Harlem Nonprofit Sues City For Cutting Its Childcare Program

EAST HARLEM, NY — An East Harlem nonprofit filed suit against the city last month after its longtime home-based childcare program was significantly and unexpectedly reduced.

For more than 20 years, Union Settlement, a neighborhood fixture since 1895, has managed a so-called Family Child Care Network: a collection of 47 providers who cared for children in their own homes.

The program was extensive, serving children from six weeks to four years old, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every weekday throughout the year. All told, Union Settlement's early childhood programs made it the seventh-largest provider in the city.

In 2019, though, as part of citywide "redesign" of early child care, the Department of Education issued a new Request for Proposals (RFP), asking providers to apply for a new contract in order to continue with their existing programs.

Union Settlement applied, but received a surprising response in early 2020: DOE rejected its proposal to serve 300 children in a broad age range, and instead awarded the organization just 250 slots, exclusively for three-year-olds, and running just 180 days per year.

Leaders of the nonprofit say the change has been disastrous, both for the working-class families it serves and for the local providers who are now caring for a fraction of the children they once did.

"East Harlem has been devastated from a public health standpoint and from an economic standpoint because of the job losses," Union Settlement Executive Director David Nocenti told Patch, referring to the pandemic year. "It doesn’t make sense to put these non-rational restrictions on who can get care and during what time periods."

Just 19 providers now make up Union Settlement's Family Child Care Network, down from the original 47.

The organization shared a statement from Wendy Diaz, an East Harlem parent who said she fears she will lose her retail job because she has no one to care for her son after 2:30 p.m.

"As a single mom, I can’t afford to pay the provider out-of-pocket and don’t have anyone else to take care of my son in the afternoons or during the summer when no care is available," Diaz said.

"They could resolve it tomorrow"

After DOE rejected Union Settlement's formal protest letter last August, the nonprofit went to court, filing suit May 7 in hopes of obtaining an order that would force DOE to issue a new contract. Union Settlement contends that DOE's new contract violates the terms of the RFP, since it gave the organization a program it did not ask for.

Nocenti said his organization has received little explanation from DOE about why it denied the initial request. The department has not filed any responses to Union Settlement's initial complaint, as the lawsuit remains in its early stages.

Ultimately, Nocenti hopes the suit can be resolved outside of the courts: Union Settlement has said it would accept a lower number of child care slots if DOE allowed it to restore parts of its old program.

"They could resolve it tomorrow. They just need someone high enough up to say, let’s resolve this," Nocenti said."I’m not looking for money, I’m not looking to serve more kids."

Reached for comment, a DOE spokesperson said that "We deeply value our community partners who provide early childhood services to tens of thousands of children across New York City, and we have enough seats in East Harlem to meet the needs of families.

"We’re committed to providing as many early childhood opportunities as possible in our communities, and the lawsuit is without merit," spokesperson Sarah Casasnovas said.

The department also noted that it has recently expanded preschool special education classes, aiming to eventually bring the programs into the universal pre-K and 3-K portfolios.