NEWARK: Advocacy groups, unions, parents, and childcare providers applauded the re-opening of enrollment for New Jersey’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), while urging lawmakers to continue to find long-term solutions to our state’s childcare crisis.
The CCAP budget cuts forced parents, primarily mothers and caregivers, to reduce their work hours, leave their jobs entirely, or not return to work after taking leave in order to care for their children. Meanwhile, family and center childcare providers also experienced catastrophic level drops in enrollment.
A budget shortfall of more than $30 million forced the state to halt new applications. Those already enrolled were hit with higher co-pays, on top of soaring healthcare, utility, and grocery costs. Last week, the Murphy administration announced it would re-open enrollment.
“We thank Senate Majority Leader Ruiz, Senators Britnee Timberlake and Angela McKnight, and all the childcare providers and parents for their ceaseless advocacy on this crisis,” said New Jersey Citizen Action Workplace Justice Program Director, Yarrow Willman-Cole. “This is progress, but we need to ensure that all New Jersey families have expanded access to subsidies. We should treat investment in childcare as community & economic infrastructure; not only as a key affordability issue for individual families, which it also is. That means finding a long-term funding solution and public investing in affordable childcare.”
“Restoring CCAP is the minimum that the Governor and legislature can do to support working class families. This is a program that uplifts women; predominately Black women, Latinas and women of color. It strengthens participation in the workforce and stabilizes early childcare”, said Trina Scordo, NJ Communities United Executive Director. “New Jersey is a wealthy state, yet we lack the commitment a state like New Mexico made to early childcare investment. If the businesses and industries in our state expect working class people to show up to clean the buildings, drive the buses and trucks, stock the shelves, fill the warehouses, take care of the ailing and elderly, educate and care for children, then they should be prepared to invest in early childcare so families can participate in the workforce without stressing over affordability.”
“Parents and families, especially women, should not have to choose between their careers and childcare. New Jersey needs universal childcare,” said Nancy Jimenez, a long-term family childcare provider in Morris County.
"The reopening of CCAP is a victory for all working families who rely on the childcare continuum, early childhood, preschool, school-age, afterschool and out-of-school time programs every single day,” said Ebony D. Grace, Chief Executive Officer of NJSACC. “When families lose access to subsidies, they do not just lose childcare, they lose stability. School-age programs are an essential part of the childcare infrastructure for working families across New Jersey.”
"The New Jersey’s Childcare Assistant Program is crucial for domestic workers who are a workforce of mostly low-income and immigrant women of color who provide care and support to thousands of families in New Jersey. Reopening the CCAP is a step in the right direction to ensure that many domestic workers, in particular nannies, can go to work without struggling to find care for their own children", said Evelyn Saz, NDWA New Jersey lead organizer and former domestic worker.
“SPAN applauds the reopening of the CCAP. Every young child should have access to safe, affordable high-quality childcare. This investment gives back to the community in both the positive development of our youngest as well as in workforce investment,” said Peg Kinsell, Policy Director with the SPAN Parent Advocacy Network.
“CCAP is one of New Jersey’s strongest tools to support children, families, communities, and the economy — but it still reaches far too few. Our research shows that with modernized eligibility and real investment, the state could serve many more families earning modest incomes who are struggling with the high cost of care,” said Debra Lancaster, Executive Director of the Rutgers Center for Women and Work.
“Re-opening the applications is a positive thing. It happened because we've been speaking up and fighting back. But it's only the first step for a childcare system with justice and dignity for all, including workers. Next year we hope to see things get even better,” said Zeneida Bautista, a family childcare provider in Middlesex County.
“The limited reopening of the CCAP program provides much-needed relief for the thousands of New Jersey families who count on Boys & Girls Clubs for safe, reliable care and enrichment every day. For these parents, stable childcare isn’t just convenient — it’s essential to maintain work, support their children’s success, and keep families secure. While this step is an important victory, there is still more work to do to ensure every child has consistent access to the programs and services they need to thrive,” said Susan Haspel, State Director, New Jersey Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs.
The CCAP enrollment freeze prompted a letter addressed to Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill signed by thirty community organizations, advocacy groups and labor unions urging the permanent restoration of funding needed to sustain CCAP. Senators Ruiz and McKnight joined many of the signatories, parents and childcare providers, at a press conference in November calling attention to the childcare crisis.
Temporary federal relief funds from the COVID-19 pandemic once helped buttress an undervalued childcare industry, but those funds are gone, and lawmakers have yet to provide a long-term funding solution for the essential workforce behind New Jersey’s workforce.
“The recent CCAP cuts have pushed the entire system toward a point of no return. New enrollment will provide temporary relief, but we must fund childcare with public investment for a longer-term solution,” Yarrow said.