N.J. Burkett has more on Mamdani’s plan for universal child care.
EAST FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (WABC) — New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani stopped by a child care center in Brooklyn on Thursday to outline one of his biggest campaign promises: universal child care.
Mamdani has said over and over again that campaign promises are not slogans, they are promises, and he is doubling down on one of them.
“While families with young children comprise about 14% of the city’s population, they comprise about 30% of the set of New Yorkers who are leaving the city,” Mamdani said. “And that’s because after housing, child care is the number one cost in so many New Yorkers’ lives. And we see that in the average estimate of $22,500 a year being the cost of child care for a single child across these five boroughs.”
It’s one of Mamdani’s signature issues and one of the most ambitious: free child care for every family in New York.
The cost is estimated at $6 billion a year and would cover infants as young six weeks to children up to pre-kindergarten.
But the plan depends on tax increases on corporations and millionaire New Yorkers. Gov. Kathy Hochul supports the concept, but has discouraged talk of raising taxes. The plan would require a vast infrastructure of personnel and sites that have yet to be identified.
Mamdani toured a child care facility in East Flatbush on Thursday morning to highlight his vision.
And he later told reporters that while many details on funding and implementation have yet to be ironed out, he insisted that his vision is both realistic and achievable.
“On the question of timeline, on the question of phases, these are the conversations we are having over the course of this transition,” Mamdani said. “This is what animates so many of the questions of who we hire and how we create our City Hall. Because what we want to do is be clear and transparent with New Yorkers. And as soon as we have more information to share on that, we’ll be sure to do so.”
While many are skeptical this could be realized any time soon, Mamdani wants New Yorkers to know he is working on a plan.
Yanika Nicholas Jean is the parent of a 2-year-old boy.
“I honestly think it’s an amazing idea. Our community needs that type of support. A lot of our families are currently struggling, paying for child care,” Jean said.
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