New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared together Thursday for the second time in three days as they build on their universal childcare agenda.
Earlier in the week, Mamdani and Hochul announced the first four communities to receive free 2-K seats this fall. There’s one in every borough except one: Staten Island. The city says this rollout is just a start; the plan is to expand the program universally within four years, with 12,000 seats coming in 2027, including Staten Island. Staten Islanders, still mad about the blizzard, aren’t pleased.
Hochul has committed over $1.2 billion to support early child care in the city. That two-year plan includes $73 million to fund the first set of free 2-K seats this fall. That investment will grow to $425 million next year. By the fall of 2027, the universal pre-K program is expected to cover about 12,000 kids across New York City.
Beyond those two years, funding for the program isn’t clear.
On Thursday, the governor stood with former NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, now at the helm of WIN (Women in Need), which operates family shelters.
WIN released a new report Thursday, one that finds almost two-thirds of its clients to be homeless because child care issues cost them jobs. Hochul says that’s one of the reasons the money she’s earmarked over the next two years — $1.2 billion — is essential.
Hochul and Mamdani greeted children at the family shelter to highlight the startling numbers from the report: Among homeless moms at more than a dozen shelters across the city, 78% reported their job was disrupted because they couldn’t fine childcare. Nearly two-thirds lost their jobs due to lack of childcare, and 41% had to turned down promotion because they didn’t have childcare.
“We have 700,000 open jobs across the state of New York, but if you don’t have someone to take care of your children, it doesn’t work. And that is the foundational premise behind needing child care,” said Hochul. “We talk about the high cost of childcare is driving people out of our state. It’s driving moms out of their jobs.”