NYC to Approve Thousands More Afterschool Vouchers

By Reuvain Borchardt

NEW YORK – New York City will soon approve afterschool vouchers for thousands of students on the waitlist, after the state released additional funds.

There are currently thousands of students waiting for approval for afterschool childcare vouchers, as the city was reliant on state funding for the program. But the administration of Mayor Eric Adams worked with the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul on a plan to free up previously allocated state funds, so as to begin clearing the backlog of waitlisted students.  

A source in the administration told Hamodia that between 5,000 and 10,000 vouchers will be approved in the coming months.

The city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) will set up a new Child Care Contact Portal to replace the Voucher Waitlist Request Form.

Families currently on the waitlist — which includes a large number of Orthodox Jewish residents in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Boro Park, Kensington and Williamsburg — will receive an application in the mail to apply for the program.

Anyone with questions can call 212-835-7610.

While details haven’t yet been fully announced, Adams referenced the expansion Tuesday during his State of the City address, saying, “We have already begun reaching out to families on the city’s childcare voucher waitlist and plan to connect with every family on that list by September.”

“We know that working parents don’t have time to navigate the complex bureaucracy to get childcare and we are going to make sure they see government works for them,” the mayor said. “The first major feature of our new MyCity web portal will be a unified application process for all subsidized childcare options offered by the city. Making quality care more accessible will change lives, help our economy we support children and families.”

The issue had been a priority for Orthodox activists, and, in comments to Hamodia on Tuesday, they welcomed the news of the additional vouchers.

“One of the main issues that community leaders discussed with Mayor Adams during the campaign was the backlog and the scarcity of afterschool vouchers,” said Joel Rosenfeld, director of government affairs for Bobov institutions.” It is great to hear that so early in his administration, the mayor has once again proven to be a friend to our community and is tackling the issues so important to us.”

“Working parents in our community have been struggling for years to secure childcare,” said Rabbi Moshe Dovid Niederman of the UJO of Williamsburg. “Mayor Adams has once again taken a firm stance that members of our community must receive the same assistance and services that all New Yorkers do.”

Adams spoke Tuesday at the Kings Theatre, a historic Flatbush venue where his inauguration was to have been held in January before being canceled due to surging cases of Covid’s Omicron variant. At Tuesday’s event marking his first 100 days in office, Adams touted his accomplishments, laid out his vision for his term, and announced the release of his $99.7 billion executive budget.

Adams spent a significant portion of his speech reiterating his support for law enforcement and rejection of the progressive wing of his party’s views on policing, stating, “When you hear people say we don’t need our police, let me tell you right here and right now: I will support my police and we will make our city a safe city.”

The new budget allocates and additional $200 million to the police, from $5.6 billion to $5.8 billion.

Crime has continued to soar in the city during the early months of the administration of Adams, a Democratic former NYPD captain who won election last November running on a tough-on-crime platform. Six of the seven index-crime categories have spiked this year compared with the same period of 2021, with only murder seeing a drop.

Adams acknowledged the struggles in fighting crime and other issues, including the city’s pandemic-related economic downturn, comparing himself to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who took office during the Great Depression.

“These first 100 days were not easy for our city. We have been tried and tested by some of the most historical difficulties and urgent crises this city has ever gone through,” the mayor said. “The pandemic has hollowed out our economy and threatened people’s livelihoods, stability and mental health. Housing prices remain out of the reach of working people of the city. Too many of our brothers and sisters are living on the streets in need of support and shelter. People are still dying from gun violence. It breaks my heart over and over, it keeps me up at night after night. Yoke is having right to be angry, a right to expect more, to feel safe, to be safe, to know that your city is looking out for you, your family and those in need.”

Following Adams’ State of the City address, David Greenfield, a Democratic former councilman, told Hamodia that despite the difficulties, he believes the mayor’s agenda will be good for the Orthodox community and the city as a whole.

“I think the mayor set the right tone, especially around public safety; 50% of the speech was public-safety related,” Greenfield said. “I think it was a very important message, especially to folks who are pushing back on the far left. And I think that the fact that there was so much representation within the Jewish community, especially the inaugural remarks by Rabbi Moishe Indig, displays the close relationship that this mayor has with the frum community in New York. Between the public safety message, his closeness to the community and his announcement around increased funding for childcare vouchers, the frum community should feel very comfortable with the leadership of Mayor Eric Adams.”

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rborchardt@hamodia.com