Matching families with needed child care

The UFT is making it easier for working families to find child care by going citywide with an online tool that connects families with providers and identifies available financial assistance.

NYC Childcare Navigator is an expansion of UFT Childcare Connection, an online tool the union launched last year to help its members locate child care and access programs that offset costs. The tool worked so well the union decided to open it to all New York City families.

“Here at the UFT, we pride ourselves on the fact that we take care of New York City’s children,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said at an Oct. 8 press conference at union headquarters. “Child care should be a right for every family, but you have to make it accessible.”

The UFT developed NYC Childcare Navigator in partnership with city-based, women-led tech firms Mirza and Upfront. The tool simplifies the often time-consuming and stressful process of finding child care that matches a family’s schedule, budget and needs. By entering just a few details, parents can learn of state or city programs and subsidies for which they may qualify. After providing a few more pieces of information, they can easily locate providers near their home or workplace who meet their specific requirements.

“We made it very simple,” Mulgrew said. “We started first using this with our own members, and we have been completely astonished with the results.”

Within six months of the original UFT Childcare Connection launch, 1,600 union members used the platform to identify subsidies and find child care for their children.

Ernest Suarez, a paraprofessional at PS/MS 225 on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, is one of those members. After entering his income information, he discovered he qualified for a child care voucher.

“As a working parent, you don’t think you’ll qualify for any kind of child care,” said Suarez, who brought his 15-month-old son to the press conference. “But luckily with NYC Childcare Navigator, I was able to find affordable child care that met my needs financially.”

Suarez noted the challenge of managing child care costs while preparing another child for college. “The price of child care without any kind of assistance is the same price as going to college,” he said.

He praised the union for making the tool available to all New York City families. “I’m proud of my union for stepping up and making this outreach for anyone that needs it,” he said.

The platform, which now includes roughly 12,000 providers, also offers new visibility for UFT-represented family child care providers, said Tammie Miller, the chapter leader of the UFT Family Child Care Providers Chapter.

“It allows them to not have to struggle and figure out how to develop their own website,” Miller said. “For providers who often work in isolation and don’t always know the best way to advertise their business, now thousands of parents in the city can find them.”