Gutierrez on Intro 580A codifying Office of Child Care
Council Member Gutierrez celebrates the passage of Intro 580A creating the Mayor's Office of Child Care, thanking sponsors including Council Member Riley and Speaker Menin. She notes the office will hold the city accountable on child care deserts and provider support regardless of who is mayor.
Thank you so much, Majority Leader.
I'm really excited to turn the chapter on a very exciting package of bills.
I think this is the last bill part of that original package, codifying the Mayor's Office of Child Care to help us as a city get to a true universal child care program that we can all be proud of.
I want to thank every single person who was a sponsor three times that we reintroduced it, including Councilmember Kevin Riley from the Bronx.
I want to thank, of course, Speaker Julie-Menin, who has been a partner on all things universal child care since before becoming a speaker.
And this is a really, really exciting opportunity because not only are we going to be able to say, to hold the city accountable when it comes to child care, child care deserts, the way that they are supported, the way that we support providers,
but it's going to stand the test of time, right?
It doesn't matter who is at City Hall, the Mayor's Office of Child Care will be there to work with every single agency necessary, city and state, to make it happen, to make it accessible for every single New Yorker,
regardless of immigration status and regardless of income.
New York has a real opportunity to lead, and I'm so excited that we get to be a part of that council that is doing that.
Very quickly, I want to thank my whole legislative team, everyone that helped us get here.
I want to thank my former chief of staff, Anya Lair, who I joked with her, said she was not pregnant when we reintroduced it, and now she's had her baby now that universal child care plan has passed.
So congrats to her, yes.
And of course, I want to thank all of my colleagues who have joined us at all the rallies, to all the providers who have come to testify, who are very much leaning on us to help them get to dignified wages and dignified benefits.
We are still in that struggle.
We are still in that struggle.
But I want to thank everyone here who showed up for working families.
And that's it.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Councilmember.
Councilmember Cavan, followed by Morano.
Thank you.