Educators at three Westchester County day care centers will get $2-an-hour pay boosts for more than three years through a $1 million grant that will test if better wages could lessen the care shortage parents face.
The funding for nonprofit centers in Mount Kisco, Tarrytown and White Plains comes from the New York Community Trust, a foundation that supports civic causes in New York City and the suburbs of Westchester and Long Island. It will pay for as many as 100 workers to take home up to $350 in added wages each month, as an incentive to stick it out in demanding jobs with low compensation.
The goal is to help not only those workers but the local economy as a whole. The higher pay is meant to bolster staffing levels at day care centers, which in turn opens more care slots for parents who want to work and enables them to raise their household income.
“Westchester cannot solve the affordability crisis without confronting the workforce crisis at the center of child care,” Laura Rossi, the trust’s vice president for Westchester, said in a statement. “Early childhood educators do essential, highly skilled work, yet too many are paid wages that make it impossible to stay in the field.”
The program is set to run for 40 months starting in September at Mount Kisco Child Care Center, Lois Bronz Children’s Center in White Plains and Elizabeth Mascia Child Care Center in Tarrytown. Educators at those sites now earn hourly wages ranging from $17 to $24, before the pay supplements kick in.
The trust is hiring a consultant to monitor how the higher wages affect hiring, worker retention and other factors, including job satisfaction, care capacity and the impact on other Westchester employers. The trust studied government-funded wage supplements already in place in nine other states, and it hopes to present its findings as a model that New York or Westchester could take up.
“This initiative is designed to test a direct, practical solution: raise wages, stabilize classrooms, support working families, and build the evidence policymakers need to enact lasting change,” Rossi said.
The program will also be monitored by a group of county legislators who were involved in the planning and formed a task force to follow its progress.
“Child care is both a family necessity and an economic foundation,” Legislator Jewel Williams Johnson said. “Our partnership with The New York Community Trust builds on Westchester County’s commitment to making quality child care more accessible and affordable, while recognizing that early childhood educators deserve wages that reflect the essential work they do.”
An ‘already fragile workforce’
County Executive Ken Jenkins voiced some misgivings about the program after it was announced, suggesting it should have been coordinated with existing efforts and warning that it could have a disruptive effect on an “already fragile workforce.”
In an interview with the USA TODAY Network, Jenkins argued that a temporary pay raise at three centers wouldn’t address the shortage of affordable child care on its own. He said he welcomed the trust’s investment in child care, but would have preferred a more collaborative approach in pursuit of a “sustainable” solution.
The trust’s leaders responded with a statement commending Jenkins for his commitment to meeting Westchester’s “complex child care needs,” and promising collaboration on multiple solutions.
“We share the County’s goal of developing sustainable solutions that support educators, providers, working families, and the local business community,” the statement read.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA TODAY Network. Reach him at CMcKenna@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: 3 Westchester day care centers will get grant to boost pay. Here’s why
Reporting by Chris McKenna, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris McKenna, New York State Team | USA TODAY Network
