Every night, while most of New York sleeps, Queens is wide awake. From the workers keeping JFK and LaGuardia running around the clock, to the employees at our hotels, restaurants, diners and delis, thousands of Queens residents are hard at work long after most New Yorkers go to sleep or before their neighbors wake up. For many Queens families, “9 to 5” isn’t how the day works, and figuring out who watches the kids while they’re on the clock is often the hardest part of their job.
At the Queens Chamber of Commerce, we hear every day from small business owners about the challenges they face attracting and retaining workers. Access to affordable, reliable childcare is an important part of that conversation. That’s why we were proud to join the NYC Child Care Business Council, recently launched by the 5BORO Institute at Citizens Union as a founding member.
You don’t have to look any further than the airports to understand why this is such an important issue for Queens. JFK carried 62.6 million passengers last year, and LaGuardia handled 32.8 million. Together, these airports are among the most important economic engines in our borough, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and generating economic activity for countless Queens businesses. And with passengers arriving and departing at all hours of the day and night, it takes an around-the-clock workforce to keep them running.
Yet our childcare system is built almost entirely around a daytime schedule. According to the 5BORO Institute, only 5% of licensed childcare providers in New York operate between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m., even though roughly 780,000 city parents work during those hours.
Cost makes the problem worse. Robin Hood’s Poverty Tracker found that more than one in five New York working parents had to cut back on childcare or rely on an arrangement they felt was inadequate because they couldn’t afford anything better. When a parent can’t find someone to watch their children, they may have no choice but to miss a shift, reduce their hours or leave their job altogether. That’s a challenge for working families, but it’s also a serious challenge for the small businesses that depend on them.
We need a childcare system that reflects the realities of working and doing business in Queens. That means more affordable options for parents who work early mornings, evenings, overnight shifts and weekends. It means making childcare more accessible near major employment centers like our airports and transit hubs. And it means finding creative ways for employers, particularly small businesses that don’t have the resources to provide childcare on their own, to work together and partner with government to expand access.
These aren’t unreasonable demands. They’re practical solutions that will help working families, strengthen our workforce and make it easier for Queens businesses to grow and succeed.
This is why we felt it was important for Queens to have a seat at this table. If we’re going to find solutions that work, we need to make sure the voices of small business owners and working families are part of the conversation. The NYC Childcare Business Council’s plan to grow a network of business champions, advise on expanding childcare supply, and make the economic case publicly is the right approach, and we intend to bring our members into that work as it moves forward.
Queens is a borough that never stops working. Our small businesses and the hardworking New Yorkers who keep them running are the backbone of our economy. It’s time we built a childcare system that works as hard as they do.
Grech is the president and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce.