“The community is tremendously thankful to Mayor de Blasio for base lining an additional 12.6 million dollars to fund Priority 5 vouchers for working parents, bringing crucial assistance to so many poor, hard-working families and their children city-wide. Base lining will give these families the peace of mind and security that they will be able to continue benefitting from it on a steady basis, so that they can look and find permanent work,” said Rabbi David Niederman.

Mayor de Blasio was always a strong proponent of extending child care services for working families, and from day one as mayor he was committed to reopen this important assistance to additional eligible children. Last year, the City Council, under the leadership of Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito included 12.6 million dollars for additional vouchers. It followed the strong advocacy of Councilman Stephen Levin, Chair of the General Welfare Committee, who was joined by many of his colleagues who called the city to restart issuing new Priority 5 vouchers – discontinued by the Bloomberg Administration. The funding was enabled through the support of the Mayor. Today’s announcement by the mayor, that it will be base lined in the routine budget, as requested by the City Council, goes a long way in making this restoration permanent.

“We thank Speaker Mark-Viverito, Councilman Levin, and Mr. Avi Fink, for their hard work to expand child care services to all New Yorkers. Today’s decision is another step forward in the Mayor’s hard work to uplift all New Yorkers. We are grateful for that,” said Rabbi Niederman.

(YWN Desk – NYC)