Section 4 

Affordable and Accessible Childcare: 

The inequitable access to quality childcare contributes to making New York City unaffordable. While wealthy families (1 Percenters) can afford to hire nannies and purchase expensive childcare services, the poor, working-poor, and working-class families are forced to reduce work hours, leave the workforce, delay or forfeit career advancement. Indeed, the average cost of quality childcare in NYC is $ 2,500 per month or more. Consequently, 80 percent of working families cannot afford childcare services. Moreover, the lack of affordable, accessible childcare potentially undermines the strength needed for New York’s public service workers to deliver efficient services to their fellow citizens. This inequitable status leads to significant income loss, higher poverty, wealth inequality, and inefficient government services. To address this inequity, our coalition proposes the following universal childcare system: 

Working parents will pay a “family share”. This “family share” will be calculated as a percentage of their income above the federal poverty line (FPL) or City Median Income (CMI) guideline. Families in the lowest income tier (homeless, public assistance) may pay little or no fees. 

As a family’s income increases, its “family share” rises proportionally, up to a defined cap of 7 percent of the City Median Income. 

The program should allow a discounted “family share” based on the number of children enrolled. 

Childcare providers must be paid a living wage for their services. 

The program must expand the New York City property tax abatement program, which offers up to $75 per square foot to develop facilities in distressed areas or residential and/or commercial properties where working parents exist. This program must be funded by enacting a stock transfer tax that creates a dedicated “Children and Family Fund.” Supplemental resources will include TANF and the federal Child Care and Development Fund. 

The program should fund a longitudinal study to determine whether the childcare program met benchmarks for improving educational achievement, enhancing the quality of work by public service workers, mitigating challenges to work-life balance, and contributing to affordable lifestyles for parents.

Democratize Environmental Mediation and Job Creation: 

The Coalition for a Democratic and Just New York proposes that the Next Mayor should orchestrate the inherent power in his administration to expand economic opportunities for marginalized communities (eg, African Diasporic communities) by creating a green blueprint for New York City that is anchored on the reduction of energy consumption and an efficient generation of energy. To this end, we propose the following: 

Incorporate Assemblywoman Zinerman's Community hiring law into Local Law 97, thus requiring that 30% of new hires engaged in retrofitting buildings (e.g., NYCHA) originate from public housing or neighborhoods with 15% unemployment. This initiative should align with the creation of new career-tech schools offering pre apprenticeships and apprenticeships for students engaged in rebuilding the city's infrastructure. 

The next city administration should enact a policy to promote Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) in economically distressed communities. VPPs will enable apartment dwellers and small building owners to co-create a civic infrastructure with a utility (Con Ed) to moderate air conditioner and electric water heater use during peak periods. This effort will prevent blackouts while mediating the use of backup power plants (peaker plants) in NYC. This progressive orchestration of community-led environmental remediation via VPPs should require the utilities to appropriate a rebate to New York City ratepayers, currently charged $500 million annually. 

The Economic Development Corporation should amend its IDA program that subsidizes the purchase of large utility-scale battery storage to include this technology for economically distressed communities. This will reduce energy costs, as envisioned, impacting working-class and working-poor residents. Moreover, the City could purchase utility-scale batteries to reduce grid load, purchase energy during off-peak hours, and resell it at reduced cost to vulnerable residents living in distressed neighborhoods.