_________________ FREEPORT _________________
your HEALTH body / mind / fitness
November 18, 2021
With a focus on
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HERALD Here’s to healthy holidays Inside
W,C,E
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Vol. 86 No. 47
Freeport wins JRoTC football
Veterans Day service
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NoVEMBER 18 - 24, 2021
E. First Street renamed for Judge Franco By REiNE BETHaNy rbethany@liherald.com
Courtesy Randy Milteer/Village of Freeport
MayoR RoBERT KENNEDy, far left, Lauren (Franco) Ippoliti, Ralph P. Franco Jr., Lorraine Franco and village Trustee Evette Sanchez.
On Nov. 12, under a blue sky, East First Street was renamed for the Honorable Ralph P. Franco, one of Freeport’s most civically active residents and a World War II veteran. Franco died on Oct. 14, 2020, at age 93. The renaming ceremony was attended by his widow, Lorraine, his son, Ralph P. Franco Jr., his daughter, Lauren Ippoliti, and their families. Joining them were village Trustees Chris Squeri, Jorge Martinez and Evette Sanchez,
who was first clerk when Franco was a village justice in the late 1970s. Mayor Robert Kennedy officiated. “I am proud to rename East First Street in honor of Judge Franco,” Kennedy said. “He was a past Freeport village justice who served on the bench in Freeport for more than a decade, on the Nassau County District Court for six years and, in addition, served as a village trustee and deputy mayor. Judge Franco was also a fellow veteran in the United States Navy. Freeport will miss the honesty and integrity of Judge Continued on page 13
Freeport day care chosen for state listening tour By REiNE BETHaNy rbethany@liherald.com
The Innovative Daycare Corp., at 67 Centre Street in Freeport, was chosen by state officials last month as one of two facilities to serve as visitation sites during a nine-week child care listening tour. Freeport resident Janna Rodriguez, 32, has owned and operated the group family day care facility for three years, but has been a provider for seven years. State Senators Jabari Brisport and John Brooks, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi and Assemblywoman Judy Griffin
spent over two hours with Rodriguez and her assistants, Ginelly Dejesus and Sandra Tineo. Rodriguez took the elected officials through her home-based facility and introduced them to the children who spend their days there. Brisport chairs the Senate’s Committee on Children and Families. In the Assembly, the committee is chaired by Hevesi, who is partnering with Brisport on the tour, which will continue through Dec. 2, and cover 10 regions across the state. According to Brisport’s website at nysenate.gov, the tour’s purpose is “to hear directly from childcare providers and parents
in our communities.” In the view of the officials on the tour, child care has received insufficient state and local funding for decades. Escalating operating costs have forced many child care centers to close, restricting the options for parents whose work schedules require them to find day care. “Where childcare is still available,” Brisport’s website states, “it is largely due to a dramatically underpaid workforce, overwhelmingly of women — especially women of color — who are paid wages that leave the majority in near poverty.” Rodriguez herself advocates for better child care funding by
keeping in touch with U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice and the other elected officials who represent her area. Operating a day care business, she says, has strengthened her determination to see supportive legislation enacted in Albany. She is a passionate advocate of the Build Back Better Bill now before Congress. “What the Build Back Better
plan would create is a sustainable child care sector by increasing the median income percentile for subsidy and creating a universal child care system for birth to 5 years old,” Rodriguez said. “The federal recommendation is that if you make 75 percent of the median [state] income, you could get approved Continued on page 10