Council Member Joseph asks about workforce development

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you both for your testimony.

I have a couple of questions around workforce.

ECE workforce must double for universal child care.

How is the administration approaching workforce development and expansion?

So first, we must recognize there is no universal child care without the child care workforce, and this has to be an area of focus for us as we grow access to care in the city.

So we will be taking a multi-pronged approach, looking at ways to bring new people into the early childhood field, working with our partners in higher education to make it

easier for folks who want to be in early childhood to get the necessary training and credentials, and then supporting our incumbent educators who may be interested in

going back to school or gaining the skills and credentials to move from an assistant teacher to a lead teacher or just to be able to build their practice.

Last week, the administration announced, along with CUNY, an expansion of early childhood apprenticeship programs, which is...

one of many strategies we will need to take in order to grow the workforce.