Kaylee Iyer testifies on child care costs and need for 2K

Good afternoon.

My name is Kaylee Iyer, and I am a parent leader with New Yorkers United for Child Care.

My family and I live in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and joining me here today is my three-month-old daughter, as of today, Prema.

I've lived in New York for 18 years, and I work as a theater and audio producer.

I'm currently on parental leave until December, and once my leave is over, my partner, who works nights as a general manager at a restaurant, and I are going to put together a patchwork of solutions so that we only have to pay for two days a week of daycare.

And even for those two days a week, we anticipate spending more than $12,000 a year on child care.

Five days a week, we looked into it, would cost at least $36,000 a year in our neighborhood, which is unaffordable for my family.

So three days a week, my partner will be taking care of Prema while I'm at work 9 to 5, and then I'll get home, and he'll go to work, and I'll be solo parenting at night.

Like many New Yorkers, we're getting creative to figure out how to make it work, but the solution means we won't spend any time together, the three of us, as a family.

And I'm anxious about that.

And the toll it will take on us.

But we have been telling ourselves that we just have to do it and figure it out for a year and a half before hopefully 2K is expanded as promised, and then we can have more flexibility with our schedules and our careers.

Having free universal 2K for Prema would allow us to take a breath.

It will mean being able to save up for her future education and extracurricular activities and maybe even dream to save up for a down payment.

When I found out that I was pregnant, basically around this time last year, we were so excited, but also worried set in about how to make the math work for our finances.

And when we heard Mayor Mumdani announce that 2K free child care for all of New York City's two-year-olds was starting, we were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

The tens of thousands of dollars that we would have spent on child care can now go towards building our future.

As many people have mentioned, the demand for 2K shows how much New York City families are desperate for this.

I am proud to be one of the thousands of parents across New York who've been organizing and speaking up about the cost of child care over the past few years.

But we need to make sure that 2K stays and expands and that all the child care workers caring for our two-year-olds are paid great wages.

There is no reason that New York families should be struggling and oftentimes going into debt to pay for child care, while meanwhile the child care workers are also struggling to afford to live here.

I am committed to creating a society for my daughter that prioritizes care and education, where our taxes go towards services that benefit working families and the general public.

It's my hope that the program becomes so ubiquitous and successful that when my daughter and her friends grow up, they can't imagine a New York where great quality, universal child care

isn't a fact of life, just like public schools or public libraries.

The cost of child care is a nationwide crisis, but New York City has so often been a beacon of courage and innovation for the rest of the country, and I hope we can continue to be an example and lead the way on this issue, starting with expanding 2K for All.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Kaylee, and shout out to the best baby.

Thank you for being here.