Zohran Mamdani’s Joint Announcement For Implementing Universal Childcare In New York City

A photo of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressing the crowd during his announcement of expansion plans for affordable childcare.

On January 8, less than ten days into his term as the mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani unveiled a plan to fulfill his pledge of passing universal childcare. At the Flatbush Branch YMCA, he announced expansions for free and affordable programs for children under the age of five, providing financial relief for working-class parents.

For decades, the burden of caring for children while also working a job—or, more often than not, jobs—has fallen purely on the parents, with little to no assistance from the government. In fact, some Americans annually spend as much as $20,000 on daycare alone, and given that the median household income in New York City is right around $80,000 a year, such high costs can take a big toll on the livelihoods of families.

The push for universal childcare was a critical part of Mamdani’s campaign, and it’s been a central focus now that he is in office. A few weeks after winning the mayoral election, Mamdani stated on social media, “New Yorkers kept telling me the same thing: they’re thinking of leaving because they can’t afford to raise their kids here. Universal childcare isn’t just a promise—it’s how we make this a city for everyone.”

This sentiment is what drove the development of the plan he presented alongside Governor Kathy Hochul. The joint effort focuses on making childcare more accessible through a series of targeted expansions. Under the proposal, the state will cover the full cost for the initial two years of a program offering free childcare to children under the age of two in New York City. The rollout will prioritize neighborhoods with the greatest demand so that resources reach families who need them most right away.

In addition, the city and state are working together to broaden the existing 3K program, which provides free childcare and early education for three-year-olds. The goal of expanding this program is to increase the number of available slots for children and improve enrollment processes to accommodate more families. Beyond the city-specific measures, the governor has outlined a goal to achieve universal access to pre-kindergarten programs statewide by June of 2029, the end of the academic year. 

Part of the overall proposal is widening childcare subsidies to cover thousands more families across the state as well. These subsidies, which are determined based on the size of a household and its income, help reduce out-of-pocket expenses. When combined, these components are expected to extend childcare options backed by the city and state to nearly 100,000 additional children.

The successful implementation of the plan is estimated to cost around $1.2 billion, and it’s to be drawn from the state’s existing budget allocations. In other words, the tax implications for the average New York resident will remain unchanged. There will be plenty of support for program operations, staff hiring, and infrastructure improvements.

At the moment, the most important thing to note is that this is just a plan. Only after deliberations in the state legislature, where it will be reviewed and potentially amended during upcoming sessions, will we see whether the plan actually becomes a reality. Still, the public and many officials are confident that Mamdani’s proposals will pass, especially since they aim to support a large number of families in the city.

In New York City, where costs often exceed those in other major cities, childcare affordability has long been a barrier. As mentioned earlier, quality childcare can take up to $20,000 per year. Because housing and living expenses are already high in the city, this adds pressure that disproportionately affects low-to-middle-income households. With the new proposals, Mamdani and Hochul plan to mitigate these issues by following the footsteps of states like Vermont and Washington, shifting the financial load to public resources and implementing subsidized childcare systems.

Transcript of the Question and Answer Session with Mamdani and Hochul (January 8, 2026)

This transcript was made available by the New York City Office of the Mayor (nyc.gov). It captures the question and answer session, following the announcement, between inquirers and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, and briefly, Emmy Liss, the Executive Director of the Office of Childcare. Below, you can follow along to clarify doubts or find specific answers to any questions you may have:

Question: Mr. Mayor, I wonder if I could ask you how many 2-Care seats will be available this year, and have you identified the high-needs districts that are going to be getting the first one?

Mamdani: So, 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.

Question: Governor, so this is going to cost $1.7 billion just for the two-year investments that you already announced. How are you going to pay for this without new taxes? Is that also on the table, potentially also after we get re-elected? And is there enough money to give the new mayor his free bus program?

Hochul: Well, we're focused on this today. And also, we're announcing our budget on the 20th of January, so you'll be able to see the sources of our revenues. I will say this, that we have managed our finances quite well. We have been smart about setting aside money to be able to fund some of my ambitious plans, but within our means. And certainly, we keep an eye on the revenues that only come to light at the end of the year, which is the bonuses, the taxation on bonuses from Wall Street. And you calculate all that in. So, we feel very confident that we can afford this program. Again, this is $4.5 billion. Much of it has already been committed, but $1.7 in new dollars. And so, we're going to do this.

Question: What does he say about his success in Albany and your working relationship in the upcoming session?

Mamdani: Let 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.

Question: How much do you think needs to be spent on 3-K? Where does it need to be spent to fix the issues that have been reported about? And also, how much do you think that 2K slots will cost over the next couple of years?

Mamdani: So, 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.

Question: Yeah, on 2-Care specifically, are we looking at a contracted program? You mentioned home-based daycares. Are we also going to see some of the early childhood centers used? So physically, what is that going to look like? And on the new investments in vouchers, New York City, our waitlist has been closed. Families have been languishing on it. Is that something that can reopen with these new investments?

Mamdani: So, I'll ask Emmy to come up for the first question on the specificity of it.

Liss: Sure. So, on the 2-Care program, our intention is to work, as the mayor said, closely in partnership with child care providers and home-based providers. And that will be built initially through an expansion of our contracted system, which today does include both center-based providers and home-based providers alike. And we'll go deeper, particularly as we try to serve more toddlers in the settings where families have a preference to be.

Question: So, on the contract on the vouchers for the governor. The question on the vouchers, will New York City be able to reopen its waitlist and take families off that waitlist with these new investments?

Hochul: Ultimately, they will. I just don't know whether this amount of money is going to be the catalyst for doing that right now. We don't want anyone waiting on a waitlist. That's why literally when our budget was already done last year, and we found that the city had miscalculated quite a bit on what the needs were, that I think we came up with $400 million last year, which was quite extraordinary. So, we ended up going from a $500 million commitment to an– I'm sorry, $500 million plus the foreign, I think we were in for $900 million last year. So, I will say this, I just don't know the size of the backlog and what it's going to take to eradicate that. But the goal is no more backlogs, ultimately.

Question: Could we get numbers for how much you estimate the 2-Care program would cost in years three and four, as well as do you think that the program can be funded through existing state revenues beyond this coming fiscal year, FY27 through FY28, 29, 30, or is it just for this current coming fiscal year that it would be funded with existing state revenues?

Hochul: I will tell you it's rather extraordinary for a governor to commit even the next year based on the uncertainty that is being unleashed in normal life, but also with the Trump administration. So, we're committed to this in the long run. I just can't tell you what the costs are going to be at that time. I need to get the money that the Trump administration is obligated to do, that has been authorized by Congress, that they're ignoring. I need to get that turned back on, as well as look at other areas where they're assaulting us. So, for me to project three and four years down the road is asking quite a bit, but we're committed to making this fully universal for the entire state. That is our objective.