One day until the budget deadline — take 3 actions for child care today!

Hi Ashley,   Time is running out—we have just one day left until the budget deadline. We need to keep the pressure on state legislators to secure at least $500 million in funding for the Child Care Assistance Program (also known as CCAP, or child care vouchers), and $500 million for New York’s child care workforce,  a total of $1 billion over what the Governor proposed, in the enacted budget.   Without additional funding for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP, also known as child care vouchers) in this year’s state budget, thousands of families stand to lose access to child care assistance, and 60,000 children could lose care. To add to the damage, the loss of assistance for families means that child care providers will be left scrambling to fill seats vacated by long-time families forced to withdraw.   Tell state leaders: New York’s families are counting on them to include $1 billion over the executive budget proposal — with $500 million for CCAP and 500 for the workforce —  in the enacted budget. Use the toolkit below to take three actions now! Action 1 Email State Leaders & Your State Legislators Take a moment to email Governor Hochul, legislative leaders, and your state representatives. Tell them New York’s families are counting on them to include no less than $500 million each for the state’s Child Care Assistance Program and a workforce retention grant, a total of $1 billion over what the governor proposed, in the final budget. SEND AN EMAIL NOW Action 2 Call the Senate Majority Leader & Speaker Scroll down to view sample call scripts (you can click and hold the images to save them to your device). Then dial the numbers below to call  Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, then Speaker Carl Heastie. Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins 518-455-2585 Speaker Carl Heastie 518-455-3791 Action 3 Amplify on social media Call out Governor Hochul publicly on social media, and thank the Senate and Assembly for supporting New York's child care educators and families. Use the sample posts below. And remember to follow AQE @aqeny.bsky.social and the hashtag #FundChildCareNY on Bluesky to see what's happening in real time.   (A reminder that AQE is over at Bluesky now. If you haven't set up your own account yet, you can do that here.) Thank you @nysenate.bsky.social & @nyassemblymajority.bsky.social for including child care  in your budget proposals. We need $1b over the exec budget - with $500m for CCAP and $500m for the workforce. Let's make it happen in the final budget! #FundChildCareNY   With budget decisions looming, NY needs investments in child care vouchers & workforce. @governor.ny.gov, it's time to prioritize our working families & educators! Follow the lead of @nysenate.bsky.social & @nyassemblymajority.bsky.social and #FundChildCareNY   @governor.ny.gov, don't leave NY's working families & child care educators behind. Invest in our future, #FundChildCareNY! https://actionnetwork.org/letters/gov-hochul-legislators-must-act-now-so-nys-families-dont-lose-child-care-assistance AQENY.org | Bluesky | Instagram | Facebook DONATE

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