To cut down on immigrant kids selling candy on the subway, try child care, advocates say

It seems an inextricable problem: Scores of candy sellers with children in the depths of New York City’s serpentine subway system, on sweltering platforms and between moving cars.

The adults, commonly moms from South American countries, in need of work. The kids — some strapped onto their parents’ chests, others trying to make a sale themselves — tagging along.

“We’ve really seen the need of migrants selling candy around in parks and subways, but also doing so with their children, putting their children in vulnerable situations , themselves in vulnerable situations,” said Tiffany Hervas, co-founder of Algun Dia, a group of volunteer Spanish-speaking social workers meeting vendors where they are.

“It’s parents and their children — young children, as young as 6 months to 3 years old, or even teenagers going around with the coolers and water on a hot summer day.”

The city may have found the beginnings of a solution.

A newly adopted city budget allocated $25 million to Promise NYC , increasing the number of children with access to the voucher program for undocumented families, otherwise ineligible for federal subsidies because of their immigration status. At least 1,000 young kids will be covered by the program, up from 600 shortly after it was launched.

Advocates say the expansion could help candy and fruit sellers who turn to the flexible, informal work because of child care needs. More than eight in 10 vendors surveyed by Algun Dia said they wanted to pursue other lines of work — but had not been able to due to a lack of child care.

“Many of the individuals that we surveyed didn’t even want to be selling candies or fruits in general,” said Hervas. “They ended up going into that out of need.”

“Now that it is expanded, our outreach team can go into these communities more confidently knowing that there is more availability,” she added.

A large majority of the 75 vendors polled by Algun Dia were from Ecuador, including many who were women under the age of 25. Most were living outside the city’s strained shelter system — either in apartments of their own or doubled up in a room or unit with another family. Still, about three in 10 vendors lived in shelters, where leaving their children behind while they work violates shelter policy and can result in a child welfare investigation .

Nearly all had not been assisted by any organization. The sellers said they were not contacted by state or city agencies or connected with local nonprofits, and those who were said organizations were at capacity and struggled to support them in a timely manner.

Promise NYC launched early last year with a $10 million investment over six months , and renewed at $16 million over a yearlong budget cycle. It was left out of Mayor Adams’ most recent executive budget, before being negotiated back in by the City Council for the current fiscal year, which started on July 1.

The program contracts with four local organizations that have ties to the major immigrant communities of each borough, who connect families and programs, and make monthly subsidy payments on behalf of the parents. The nonprofits include the Center for Family Life in Brooklyn, NMIC in the Bronx and Manhattan, La Colmena on Staten Island, and the Chinese American Planning Council in Queens. Several of those groups have reported waitlists as families were shut out of Promise NYC.

“We are thrilled to be able to continue providing and expanding child care assistance to families whose immigration status makes them ineligible for federal child care subsidies,” Commissioner Jess Dannhauser of the Administration for Children’s Services, which oversees the program, said in a statement. “With the expansion of Promise NYC, we expect to be able to serve about 1,000 children over the next year.”

Liza Schwartzwald of the New York Immigration Coalition, which helps fund Algun Dia, described the expansion as “an unqualified win.”

According to Schwartzwald, who leads the organization’s work on families, much of the program’s success lies in its implementation.

Parents felt comfortable going to community-based organizations to access services, and the groups in turn helped non-English speakers navigate a complicated process, she said.

And while the program does have an income requirement, parents can sign a legally binding affidavit attesting to their earnings — instead of asking an employer who hired undocumented workers or those without work authorization to sign a form.

“The majority of the parents — if not all of the parents — that we are seeing selling candy on the subway with their children are parents who would be eligible for this program,” Schwartzwald said. “So we’re really looking with the Algun Dia project to ensure that families know that this is an option for them.”