OBSERVER Photo by Jo Ward State, local and federal representatives gathered with child care providers and advocates Thursday to urge the state to release CARES act funds to help child care centers reopen to help parents return to work.

IRVING — In April, New York state received $164.6 million awarded by the federal government as part of the federal CARES Act to aid child care.

To date less than $30 million of that money has been released.

At a press conference held at the Lake Shore Family Center in Irving, a plea was made to Gov. Andrew Cuomo to release the funds into the hands of child care providers.

“We have watched as 50% of child care centers across this region have closed, many of which will never reopen,” said state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay. “Right now child care workers are essential workers, more importantly they support other essential workers. As our economy reopens it is the foundation of which our economy will get back on track. Without the solid foundation of good child care our economy will never be able to recover from this devastating pandemic.”

State Assemblyman Andy Goodell, R-Jamestown, echoed his agreement, noting that “child care is important on multiple levels. We know that a solid start with a high quality child care program is incredible important for the child’s long term success.”

Goodell went on to add that child care is also essential to the economy, and as the economy reopens, the need for child care has grown.

“As we reopen our schools child care needs have grown, especially those school districts that are not opening in person full time,” Goodell said. “The funds were provided by the federal CARES Act, but those funds have not made it to the child care centers that provide these critical services. This is not a Republican or Democrat issues, it’s an issue about our future and all of us, on both sides of the aisle, recognize the incredible importance and urge the governor to release these funds to make sure that we have a solid foundation in place for our children.”

In a letter sent earlier this year, Goodell asked the governor to follow the recommendations of his own child care advisors.

Goodell urged Cuomo to release the aid “in a manner consistent with the recommendations of your Child Care Task Force headed by Sheila Poole, commissioner of the Office of Children and Family Services, and Roberta Readon, commissioner of the Department of Labor.”

“It is absurd in my opinion that we have to ask the governor to please release the money that was given for emergency child care,” Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel said. “This needs to be released to our child care providers when they close, that’s an essential part of our future that closed. Our children need this, our parents need this and if we want to open this economy back in a responsible manner and get ourselves back on track we need to take care of those who is providing the future for them.”

On hand to support these lawmakers was Jacqueline Phelps of Congressman Tom Reed’s office adding that “when you have high quality child care you can go to work because you don’t have to worry, you know your kids are in the best hands they can be learning and thriving.”

Front line workers were also there to make their pleas. Executive director of the Chautauqua Lake Child Care Center, Beth Starks, stated that “we are an essential business that has remained open throughout the COVID emergency, and by doing so we have allowed all other businesses and industries to remain open.”

Starks added that pre-COVID child care was in a crisis situation and that Western New York is a child care desert because there isn’t enough child care.

“The past four months the situation has gotten much worse and more than 50% of my colleagues in Chautauqua County have shut their doors and it’s estimated that half of them will never reopen again,” Starks said.

Virginia Miller, executive director of the Lake Shore Family Center, shared Stark’s feelings saying that “we are essential to the support of families and care givers. We are essential to the continued operation of countless businesses, large and small. If child care does not receive substantial financial help soon we won’t have the option to stand for it, we won’t be left standing.”

So far of the $164.6 million dollars the state has received, $30 million was allocated for subsidies for families as well as for supplies and personal protection equipment, $65 million was then earmarked for facilities that closed, were trying to reopen and those who were expanding; in this round very few centers applied for that money and those that did apply are still waiting on decisions, none of it has been paid out yet.