'Mom Squad' focuses on mother/child funding, policies in NYS legislature

ALBANY — In politics, where coalitions are usually built around regions and ethnicity, a new caucus in Albany crosses both of those lines. They call it the Mom Squad.

The Mom Squad is a loosely aligned group of 10 to 15 mothers with young children who are emerging leaders in the Senate and Assembly during what Albany veterans say is the largest contingent of young mothers in the State Legislature ever.

In addition to the usual state budget, broad policy issues, district needs and campaigning juggled by all legislators, the Mom Squad targets mother-and-child funding and policies that unite its members from upstate and downstate, from urban, suburban and rural districts. And although the group is mostly progressive Democrats, legislation around child poverty has attracted some strong Republican support.

“It’s difficult for us to be legislators and moms,” said Assemb. Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas (D-Queens), whose young son attends school back home. “It’s so hard and there are so many things we miss. I miss my child’s band practice and shows. It breaks my heart sometimes. But I’m trying to build a future for him … I know other parents have real difficulty with that. There’s joy, and there’s sacrifice.”

They miss family dinners and school events. They also feel the anguish of dealing with daily dramas and regular crises of raising young children from afar. But more women nationwide are taking on all that, according to academic studies and the national Vote Mama political action committee, which promotes and mentors mothers in politics who have young children.

The less obvious obstacles the women face include some party bosses and voters who believe women should be home with their young children and the frenzy of juggling time with their kids, running a home, child care and a fast-paced, demanding career. It’s part of the reason mothers often delay their political career in state capitals and lose critical years to build seniority.

“Particularly in states like New York, where there are no term limits, power comes from tenure and if you start in elected office when you are 40, rather than in your 30s, your trajectory to leadership or higher office is just that much shorter," said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University.  

“We have heard stories where some women don’t even let on that they have young children, while a man puts it on their campaign brochures with the golden retriever — a family man,” Walsh said.

Nationally, the number of all women — 2,397 — serving in state legislatures nationwide last year was the highest ever. That’s 32.5% of all state legislators in 2023 compared with 30.7% in 2022 following a spike in election wins by women, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In New York, about 33% of state legislators are women, according to the NCSL. There was no breakdown for women with young children.

In Albany on Jan. 24, sponsors of child poverty bills in a news conference were all young mothers. And, critical for legislation to pass, they already had lined up the support of some powerful lobbying forces, including the New York State AFL-CIO and the New York State United Teachers union.

“We put so much more attention to issues that didn’t always get attention,” said Assemb. Sarah Clark (D-Rochester), a mother of three who unveiled the “Mom Squad” in a tweet in January. “We were again and again just bringing it up. Even when discussing economic development, we raise our hands and say, ‘What about child care?’ We’re bringing issues that haven’t always been in the limelight.”

Sometimes the group pushes new initiatives, such as its successful effort to get more Medicaid reimbursement for doulas, who help mothers, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, to get proper care before, during and after they give birth. But the group said its role is also to illuminate overlooked aspects of measures and tweak progressive bills, most of which would pass the Democratic-led chambers even without the Mom Squad’s support.

The measures they advance include a tax credit of $1,500 per child for low-income working families and $500 per child regardless of household income. Another would close an unintended gap in programs that has resulted in many children under 6 years old losing health insurance for which they are eligible.

One bill would create a pilot program called the Mothers and Infants Lasting Chance, or MILC. It would provide guaranteed income to women in poverty for the last three months of pregnancy and the first months of a child’s life. The experiment would serve 10,000 New York City and another 5,000 in rural parts of the state and cost the state $247.5 million, according to the bill. In all, a mother and her child would receive $16,500 in payments over 21 months for health care, housing and food.

All are intended to deal with overlooked or underserved needs to stave off often far greater costs in social services, mental health services and public protection, and avoid tragedies in families and communities. The legislators note that 1 in 4 children live in poverty in New York City, 1 in 2 live in poverty in Rochester and Buffalo, and 1 in 2 children who live in poverty don’t have enough resources to support their families.

Statistics like that led to the origin of the Mom Squad by legislators driven to make a big difference, but with little time to do it.

“It’s organized more by necessity,” Sen. Samra Brouk (D-Rochester) said. In 2021, she had an 8-month-old daughter and was supposed to be in Albany most weekdays for six months of session. “By necessity I was confiding in and looking for recommendations on how to do this work with an infant,” she said.

Brouk remembers confiding with other young mothers who were legislators: “Don’t you feel like you’re failing at one or the other at all times? I needed someone to confide in and problem-solve.”

Soon, those conversations turned to common ground on legislative areas in which they could champion. “It was just a very natural progression,” she said. “It’s more than advocating. It’s getting things done.”

“Our little Mom Squad has grown,” said Gonzales-Rojas, who said she’s taken her child to campaign events and sometimes to Albany during session. “We’re really supporting one another,” she said. “It was so beautiful, especially those who just had little babies.”

The group hasn't grown with any Republicans, however, and the Mom Squad's focus on what can be costly social services is a target of the GOP.

“There is no argument when it comes to the goals of helping young families, addressing poverty and making sure New York’s children are healthy,” said Assembly Republican leader Will Barclay, of Pulaski. “They’re some of our most important priorities, and the state can always do more. But it’s how we get there that needs to be discussed and examined. Liberal Democrats look at state taxpayers as a bottomless pit of money … It’s great to have goals, but we’re spending the public’s money, not our own — so there needs to be guardrails.”

Advocates, however, say the Mom Squad already has made an impact.

“They are beginning not just to get attention, but they are getting things done,” said Kate Breslin, president and CEO of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, which advocates for children in poverty and related issues. “The child care subsidies these last few years came as the contingent of Mom Squad legislators has grown, because they get to see it and they see it every day.”

Former Assembly Deputy Speaker Catherine Nolan, a young mother in the Legislature back in the 1980s, remembers the self-doubt and questions by colleagues and rivals about when she would quit and go home.

“It was a little lonely,” said Nolan, who served from 1985 to 2022. “Every day you question it.”

“I admire all these new women,” Nolan said. “I think it’s essential. It was hard and I did miss some things occasionally, but I became a better Assembly member. It deepened my experience.”

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.