Transcript: Mayor Mamdani & Governor Hochul to Launch Free Child Care for Two-Year-Olds in NYC — Governor Announces Investments to Deliver Universal Child Care for New York Children Under Five
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
Good morning, New York. Today, we take one step to realizing a city where every New Yorker, every family, every child can afford to keep calling it their home. It is an honor to be here in Flatbush alongside Governor Hochul. Governor, thank you for your partnership, and thank you for your leadership. And I want to say thank you to the incredible organizers, advocates, [and] elected officials that we have here at every single level of government, who have willed this day into existence. Truly, thank you to all of you. To those who doubt the power of the people to make their own destiny, to the cynics who insist that politics is too broken to deliver meaningful change, to those who think that the promises of a campaign cannot survive once confronted with the realities of government, today is your answer. This is a day that so many believed would never come. But it is a day that working people across our city have delivered through the sheer power of their hard work, and their unwavering belief that a better future was indeed within their grasp. We stand here today because of the millions of phone numbers that were dialed, conversations had, voicemails left, each of them a New Yorker speaking to another New Yorker, each of them making the case for a future that working people could in fact afford. And we stand here today because of the untold stairs climbed and doors knocked by volunteers who encouraged neighbors they had never met to imagine a New York where a dignified life was in fact possible. And we stand here today because of the young New Yorkers who were no longer willing to accept that the joy of beginning a family had to be paired with the heartbreak of moving away from a city that they had always loved. In short, my friends, we stand here today because of a movement brave enough to make a promise and even braver to know that it could fulfill it. Today, that movement, that fight, that New York has won. And if this moment, where I stand alongside our governor, marks the dawn of a new day, we know that it does so because New Yorkers have lifted it themselves. With their own hands, their refusal to accept that government could not deliver the change that they knew was possible. And that new day will cast a light across our city. It will be felt by millions of New Yorkers, by Mariah in this room and by so many others across every single part of the city that we call home. It will be felt not only when we make Pre-K truly universal but expand this care to include all two- and three-year-olds across this city. As the governor said, we will deliver care by working in partnership with child care providers, especially home-based providers who have been doing this work without thanks or recognition for far too long. We will build on the city's existing 3-K program and say, no longer will a family in Flatbush be offered a seat, but have to find out that that seat is in Astoria. We will add seats in the neighborhoods where demand has not been met. This will be felt by expanded subsidies for tens of thousands of additional families. It will be felt when parents look at their bank accounts at the end of the year and see that they have saved more than $20,000 per child. And it will be felt when neighborhoods no longer feel hollow and empty because those we love haven't been forced to move away to raise their children elsewhere. It will be felt when our children receive high-quality care and enjoy better outcomes later in life as a direct result. And I want to be clear, this will include children with disabilities and children who live in our shelters. This will be felt when our economy hums with the hard work of parents who are able to raise their children to return to the jobs they love, rather than have to quit because they can't afford to pay for care. And that feeling will not be abstract. Its mere absence has been measured to the tune of $23 billion in a single year of economic productivity in this city. I want to express how proud I am of this victory that we have achieved together, the political will we have mustered together, and the partnership between city and state government that we will enact this movement's vision together. And I stand here on this stage alongside our governor in deep recognition that for too many years, the relationship between Albany and City Hall has been defined by dysfunction and discord, by feuds and by factionalism. Petty grievances have interfered with the work of serving the people. Political posturing has consumed the attention of those with the power to transform lives. And I am deeply committed, alongside this governor, to charting a new course, one where people look to [the] government and expect collaboration, not competition. And I am deeply grateful to count Governor Hochul as a partner in this work. And I know that for Governor Hochul, unlike any governor before, this progress is deeply personal. She, like so many other parents, could not find childcare when she had her son and had to quit her job working for Senator Moynihan. She, better than most, knows how devastating these costs can be and how they can put a career on pause. And the governor has heard what I have heard, that these struggles are in fact ones that are reflected across our city. These are the struggles of parents pushing strollers here in Flatbush, from couples in Astoria who want to stay in Astoria, for New Yorkers in Washington Heights working three jobs to make ends meet and it still isn't enough. And that if [the] government makes it just a little bit easier to get by in this city, to raise a family in this city, these New Yorkers would be able to afford the lives they have dreamt of in this city. No one is asking for life in New York City to be easy. They just want it to be a little less hard. So today, together, that is exactly what we are achieving. So, I thank Governor Hochul for her partnership. I thank her for her leadership and I thank her for standing alongside me and this entire coalition as we deliver for the parents, the children, the people of New York whose voices are finally being heard. And lastly, let us never forget that victories like these are political choices. Governor Hochul and I have made the choice to deliver for working families. We have made the choice to take these steps towards universal child care. We have made this choice to fix 3-K, to deliver universal 2-Care, to ensure that as the governor said, the days of empty promises are over. And we have made this choice so that no longer do New Yorkers have to make the choice between this city and their family. This is a choice born out of a new era of politics. An era where working people in this city will finally be at the heart of the decisions that we make. And today, day eight, shows exactly what that politics will look like. Thank you, Governor Hochul, thank you to everyone on this stage, and thank you to New Yorkers for believing that this city could in fact be the one that we deserve. Truly. I now would like to pass it over to Sharon Levy of the YMCA. Sharon Levy, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, YMCA of Greater New York: Good morning. Thank you. Thank you for being here at the Flatbush Y. It's been an amazing day. My name is Sharon Levy. I am a proud staff person at the YMCA of Greater New York, a community service organization that you all may know—you're in the building—175 years of providing programs and services to New Yorkers across the city in all five boroughs, especially child care, youth services, and after-school. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. As a long-time advocate for communities across the city and programs and services provided by the Y, with a deep focus on child care and youth services, I have been annoying many of the elected officials behind me for decades. Today, I also stand here as a proud mom of four, born and raised in Queens, and a person who has actually used these services to maintain my day job and to continue to provide for my family. Without Pre-K and child care, I would not be standing here. So, thank you, and thank you. Child care is what makes it possible for many of our families to thrive in the city that we love. Universal child care makes it possible for all of our families to thrive in the city that we love, to stay here, to be here for generations, and to dig in. As a provider, I appreciate the expansion of programming, increased funding, [and] the opportunity to serve two-year-olds. But as a mom, I appreciate all of those things as well. The idea of universal, year-round programming is an incredible thing for New York families. I don't know about all of you, but my job does not end at the end of June and starts up again in September. And just in closing, the YMCA and our many partners here in the room—Campaign for Children people, hello—across the sector, many of whom are here to celebrate these efforts and are ready to provide these programs across the city for families in need. Thank you so much. And next up, Soyona Dawes.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI would just say that this is a day that many working families have been dreaming of for years, if not decades, and I'm so thankful to the partnership and the leadership of Governor Hochul in the two of us together making this a reality. It is going to be the difference for so many families in whether or not they can stay in the city or they have to leave the city because today what we have announced is more than a billion dollars in investments to make universal child care a reality across these five boroughs. We are now going to be able to fix 3-K, we are going to be able to deliver 2-Care universally across the city over the next four years, and we are going to be able to make it easier to raise a family in a city where today it's a good deal if you can get $22,500 a year for child care. Those days are now coming to an end and the two of us are firmly committed in fulfilling this commitment to New Yorkers and making this a reality.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, we are anticipating being able to serve around 2,000 children in this city this fall, and that is going to continue to expand each and every year until we are serving each and every two-year-old across the city. And we are going to be in sustained conversations with parents, with child care providers, as we map out the logistics of the phase-in. And the beautiful thing about this is that every parent knows that we are going to be able to deliver this for every single child across New York City. 2-Care will be a reality by the end of this first term.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceLet me just say something. What this says is that the governor is firmly committed to making it easier to raise a family here in New York City. And the governor has said time and time again the importance of child care. It was in the governor's State of the State last year about universal child care. And there are many politicians where you may hear them say something and then you ask yourself how much it really means. Today, it's an illustration of exactly what it means. We're talking about a $1.2 billion investment in New York City to deliver universal child care. And I can tell you, and as I told the governor, just as we were walking down the stairs, there were people on that stage behind the governor, behind myself, who were crying because of the fight that they have put into this for so many years. And I'm so thankful that this is an announcement of what's possible when working people believe in the city they deserve and when we in power actually listen to it.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I will give an answer to that. I also have Emmy Liss here who's going to be leading up a lot of our incredible child care work. We have seen that 3-K has been out of reach for a number of New Yorkers in this city. I alluded to it earlier where I spoke about a family in Flatbush that would be offered a seat but find out the seat is in Astoria. So, what the governor's commitment today also demonstrates is $100 million to fixing 3-K specifically. The city will also be a partner in that effort. And then the first year of 2-Care is going to be around $75 million as we roll that out for about 2,000 children across the city. The second year will be about $425 million. And having the state's partnership and commitment, it means that we can in fact deliver excellent levels of care because this is not just a commitment to the children, it's also a commitment to building up the infrastructure to deliver this to those children.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I'll ask Emmy to come up for the first question on the specificity of it.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani & Governor Hochul to Launch Free Child Care for Two-Year-Olds in NYC — Governor Announces Investments to Deliver Universal Child Care for New York Children Under Five.