Video Transcript: Lydia’s Lullaby Daycare finally gets some help
Tyus Sansbury, Reporter: Finding affordable childcare in Syracuse is a problem. For nearly 25 years Lydia’s lullaby Daycare has tried to fix this issue. Parent Caroline Daniels says she grateful for Lydia’s since her son started in the daycare.
Caroline Daniels, Parent: I loved it here ever since. They’ve been super great to my son and me, and I wouldn’t have chosen anywhere else now that he’s here.
Sansbury: Lydia’s could never fix its own problems though. Director Jenni Botsford-Bozeat says many of its problem started happening at once.
Botsford-Bozeat: We are having some leakage in the roof, so we are having the roof repaired. We recently had a problem where the front door was not locking because like I said, everything was original from 25 years ago.
Sansbury: The daycare applied and received the 10,000-dollar childcare enhancement grant. After receiving the grant, Botsford-Bozeat wasted no time starting repairs.
Botsford-Bozeat: One of the first thing we brought was a washer and dryer. We brought fridge, stove, dishwater because we haven’t had a working dishwater in almost a year. So, we were boiling water to sanitize the dishes.
Sansbury: The great news of the grant also came with some stipulations. The grant money should’ve came earlier this year but the daycare didn’t receive it until September. All repairs needs to be completed by Dec. 31.
Botsford-Bozeat: We need to do our shed still and we’re going to be having snow anytime now. We also have a repair to our playground that needs to be done.
Sansbury: Repairs have already started with more to be done. Snow may be coming soon but Lydia’s Lullaby Daycare is poised to keep the kids warm. Tyus Sansbury NCC News.
Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) —According to LendingTree, the average cost of child care in Syracuse costs more than the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment. $1,417 to $1,126 which is $291 more.
This makes affordable child care a problem in Syracuse. Lydia’s Lullaby Daycare has been providing affordable childcare for nearly 25 years.
Parent Caroline Daniels says because of the affordability of the daycare she’s able to provide for her family. Daniels says she’s grateful for Lydia’s.
“They’ve been super great to me and my son. I wouldn’t have chosen anywhere else now that he’s here,” said Daniels.
Many of children in Lydia’s are paid for by a government stipend. The parent fees in the daycare ranges from $1 to $8.
Lydia’s Lullaby Daycare Director Jenni Botsford-Bozeat says many of the problems for the daycare started happening around the same time.
“Last year, we had the furnace go. We had suddenly, during the day, the hot water tank went, and we had water everywhere,” said Botsford-Bozeat. “So not only did we have to get a new hot water heater, we also had to clean up from a water spill.”
Botsford-Bozeat says that before the daycare installed cameras, teenagers would come and slit their screens and break their windows on a consistent basis. The daycare could fix the windows but couldn’t fix the screens.
Lydia’s applied and received the $10,000 Child Care Enhancement grant that County Executive Ryan McMahon announced the Grant during the 2024 State of the County back in March. The grant was designed to help support improvements in child care facilities throughout Onondaga County and address needs within the child care sector to bolster the capacity to serve children and families effectively.
The grant helped fix many of the problems that plagued the daycare.
“I think we were jumping up and down. We already had plans in our head of everything that we needed to fix in here.”
Lydia’s didn’t receive the grant until late September but all repairs need to completed by Dec. 31.
The daycare has already invested in a new washer, dryer, dishwasher, and refrigerator. The daycare plans on fixing one of the playgrounds outside and adding a shed before the deadline.