The fate of child care for hundreds of children in the Bronx is in jeopardy after a nonprofit has gone months without paying a number of its workers.
For decades, Highbridge Advisory Council Family Services has offered a variety of free early childhood programs in the borough, including several centers and preschools of between 50 and 125 children each, and a network of smaller, home-based daycares with a total enrollment of 230 kids. The agency receives funding from the city, which they are supposed to use to pay providers.
But workers say payments were irregular this year — until they stopped altogether.
Centers temporarily closed without notice and employees were furloughed; the nonprofit’s chief executive officer resigned. Dozens of providers have continued working out of their homes without pay since May, hoping they’ll eventually be made whole for approximately $700,000 in unpaid wages.
Angela Faison, a provider for 34 years who operates a licensed home daycare through Highbridge, said payments from the network began trickling in late this winter, prompting her assistant to leave. With legally required staff-to-children ratios depending on their ages, Faison had to turn some families away.
“They were so upset with me,” she said. “They just couldn’t understand it, but I could not keep all the kids on my own. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in this career. It was so hard. I mean, they were mad, they were upset. And I understood it, but I couldn’t do nothing about it.”
Highbridge did not return requests for comment to the agency or its management. When visited by the Daily News, their main offices were dark and locked, though the company appears to be trying to get its finances on track.
Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Anderson announced his resignation to the Highbridge Board of Directors in mid-July, according to a memo obtained by The News. He made upwards of $223,000 between his salary and other compensation in 2022, the last fiscal year data was available, according to tax filings compiled by the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.
Wanda Carter, the former chief operating officer, is taking over in the interim, the email continued.
“We are working closely with funders and other supporters to right-size the organization and restructure effectively,” the Board of Directors wrote, announcing a payroll had been transmitted and should be arriving in some of the workers’ bank accounts soon.
A separate email to the home-based providers sent on the same day, July 23, chalked up the delays to “unforeseen circumstances” and “significant financial challenges.”
“We are actively working on restructuring our operations and are hopeful that we will soon be able to continue providing the quality services that have been a staple of our community for many years,” wrote Lourdes Turell, director of the home-based daycare network.
In March, the agency had pointed fingers at the Education Department for delays, citing the transfer of an invoice portal for the home-based network to a new system a couple of months earlier, according to a memo to providers obtained by The News.
But as of this summer, education officials say there are no pending payments due to Highbridge — and they’re seeking answers themselves. The city recently sent a show-cause order to the agency, which they would not share with The News, while they work with home-based providers to transfer them to other networks and ask families to contact the citywide enrollment office.
“New York City Public Schools expects every affiliate to pay their contractors, and it is wholly unacceptable if Highbridge Advisory Council Family Services has violated their contract, creating hardship for providers,” said Chyann Tull, a spokeswoman for the Education Department. “We will do everything within our power to resolve this situation.”
In the meantime, Highbridge’s future remains uncertain.
Cayla Bamberger
Child care workers and their union DC 37 rally outside the Marshall England Early Learning Center in the Bronx for timely payments from Highbridge Advisory Council Family Services. (Cayla Bamberger)
Dozens of workers rallied Thursday outside the shuttered Marshall England Early Learning Center, the largest center that Highbridge operates, including 3-K, pre-K and early childhood education programs.
Juana Lopez, an assistant teacher at the center for 15 years — who has worked at the agency for even longer — said she typically spends her days teaching children the colors and alphabet, and how to wash their hands and use the toilet. But she isn’t getting paid. She tried filing for unemployment benefits, which she said amounts to $278 per week after taxes, but it’s not enough to pay her bills.
“We don’t even know if we have to come in September, because we don’t hear from nobody,” Lopez said at the protest. “We work for our money, but we have to beg them to pay us.”
Lilibeth Asencio, another home-based provider who hasn’t been paid since mid-May, said the email she received from Highbridge is “trying to give us false hope.”
“I barely slept last night, just thinking how long am I going to be able to cover all my costs from my savings?” she said Wednesday.
“It’s not fair that for the past over two months, I’ve been having to pay everything, cover everything — pay my employees, pay rent, pay utilities, pay insurance, pay mortgage, make car payments — everything from my savings,” Asencio added. “Why? I’m not asking for anyone to give me anything. I’m asking for the money that I have worked for.”
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