Yoon Fights to Save Child Care Workers from Cuts
Calls Hearing on Funding for Community Center Positions

April 21, 2009

BOSTON – City Councilor at Large Sam Yoon will call on the City to reverse course on its plan to eliminate grant funding for child care workers at nine community centers in a Council hearing this week.

“When the economy tightens, we have to prioritize which jobs have the greatest effect on our daily lives,” said Yoon. “Few city employees have a greater impact on the lives of children and the needs of families than our pre-school and day care workers. These are union workers who accepted the Mayor’s wage freeze, and now the City is turning its back on their service. It’s a matter of political will to save these positions.”

As the result of a new City policy, the Boston Centers for Youth and Family will not apply for grant funding for the child care workers this year. Instead, the community centers will rely on increased fees and private donations to keep the workers, who would no longer be city employees and who would lose their union membership and benefits.

Yoon and Councilor John Tobin have initiated a hearing of the City Council’s Committee on Education for Wednesday, April 22, which will address the City’s options for funding the positions. The Council scheduled the hearing to occur prior to the deadline for community centers to apply for additional grant funding, if the City permits them to do so.

Yoon said the community centers should not be left on their own to provide funding to keep the child care workers.

“The City is moving to privatize an integral part of our community centers,” said Yoon. “We cannot use a sink-or-swim strategy for programs that—for many families—are the only affordable option for their children.”

The centers affected include the Ohrenberger Center (West Roxbury); the Roslindale Community Center; Curtis Hall and the Hennigan (Jamaica Plain); the Jackson Mann (Allston); the Kent (Charlestown); and the Marshall, the Murphy, and the Perkins (Dorchester).