it's evidence not only in her budget but also in the legislation she's putting forward and for me it's it's, it's just a complete honor because I have children that I'm raising and I identify with many of the needs of the common New Yorker and we're really excited to get to where we hope to be in the future, which is universal child care. And that will do it for us in power and politics right here on News 12. Thanks for watching.

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Council Member Sandy Nurse and State Children and Family Services Commissioner Damia Harris-Madden join the show. 

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