Kamala Harris visits NJ: VP pushes for child care funding, vaccinations and stops for cupcakes

Vice President Kamala Harris toured North Jersey on Friday to push for more child care funding to support working parents and encourage residents to get vaccinated.

Harris made stops at the Montclair State University day care center in Little Falls where she met with students and teachers as well as a COVID-19 vaccination site in Newark.

Joined by Gov. Phil Murphy and Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, Harris' first stop was a tour of the Ben Samuels Child Care Center where she visited multiple classrooms, at one point joining students for a game of shapes bingo. 

When one student asked Harris if she was “older than 8 years old," she replied that she was a “little bit more” than 8.

Harris, Murphy, Sherrill and a group of five educators sat down for a roundtable where Harris talked about the importance of supporting working parents before praising Murphy and Sherrill for their work and leadership.

Harris pushed for child care funding in the Build Back Better Act, saying the COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the “clear and well-known disparities” in affordability and access to child care as well as the disproportionate responsibilities handled by women. 

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“Since the beginning of the pandemic, two million women left the workforce," Harris said. "The main reason that many of them did is the unavailability of child care. And let's be very clear: A working person cannot go to work if they have children if there's no one to take care of their children. It is that basic.”

After the event, Sherrill said that she thought the women on the panel spoke eloquently about the struggles they were facing.

"The women at the roundtable really outlining the struggles they've had and how difficult child care has been and remains, and how much more difficult it has been during COVID," she said. "One of the women talked about how difficult it was to find child care with her hours and commute...if you have a commute you can rely on and the trains are running on time, you can organize your child care around it. All these things for women are so interconnected."

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A group of about 30 protesters from Make the Road NJ stood outside the child care center calling on Harris to support a path to citizenship in the spending bill, though it is unclear if the vice president saw the group.

"As an essential health care worker during the pandemic, I put my life at risk every day to help keep a health clinic open," Mariana Velasquez said in a statement. "But I fear being separated from my children. New Jersey is my home."

The vice president and her entourage also stopped at the vaccination site at Essex County College where Harris thanked the health care workers and said that there "will be an end to this" and encouraged those that have not yet done so to get vaccinated.

Before heading back to Newark Airport, Harris made one final stop at Tonnie's Minis, a cake and cupcake shop in the city.

Tonnie Rozier, the owner, told Harris that it was then-mayor Cory Booker who gave him the idea to open the cupcake shop in Newark.

Senator Booker joined the vice president for the stop where she bought red velvet cupcakes and slices of carrot, pineapple coconut and sponge cake with chocolate icing. A girl from the neighborhood named Ulani, who was doing her homework in the shop as she does every day, helped Harris make her selections.

Rozier told Harris that he initially shut down during the pandemic, then offered bake to order before fully reopening. He said he was helped by a PPP or Paycheck Protection Program loan.

"It really required you to be creative to get through it," Harris said.

William Westhoven contributed to this story.

Katie Sobko is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: sobko@northjersey.com 

Twitter: @katesobko