On Aug. 7, Mayor Mamdani announced a $3 million Emergency Microgrant fund for licensed home-based child-care providers across the city, as per a press release from the Office of the Mayor.
The fund will assist providers facing emergencies that interfere with their ability to continue serving children and families. The first step was a request for proposal to identify an organization to administer the fund.
Home-based child care providers serve more than 100,000 children linguistically and culturally, according to the press release. The fund will give more than 500 licensed providers eligibility for emergency microgrants.
“Home-based child care providers are the backbone of our child care system,” Mamdani said. “When a refrigerator breaks, a pipe bursts or a storm damages a home, families can lose access to the care they rely on overnight.”
Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Child Care and Early Childhood Education said that the program recognizes that home-based child care providers are “essential” to the city’s system of child care. The initiative was designed alongside child care providers themselves, she said.
The participants who designed the program identified emergency financial assistance as a top priority, and collaborated to develop guiding principles, goals and eligibility.
The OCCECE will work with selected administrators to finalize designs and launch the initiative before the end of the year.
