Beyond The Pod: S5E1: What Guaranteed Child Care Really Looks Like
Season 5 of our hit podcast “No One Is Coming to Save Us” with Lemonada Media is out now, and we’re excited for you to tune in! This season, we'll dive into four fundamental demands for a functional childcare system—that it be guaranteed, high-quality, accessible, and supportive of children, families, and educators.
In the first episode of Season 5, we explore what guaranteed child care really means and the systems needed to make it a reality nationwide. The episode spotlights work being done in New York City, where advocacy is growing around universal child care for families with children from birth to age five. Host and veteran reporter Gloria Riviera sits down with Rebecca Bailin, co-founder and executive director of New Yorkers United for Child Care, to discuss how early education and care can become a right for all.
In New York City, advocates have been pushing for universal child care for over 60 years. Just last year, Mayor Adams proposed steep budget cuts to pre-K and 3-K programs, angering many parents and providers across the state. After protests ensued, most early childhood education funding was restored, but now Mayor Adams is proposing $300 million in cuts for the FY2026 budget, which is double last year’s attempt.
In the first episode, Bailin describes how she is both leading the campaign for "2-Care,” an initiative that would make families eligible for care starting at age 2 (an especially critical stage, as 80% of a child’s brain growth occurs before age 3) and advocating for the expansion of the city’s current system, which provides free school-day school-year preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds, as well.
Bailin argues that investing in high-quality child care at this early age will not only strengthen the city’s economy but also set the next generation up for greater success as they transition into formal schooling. The need has never been more urgent—in 2022 alone, New York City lost an estimated $23 billion in economic activity due to parents leaving the workforce or scaling back their careers to meet child care needs.
In Massachusetts, Neighborhood Villages is also leading a movement to transform the child care sector and create a system that treats early education as the public good that it is. Through its policy and advocacy work, Neighborhood Villages pushes for reforms to create a child care sector that works for everyone. This means affordable, accessible, and high-quality care for families, sustainable careers for educators, and sufficient public funding.
Our work, in conjunction with partners across the state, led to major reforms in 2024, including:
Making permanent the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) operations grants, which improve compensation for educators, affordability for families, and quality for children.
Increasing eligibility for Massachusetts’ public Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFA) to improve families' ability to obtain subsidized child care.
Now, we are fighting to fully fund these wins to make affordable child care access a reality for every family in Massachusetts and to get the additional funding and infrasructure we need to provide early educators with access to educational and professional development opportunities and improved benefits including health care, retirement, and child care for their own children.
And while there is more work to be done, we are making progress. The Massachusetts House of Representatives just finalized its Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget proposal, which includes a historic $1.6 billion for early education and care. The proposal funds the C3 program and increases funding for CCFA, while also earmarking more than $12 million for education opportunities for early educators.
Through these efforts, we are working towards our vision of a transformed system and showing what is possible when families can actually count on care. No family—in New York, Massachusetts, or anywhere else—should have to scramble for child care. Because early education and child care should not be a privilege, it should be a guaranteed right for every family and every child.