Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Joins Governor Hochul to Uplift Universal Child Care Investments
Zohran Mamdani on NYC Mayor's Office transcripts.
Passages
It is a real privilege to be here alongside Governor Hochul and, echoing the governor's remarks, the New Yorkers that we are fortunate enough to serve. And I want to thank the staff here at the Women in Need shelter. I want to thank Win President and CEO Christine Quinn for the incredible work and also for welcoming us here today, as well as the teachers that we just had the lovely experience of meeting and seeing the incredible work that they do, as well as our Manhattan borough president, Brad Hoylman-Sigal. Over the past few days, the governor and I have crisscrossed our city to speak to New Yorkers about the historic investment that we're making in universal childcare. And the governor was alluding to this, the $1.2 billion that the governor has committed to transforming the lives of parents across the city. And we are so excited to be working together as partners to deliver 2,000 seats of free childcare for two-year-olds across four different sets of communities in our city before expanding to 12,000 seats by the end of next year and then a seat for every two-year-old by the end of four years. To raise a family in this city is to know joy and to know community. It is also to reckon with hardship. Here in the most expensive city in the nation, the happiness that arrives when a family realizes that they will be expecting a child is often followed by another realization: that life is only going to get more expensive in the city that they call home. Many New Yorkers are living paycheck to paycheck. They cannot afford the more than $20,000 a year per child that it costs for childcare. And parents certainly can't afford to leave their jobs to look after their children. And families living here in a Win shelter know this better than most. So many of the families here have struggled with homelessness in no small part because of the financial burdens that build. For too long, the homelessness crisis has been placed in isolation, forced from the structural cost-of-living challenges that are its root causes. Some of that has to do with stigma. And some of it also has to do with a reluctance to name the problem. Because if you name the problem, then you have a responsibility to fix the problem. The governor and I, however, are not afraid to name the affordability crisis that plagues our city. And we are not afraid to meet the responsibility that we have to deliver the very kind of change that will lift families across our five boroughs out of homelessness and into lives of dignity. Today, a new report prepared by Win detailed the connections that exist between homelessness and the exorbitant costs of childcare. The numbers laid out in this report, as the governor mentioned, are damning. 78 percent of survey respondents, all of whom are families with children living in one of Win's 16 shelters, said that they face job disruption due to difficulties in accessing childcare. Parents have not only lost their jobs or had to quit; they have had to turn down promotions and had their work hours reduced. Nearly three in ten respondents say they could not find permanent housing until they had access to childcare. Many of the housing vouchers they so desperately needed to get their lives back on track have strict work requirements attached to them. Until they know that their children will be taken care of during work hours, they can't take a job. And if they can't accept a job, they can't get a voucher, and they can't leave the shelter. And over half of all respondents said that the childcare arrangement they were currently using was unaffordable. This report, frankly, should open all of our eyes and only deepen our commitment to delivering universal childcare to every family across the five boroughs. For the families that are here today, and for so many across our city, the lack of that reliable, affordable childcare is the defining challenge that they face, the difference between a home of their own and having to spend nights in a shelter. And as we speak, there are over 3,600 children sleeping in wind shelters every night. Half of them are younger than five years old. And as the governor has made this historic commitment, and we together deliver universal childcare alongside our borough president and elected officials across the city, we also know that the changes that this will deliver will not be abstract. They will not be ones that are hard to translate into the day-to-day realities of New Yorkers. They will be felt when parents can stay in the jobs they need to make ends meet, when families can finally receive those housing vouchers that they have worked so hard to be eligible for, and when a child can receive the quality care they deserve during the day, and then return home at night to a bed that they can call their own. And if today is proof of anything — beyond the fact that I now know the words to the song “Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?,” apparently at one point it was me — it is that childcare is more than a child receiving quality education and having a place where they can learn and be looked after throughout the course of a day. Childcare is also the key to a life of opportunity, of upward mobility, of possibility — and not just for a child, but frankly, for the entire family. And I am grateful that we will be facilitating that very kind of change in the lives of so many, and in so doing, providing long-term stability to thousands of our fellow New Yorkers. And with that, I want to just echo the governor's words in thanks to the president and CEO of Win, Christine Quinn, because the work that you all are doing on a day-to-day basis, the work that you have done, and the staff that you are leading — whether it be the teachers or the security guards we just had the privilege of meeting — they are doing the very kind of work that keeps people afloat in this city. And keeps them believing in the possibility that their life could be more in the place that they call their home. And without all of you doing that work, this would not be a moment that we could rise to. And so, I just want to say thank you again. Thank you to our first mom governor that we have here in the State of New York, and thank you as well to our borough president, all of whom have been committed to ensuring that tomorrow is a better day than today. Christine C. Quinn, President and CEO, Women in Need (Win): Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Governor Hochul. Thank you, Borough President Hoylman-Segal, which is the first time I've gotten to say that, so that's very exciting. Brad and I go way back. But thank you, everyone, for being here today. I also want to thank the elected officials' offices who are with us today. As has been said, my name is Christine Quinn, and I'm the president and CEO of Win. Win is the largest provider of transitional housing and supportive services for families with children in shelters. Right now, there are more children in shelters than there are seats in Yankee Stadium — in the greatest and richest city in the world, that is nothing short of a sin. Every day, Win operates 16 family shelters and eight supportive housing facilities across the city. In the past year, we've served nearly 10,000 of our neighbors, including more than 5,000 children, helping them break the intergenerational cycle of homelessness. Our mission is to create a foundation where families can rebuild, find safety, stability, and the resources they need to move out of shelter and into homes of their own. The average length of time in a Win shelter is 11.1 months. As the mayor said, half of our children under five. That's a quarter of a child's life spent not in their own home, which has, even in a great facility like Win, a lasting negative impact. We know that parents cannot provide for themselves and their families, they cannot thrive independently, if they cannot go to work. And make no mistake, every mom in this shelter who is work-able wants to work. And they can't go to work if they don't have access to safe, reliable, and affordable childcare. From on-site childcare services here, to after-school programs here, to tutoring, to Camp Win, our work is to make sure we help our families move out of shelter. But Win’s childcare services are limited. We're basically 8 to 6, so we'll stay a little later if we have to. And often when you're homeless and you're starting work or starting back in work, you get the worst shift. So, 8 to 6 is just not that helpful. As the mayor and the governor have said, today we release a report, a comprehensive, unique report with eye-opening insights to how the lack of accessible childcare is fueling housing instability for parents living in shelter. This is the first of its kind study focused on the childcare preferences of families in shelter. And we need that information. If we don't talk to the people we are charged with serving, we will never have our services be on point. When we think of family homeless crisis, we don't often imagine a toddler, the little ones we just met. The mayor was the first one who stole the cookie, I'll just say. But that is the devastating truth of who is homeless. We know that our families experience childcare-related work disruptions or even job loss at twice the rate of their low-income peers. In our report, we found that 78 percent of respondents reported experiencing some type of job disruption because they couldn't find affordable childcare. 78 percent. Those disruptions led directly to housing instability. No parent should have to choose between caring for their child and earning a paycheck. But too many families are forced to make that choice every day. The high cost of childcare is a driving force that is keeping families in shelter and sending them in to shelter. The unprecedented $8 billion investment by the governor and supported by the mayor can change this reality. Within that plan is a significant contribution to the childcare voucher program across the state. Right now, in New York City, for close to a year, one of the childcare vouchers has not been given out. In 10 months, one of the childcare vouchers has not been given out because the Adams administration ran out of money and did not fill the coffers. One of the other ones, as the mayor said, you have to work to get the childcare voucher, but you can't find a job if you don't have a childcare voucher. Also, if you are homeless, make no mistake, you have to go to a lot of appointments with the government. If you miss an appointment, you get kicked off your benefits. But if you don't have child care, you're then required to schlep your child all across the city to sit in on government appointments. To hear things that have happened to you in your life that perhaps you don't want your young child to know about, or to find out in that kind of an antiseptic environment. So, we applaud the governor, the mayor, the borough president, and everyone else who is pushing to first and foremost make sure that the true face of homelessness is known in the city. It's a single mom and a five-year-old child. To make sure that their reality is known — that they're losing jobs because they don't have childcare, and then they're solving that problem by this unprecedented investment that covers every type of mom that is out there, including homeless mothers. There was a period of time at Win where we called our families the forgotten face of homelessness. But because the governor's leadership and the mayor's leadership, they are no longer forgotten in our five boroughs, and that makes today a truly exceptionally great day at Win.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceSo, I'll just start on the question of how to ensure that this is a system that brings in each and every New Yorker that could benefit from it. We just finished the application period for 3K and Pre-K, and we made sure that in that time we were also doing sustained outreach within our shelters across New York City because for far too long, city government has overlooked a number of New Yorkers for whom this could be a transformative program. So, some of it comes back to the outreach to ensure that each and every New Yorker knows that they are eligible for these programs, and we made that clear time and time again. And now for 2K, thanks to the governor's commitment in this partnership, we're talking about 2,000 seats this year, 12,000 seats next year, a seat for every two-year-old that wants it by the end of four years. The 2,000 seats by the end of this year will be across four different sets of communities. The eligibility is just having to live in those communities. And so New Yorkers who are residents of shelters within those communities will also be part of the very New Yorkers that we're reaching out to make sure that they're applying for this. That period is going to open up in the early summer, and we're also informing New Yorkers that we're looking to actually have this meet their needs. We're not looking to be punitive in the manner in which they can qualify for it. So, it doesn't matter how much money you make, doesn't matter what your profession is, doesn't even matter what your immigration status is, and it doesn't even matter if your child turns two before the date that school starts. If they turn two before the end of the year, it's also going to be rolling admission so that they can actually enter into the system.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceWell, I'll just say and then pass it over to our CEO of Wynn that it's a testament to Wynn's work that they have, both at this shelter and others' child care centers on site, that this is for shelter residents, that they can send their children to this and know that they're not just getting child care, they're getting high-quality, engaging child care. I can tell you as the mayor that I wanted to stay there as we were going through those services.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceI think one thing that I'll say is that I am so thankful for the governor's commitment of a multi-year one, that this year is 2,000 seats, next year is 12,000 seats. And then as the governor said at the press conference just earlier this week, she and the state are not walking away from this because child care is also a central focus of her work and the work of the state. And so, we have long known that the 2,000 seats this year will expand to 12,000 seats next year and will expand to Staten Island. Now, one of the difficulties in ramping up so quickly is also being able to ensure that we can deliver exactly the high-quality care to the entirety of the communities that we are speaking about. What you'll find is that [with] the four different sets of neighborhoods that we spoke of, they are comprised into school districts. Now, in any other borough, a school district does not encapsulate the entirety of the borough. However, on Staten Island, it is one single school district for the entirety of the borough. So we wanted to ensure that when we make a promise, we can fulfill that promise. We know that we'll be able to do so next year, and we know that for this year we'll be able to do so for school districts that are of a smaller scale in different parts of the city. But as the president of Win was saying, Christine Quinn, that this is 2,000 to start. It's 12,000 next year. By the end of four years, there is no lottery. It is going to be universal child care for every single two-year-old that wants to enroll in the way in which we're providing it for three-year-olds and for four-year-olds. And I just want to say a thanks as well to the governor in that the $1.2 billion, it wasn't just to step up on vouchers. It wasn't just to step up on a first-of-its-kind 2K program. More than $100 million was specifically allocated to fix the issues with 3K, where the city was unable to meet the demand. And so what that has allowed us to do is spend an entire month in some change talking to New Yorkers about the fact that for the first time in a long time, the city is being open and direct about the fact that we want everyone to sign up, [that] everyone is eligible and that we can actually start to meet that demand.
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the sourceYou know, what I will say is that I'm incredibly heartened, as the borough president was saying, by the partnership that the governor and I have been building over many months. And I think what we see in the governor's actions is not just a commitment to the financial well-being of our city, but also to advancing an affordability agenda — making it easier to call the city home. We have quite some time left in the budget process. I'm encouraged by the conversations we're having. And I'm thankful that, for the first time in a long time, it feels as if, between City Hall and Albany, there is a shared direction that we're heading in, and it's a direction to uplift working-class New Yorkers. ###
Zohran MamdaniCheck at the source
Every passage above is taken from this recording: NYC Mayor's Office transcripts, Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Joins Governor Hochul to Uplift Universal Child Care Investments.