Assessments of the New York area have shown that employees have long commutes, work in stressful business environments, and struggle to find care that meets their work demands and financial abilities. Additionally, employees expressed the need for more accessibility to emergency/backup care when their traditional care arrangements fall through. And finally, many employees have found themselves caring for their aging relatives or addressing their own aging issues.

Over $2million has been spent to date on dependent care initiatives in New York City. The main points of focus have been on building capacity and infrastructure across all of the segments of dependent care, while continuing to build on the quality of programming. Examples of projects include a focus on back-up child care including back-up care registries, back-up center slots and Just-In-Time Care. Capacity has been added across the child care spectrum with supply building and recruitment efforts in the infant/toddler & school age arena. Family child care networks have been created and credentialed. School-age programs have been trained in areas such as director management and conflict resolution. Elder care fairs have brought information and resources to employee caregivers. Home care workers have been recruited and trained to deliver superior quality in-home services to older adults.

The 1999/2000 strategy is concentrated on gaining a more direct employee touch and on leveraging the ABC dollars. Provider Resource grants will be available to employees using all types of providers across all segments of dependent care. Differing levels and types of awards will be made available to enhance the experience that the provider can offer to the employee's dependent. The New York City ABC will also be funding The After School Corporation (TASC), an effort that brings on-site after school programming to schools throughout the City and into New York State. The ultimate goal for TASC is to bring after school programming onto the public agenda and funded as a public responsibility.

Funding Companies

American Express Company
AT&T
Bankers Trust New York
Bell Atlantic Company
Citibank, N.A.
Deloitte & Touche
Dow Jones & Company Inc.
IBM Corporation
JP Morgan
Lucent Technologies
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
The Conde Nast Publications Inc
Time Warner Inc

Projects

Early Childhood
Child Care Program Expansion
Family Friendly Training for Child Care Center
NAEYC Facilitated Accreditation for Child Care Centers
One-Day Flexibility Training for Child Care Center
Provider Resource Grants for Child Care Center
Accreditation/Credential for Family Child Care Providers
Activity Kits for Family Child Care Providers
Close to Home Care Program
Family Child Care Clusters
Grants Fund for Family Child Care Providers
One-Day Infant/Toddler Training for Family Child Care Providers
Provider Resource Grants Family Child Care Providers

School-Age
Before/After-School Program
Effective Management Training
Adventures in Peacemaking
Hands-On Science Training
Theme-based Activities

Backup
Backup Dependent Care Registry
Backup Emergency Care
Just In Time Care (JITC)
Theme-based Activities

Elder Care
Elder Care Fair
Home Care Worker Recruitment/Training