Happy Nice Mall

A $100 million fund targeting New York’s childcare crisis

At the Robin Hood charity event at the Javits Center in New York City last night, Citadel’s Ken Griffin was the winning bidder at an auction for a space seat at Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin. (Bezos was also there.) Griffin offered $8 million and said he plans to give the ticket to a teacher in New York City.

Alongside the event, Robin Hood hosted venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian, The Bezos Family Foundation and other donors have pledged a total of $50 million to expand access to quality, affordable childcare options to support the city’s overloaded, underfunded system. The city will add another $50 million.

The outbreak highlighted a childcare crisis in New York. already childcare centers working on tight budgets They have had to reduce capacity or shut down completely, removing hundreds of thousands of childcare workers from the industry and leaving little choice for parents.

“More than 40 percent of parents with a young child in New York City have had to leave work or switch from full-time to part-time work due to lack of access to childcare during the pandemic,” Robin CEO Richard Buery said. Hood, a New York City charity with strong ties to Wall Street, told DealBook.

According to one study, women aged 25 to 54 were two and a half times more likely than men in the same age group to count childcare as the primary cause of unemployment. analysis of census data by the non-profit organization Citizens Committee for New York Children.

Fixing the current system would support the local economy by helping many New Yorkers – especially women – get back to work.said Buery. New York’s private childcare options are among the most expensive in the country, with the cost of full-time group babysitting. more than $16,000 On average in 2020, it is out of the reach of many families.

For Mr Ohanian, who says his charitable donations cannot be separated from his “non-profit work”, spending capital on nurturing the future workforce and ensuring that the current workforce reaches its full potential “will only result in healthier outcomes for children and families, and for economic opportunity and stability in general.”