RaisingNY Data Report 

BT3 collaborated with RaisingNY and other partners from across New York State to pinpoint the most common barriers keeping families from accessing high quality child care and other public benefits, including SNAP and WIC. Through this effort, we provided data and experiences of both families and providers to develop recommendations to eradicate those barriers. 

Our families’ rural experiences are included in the report. For BT3’s portion of the project, we partnered with Essex County and our parent advisory council members in the following ways: 

• Essex County Health Department’s newborn home visiting program, Baby Steps to Bright Futures, collected data via the program’s case management software. 
• Essex County Mental Health’s infant toddler mental health program,collected data by a Family Peer Advocate/program coordinator who reviewed records and connected with families directly via phone calls. 

• Experiences of BT3’s parent advisory council were captured and utilized in describing the strengths and challenges of the region’s early childhood system. 
• Input from Essex County Health Department and Mental Health team members. 

The findings and recommendations, summarized here and in a full report here, are rooted in the lived experiences of families and give parents and caregivers a voice in improving the programs that directly impact their lives. The reported barriers were consistent across regions of the state and programs. They included:  

• Lack of information – families do not know beneficial services exist or that they may qualify
• Tedious and time-consuming applications
• Workforce challenges to guide and support families through the application processes
• Program-specific limitations – significant eligibility restrictions and qualification requirements

Recommendations included broadening and deepening outreach to parents, streamlining and improving application processes, increasing workforce and program capacity, and eliminating unnecessary limits and restrictions and increasing benefit levels, when possible.

In September, Julia Day, member of BT3’s Parent Advisory Council and Kate traveled to Albany to participate in a roundtable discussion about the report’s findings. The panel was moderated by David Lombardo of The Capitol Pressroom. Also on the panel were parent leader Mansie Meikle and Kari Siddiqui, Project Director for the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy. The event was well-attended by members of the NYS Legislature, representatives from New York State Office of Children and Family Services, the Governor’s Office, and many nonprofit partners.