4 early child care centers in Brooklyn shutting down due to low enrollment, budget cuts, DOE says
NEW YORK — The New York City Department of Education is pulling the plug on several early child care centers in Brooklyn.
The affected centers are Nuestros Ninos in Williamsburg, Friends of Crown Heights along Prospect and Utica avenues, Grand Street Settlement in Bushwick, and the Fort Greene Council's Young Minds Child Care Program.
The DOE has decided not to renew the leases, citing multiple reasons such as low enrollment and budget cuts.
The city released a statement reading in part, "This administration has demonstrated its commitment to creating a system that is sustainable, financially sound, and is also nimble to families' needs. That means using data to determine where to open and close seats so that we can reallocate taxpayer dollars to neighborhoods with the greatest need..."
Staff, parents plan to fight "heartbreaking" closure in Williamsburg
The city says it will do its best to transition students to new programs, but concerned parents and staff say it's not that easy.
Katherine Ferrer is a parent of 3-year-old Aaron, who attends Nuestros Ninos.
"It's so heartbreaking to even hear that the city plans to shut us down," she said.
The early child care center has been in the Williamsburg community for 51 years, but its doors will close come June 30.
"This is our only option. Nuestro Ninos has served so many low-income families in the community," Ferrer said.
"We are 96 children in the building. Right now, we're just at 76 percent of enrollment," Nuestros Ninos Executive Director Ingrid Matias Chungata said.
At Nuestros Ninos, a large population of their students are Latino. Teachers and parents stress the importance of how the school makes their classrooms inclusive.
"We are one of the few locations in this community that still embraces our culture, our Latino culture," Chungata said.
Haide Valerio works at the school and is also mom to Allie, who is currently in their program.
"I don't want to begin to imagine what that little heartbreak is going to be. Like, it's already heartbreaking for me as it is," Valerio said.
"We wanna fight. We're going to take this to the end. We're not going to go quietly," Chungata said.
A rally will be held outside Nuestros Ninos on Friday morning. Parents and staff are encouraging those affected to reach out to their city leaders.
