Rep. Delgado: Child-care center is getting $100K

Sep. 1—U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, was in Arkville on Tuesday afternoon to announce he had secured $100,000 funding for a new child care center the MARK Project will operate.

Delgado said, people at the MARK Project reached out to him about the project in March and he, "jumped at the chance" to help secure funding for the center in H.R. 4502, a package of seven appropriations bills funding various federal agencies for fiscal year 2022. The House of Representatives passed the bills in late July and they await passage in the U.S. Senate.

"One of the things we have to address is the economy," Delgado said. "In the in the post COVID era we need to address access to health care, child care and education. We talk about jobs that pay good wages."

He said the lack of affordable child care options predated the COVID-19 pandemic, and that as a father and husband he understands what families face in securing quality child care.

"We're reasonably well-off and have child care secured," Delgado said. "There are others who might not be as well-off, and we need to provide support to those families struggling to get by. What we are doing is providing a safety net to these families."

State Sen. Peter Oberacker, R-Schenevus, said, he will soon be "Pop Pop again for the second time." He said he's aware that in some rural areas, it's hard to find child care providers.

"I cannot think of a better way to spend this money," Oberacker said.

State Assemblyman Chris Tague, R-Schoharie, thanked Delgado for securing the money for the MARK Project, which will give "a child a safe space to stay. It's crucial to our state's economic recovery to provide people the opportunity to work outside of the home knowing that while they are absent, their child will be in a safe space to play and socialize."

MARK Executive Director Katie Camillone said: "As a mother of two young girls, I was struggling with whether to stay home or to work. This facility will offer quality, safe, affordable child care and meet the needs of the community."

Delgado thanked Camillone for detailing her struggle, and added: "You made a very important point. A lot of women had to decide whether to work or stay home. Disproportionately, women have been the ones to decide to stay home."

He said access to affordable child care would help restore gender equality.

Camillone said, the organization will lease 1,500 square feet of a 4,000-square-foot building and will provide childcare for about 30 children. She said, her organization is in the final stages of negotiating the lease of the building on county Route 38, but wouldn't say which building it was for fear that the deal would fall through. Once the lease is signed, the rooms will be renovated and it is hopeful that the facility will open in January, Camillone said.

She said, the organization has lined up two licensed child care providers to run the facility. There is a waiting list with 40 to 50 parents signed up, including school teachers and employees who work at the recently opened Department of Environmental Protection building, and "we get one or two calls a week," she said

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.

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