Governor Kathy Hochul: Good morning. This is the day that everything changes. I am so proud to be here at the Flatbush Y to declare that New York State is open for families. And I'm so proud to be joined by an extraordinary partner. First week on the job, but you’d never know it. Mayor Mamdani has put forth a vision for this city that I am a big supporter of. And that is to make this city more affordable, more livable, more people friendly.
And we're going to continue working together. We also know that for a long time, families have been crying out for help. And I want to thank everyone in this room who's listened to those cries, who said, “The status quo is not working. We can do better because we're New Yorkers.” Of course we can dream bigger and do more and be more audacious.
And that's why you're witnessing history here today. So, to all the champions, the advocates, our host, Sharon Levy, the vice president of the YMCA, we'll be hearing from Sharon. Our brand-newly elected City Council speaker, Julie Menin, has joined us. Soon, you're going to be hearing from a working mom. Who's a working mom in this room? I am.
But also, my colleagues in government, who are shoulder-to-shoulder with me as we've worked for many years to bring forth change for families. And I thank them for supporting our investments and our vision. And I know we're also – and I can't acknowledge all the elected, but I have to give a home turf advantage to Senator Kevin Parker. Let's give him a round of applause, this is his district.
And Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who's been a great champion, and mother of little Daniel, who's been featured in many – Daniel's here? I never go anywhere to see this woman without Daniel at [her] side. I think Daniel's going to be talking about running for office before too long. It's the only life this poor child knows.
But the families who've been crying for help, whether you live in Flatbush or you live upstate in the Finger Lakes. This is something every family can agree on. The cost of child care is too damn high. As I said, I'm New York's first mom governor, and I understand the urgency of this crisis because I lived it. Now, it was a few decades ago, I'm willing to admit that. But I had a job that I dreamed about. My highest aspiration, and I encourage others to dream bigger, was to be a staffer for a senator someday on Capitol Hill. I achieved that in my twenties with Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
But our family was beginning. And when that little boy came along, I could not find child care, and certainly not child care that we could afford with two government employees on a payroll. So, I had to make a choice that I never thought I would do, is walk away from that dream job and become a full-time mom because it costs too much for child care for me to walk out the door in the morning. So, I put my dreams on hold. And to be honest with you, I never knew when they'd get back on track.
It was a big time of uncertainty for us. But not only that. When your income, two-family income, goes down to one, you're clipping a lot of coupons for diapers and formula. And you're just sitting there, stressed out, looking at that bill at the end of the month, the utilities and the groceries and the gas and everything else. So, that was my lived experience. And now that little one, that baby, has his own three-year-old, and nothing's changed. It’s still one of the biggest expenses for our families is the cost of child care.
So today, we're working together with the mayor at this incredible place to announce the first major steps to make child care universal, truly universal, here in New York City. As well as transforming the lives of children and parents all across the state. So, we've already invested – thank you, legislators – a significant amount in child care, about three-and-a-half times what it was when I first became governor just four years ago. More than any governor who came before me, $8 billion in child care already. But we know – yes, that's a lot of money. But we know that this is a determinative factor on whether or not a family who wants to stay in New York or come to New York, whether or not they can pull it all off and make it work.
It also affects our businesses. Think about this. Why do people need child care? Because they're going to a job, they're going to work, they're part of our economy, part of our productivity. Revenues that we need in Albany. So, if people stay home, it all collapses. We saw that during the pandemic. And I'm looking at my commissioner of labor, Roberta Reardon – I don't want to mention the pandemic, but we had hundreds, millions of people collecting unemployment because there were no jobs. And we're not talking about that scale anymore, heaven help us if we do. But this is a daily occurrence.
And I want to say, we are so focused, because I know my story is not unique. Right here, child care costs between $26,000 and $40,000 a year. That's more than a cost, that's double the cost of a SUNY or CUNY college education. Think about that. I can either take care of my child, or pay for college someday? What are we talking about here? A family with an infant and a toddler, and that was me, but today they're making half of the city’s median income. They're spending half of their money on child care. The math just doesn't add up.
So here's what's happening. Either people are getting together and talking about planning for that baby, maybe painting an extra bedroom – if you have one, I don't know who has an extra bedroom anymore – paint the living room. You should be talking about that. But instead, they're talking about, maybe we can't afford to have kids at all. Maybe it's not going to be part of our dream. Or sick and tired of trying to figure all this out in a patchwork system that's not working, they get worn down by the stress of it all. They get worn down by it, this takes a toll.
But at some point, they might just say, “I can't do this anymore. I have to leave a place I grew up in, a place I love.” That to me is tragic. When someone leaves, we're all diminished. Our state, our city, we're sapped of the collective vitality and energy that each family and each child brings. They're growing up in a different state.
And for decades, governors have promised some form of child care, but never delivered. And I'm here to say, the era of empty promises ends with the two of us right here, right now. We've laid the foundation since I took office, and I announced this in my State of the State exactly one year ago, that we'll be on a path to lay the groundwork for a robust, universal child care system statewide. We've already invested $6.5 billion in our state child care assistance program, dramatically expanding the eligibility and capping costs at $15 per week for most of those families. That's incredible.
We've doubled the number of children served by vouchers. We also knew we had a workforce shortage, especially after the pandemic. We invested over $500 million in direct bonuses to 80,000 workers to let them know we value them and to lift them up. And we also increased reimbursement rates, which we were told were too low. We increased them by 50 percent. This is to help the providers maintain their staff and have a high quality of care. But also, we needed buildings. We needed investments, $110 million in new capital funding to open hundreds of new child care centers.
Now, all this groundwork was important. It's still important. But when I announced we're going to begin on a path to universal child care, I said this has to go first. It doesn't happen overnight. We just don't declare, “We now have universal child care in the State of New York.” You're all with me on that. But it has to start somewhere. It requires skilled and caring workers in safe and welcoming places and sustained investment.
And today, we're turning that foundation into a concrete multi-year roadmap that will ultimately deliver universal child care for every single New York family statewide, regardless of their income. Every child will have the same opportunity to get the same head start, and no working parent will have to sacrifice their paycheck and career to make sure their babies and toddlers have an opportunity to grow and thrive.
So let's take a couple minutes to talk about how we accomplished this, starting right here in New York City. And I'm going to let the mayor talk about most of this. But this city just elected a mayor who spoke boldly of his vision for universal child care and what needs to happen to be on this road. Back in November, fresh off the election, we sat down, we had many conversations leading up to this, but we started talking about how we make this vision become reality, no longer a dream. And I told him this. Whatever the city was ready to deliver, I would be his partner 100 percent of the way.
And today, I'm proud to announce that New York State is paying the full cost to launch 2-Care for the first time, [a] universal daycare for two-year-olds, as proposed by Mayor Mamdani. And we're not just paying for one year of the program, we don't usually go one year out in our budget. But just to let you know how serious we are, we're taking the unprecedented step to not just commit for the 2027 budget – which I'm working on right now – but also the following year as well to show you we're in this for the long haul.
In the next few minutes, you'll hear from the mayor about how to implement his plan, you'll explain all this. But as the city builds capacity and trains workers and brings more communities online, we'll continue to provide the necessary funding to make sure that every child has access to this child care. Now across the state, my friends, this might be a newsflash, but there's more to New York State than just New York City. Can you work with me on this? So, we've got to look out for everybody.
So, I have a little bit [of a] different approach for upstate, because they're not as far ahead when it comes to four-year-old and three-year-old programs. We have some catch-up to do there, and I'm proud to lead that effort. But it's an equally ambitious approach. And despite the fact that we've had a universal Pre-K program in use for a decade, people aren't doing it. Communities are not stepping up to do this. Communities have just not found a way to implement this, and that's a real barrier for families living outside the city.
So, to help them grow aligned more closely to what we're doing here in the city, we're going to invest $470 million to support the administration of universal Pre-K across all of our towns and our cities, and deliver on the guarantee I'm making today that universal Pre-K will be available for every single four-year-old across New York by 2028, two years from now.
Because every child deserves this, the same opportunity. It will not be mandatory for those who are staying in parts of the states, we don't want to be told what to do, I get it. If you have another path to take care of your kids, God bless you. But a lot of people don't, and that's [who] we also have to step up for.
On top of this, I'm announcing a pilot to start a web of community-based daycares. When? Not someday in the future, but starting this year to provide year-round, full-day, affordable care for newborns to three-year-olds across the state. Now that's going to start – we'll be announcing the initial counties, again, some baby steps are required here, so work with us. But the initial counties we announced, and we talked about how we grow this up after this initial year or two, to grow this exponentially.
And we'll double down on the proven success of our state child care assistance program, our voucher system, with an additional $1.2 billion for communities across the state, including New York City, a 40 percent increase from last year. That'll help hundreds of thousands of families just keep their costs low and keep their heads above water. So this year, we're committing an additional $1.7 billion in what we call recurring spending, something my budget director hates, but meaning we're committed. And so, that means our total child care investment this year will be $4.5 billion in the State of New York.
We're in this. We're in for the long haul. Because for working parents, having access to affordable child care you can trust, it changes everything in your life. Because before kids, you didn't think about it, but all of a sudden, when that baby is born and you hold the baby for the first time, or you adopt a child, bring the baby into your family, your priorities shift within seconds. And all of a sudden, your whole fiber and your whole being is surrounded by doing something that's going to help make this baby's life better than perhaps your own life was.
That is what parents want to do. And I want to let them do that. And if we can take this stress point off the plate of all the other struggles they have, my friends, then we are making New York State and New York City the best places in the nation to live, to raise a family, to grow a business, and to prosper. Everyone has access to this.
And who are we talking about? People in this room? Think about people all across the state. The nurse from Yonkers, who gets up at the crack of dawn – I wanted to say this, [but she] no longer has to pack lunches if the kids are school age, we do free school lunches and breakfasts. A lot of parents are happy with that one.
We're feeding our babies, taking care of our kids. But they drop their kids off at 6 in the morning, get to work by 7. Or a housekeeper in Midwood who leaves her toddler with the neighbor in the morning, trying to figure out what's going to happen if the neighbor gets sick or has to go somewhere. These are all stresses.
Now I mention Mariah here, mother of two. Mariah, stand up please. Mariah has a dream. She's pursuing her job of becoming a nurse, while juggling not one job, but two jobs as an esthetician and a teacher just to pay the bills. Every morning at 7:30 in the morning, she drops the kids off at a daycare down the road. And in that moment, when she says goodbye, and I'm sure there's a lot of tears, but you know that they're safe and cared for. That allows you to take that sigh of relief and say, “My baby's okay, my child's okay, I'm going to be okay, and we're going to get through this.”
To give that gift to people, I cannot underestimate what that does to your psyche and your whole being. Because as I said, that child is your entire world. When your child is okay, then you're going to be just fine. And so, that's the power of affordable childcare. Because [for] parents like Mariah and others, [that’s] the foundation they need.
And I'm proud to deliver on this very ambitious plan with existing state revenues. We got it done, we found a path forward, and there's nothing going to get in our way. And I want to continue focusing on these transformational plans and the support we're providing Mayor Mamdani to make our collective vision become a reality. So, this is how we thrive, this is how we make life better.
So, to Mariah, and all the parents out there across New York, this one's for you. We're going to lift you up, we're going to support you, we hear you, and I'll never stop fighting for you, your families, and your futures. Thank you very much everyone.
Let me welcome Mayor Mamdani, someone who's also a big dreamer, but also knows that dreams can get you this far, but now it's about the implementation, it's the execution, and it's the follow through. So that's the difference. People can espouse great thoughts, like many [who] have come and gone in our halls of government for a long time. But you're looking at someone who wants to get things done, and I'll be a willing partner to that. Ladies and gentlemen, our mayor.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani: 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.
Soyona Dawes: Hello, good afternoon. My name is Soyona Dawes, and my son attends 3-K here at the YMCA. And as a working mother—thank you—as a working mother with a child in a 3-K program, I see firsthand how extraordinarily difficult it is for families to secure high-quality child care even before considering the astronomical cost.
Parents are forced to make impossible tradeoffs between their careers, their finances, and their children's early development, often navigating long wait lists, inconsistent availability, and prices that rival college tuition. These challenges underscore the urgent need to make 3-K truly universal statewide, ensuring that every child, regardless of zip code, has access to [a] strong educational foundation.
New York State must also partner with New York City to launch the Mayor's Signature 2-Care Program and finally fulfill the promise of universal 3-K access in a city where demand continues to far outpace supply. At the same time, other counties should be supported in developing innovative child care pilots that provide high-quality, affordable care to families at all income levels, recognizing that this is not solely a New York City issue.
High-quality child care is critical to children's essential growth and development, and by supporting them at this formative age, we are investing in a future where today's children are empowered to become tomorrow's caregivers and leaders. Finally, expanding child care subsidies to tens of thousands of additional families is essential to easing the financial burden on working parents and strengthening the workforce.
As affordable and reliable child care is not a luxury, but a critical economic and social necessity. Thank you, Governor Hochul, for being a true champion for families and affordability and as a working mom, for understanding that when parents are supported, children thrive and communities grow.
Governor Hochul: Thanks for joining us on this historic day as we send a message to families all over New York State and New York City that we have heard you and we have a plan to respond to one of your greatest financial needs and that is child care. I could not be happier to partner with our mayor on the job for eight days, Mayor Mamdani, and the vision he set forth for this city and what he had hoped to do is becoming realized as well, building on what we're doing across the state, but I want him to know and all of you to know that he has a strong partner in the State of New York. Mayor, anything you want to add?
Mayor Mamdani: I 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.
Question: Actually, I have a question for each one of you. Governor, I wonder what effect the loss of federal aid to child care from the federal government is going to have on this program but also your ability to close the budget.
Governor Hochul: No, that's–you can't make this stuff up. I mean, you get a letter one day, two days ago, that says that the federal government is taking away $3.6 billion dollars from essential child care programs as well as social services. Why? Because this state happens to have a Democratic governor. I mean, that is basically what they have said, telegraphing that they're coming after Democratic governors, five of us, for no reason at all.
And I want them to know this, that you may think you're punishing me as a Democrat, but this is a county program. We are simply the pass-through. The money goes to providers selected by the counties. They run this. And I would think that the 47 of our 62 counties that are deemed red have Republican governance, ought to be raising their voices because these are their constituents. It's not me. It is the people all over this state.
But I take such offense to this war on children. Think about it. What we're talking about in November, right before Thanksgiving, that they will not feed our kids. Stop feeding our kids with the SNAP program. Then they're saying we're stopping vaccinating kids because we don't care about their health. We're stopping their parents from being able to provide health insurance that they can afford.
And now they're trying to take away our child care program. This will not affect these commitments here today. We're looking at our litigation strategies. They have asked for us within literally two weeks to provide volumes of information that is in the 62 counties. They're asking for personal identifying information about people who benefit from these programs, as well as their social security numbers.
So they're on a fishing expedition and are saying if we don't give them all this information, which is absolutely impossible to collect, and if we were going to do it, impossible, that if we don't do this in a matter of days, a week and a half, that this program will be shut down.
So, we've been successful in court before. It's a shame that everything we do has to start with a call to my lawyer and say one more lawsuit that we have to file. But this is the world under Donald Trump. So, we're going to fight back, and it's not going to affect this program.
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?
Mayor 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?
Governor 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.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: What does he say about his success in Albany and your working relationship in the upcoming session?
Mayor 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?
Mayor 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?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I'll ask Emmy to come up for the first question on the specificity of it.
Emmy Liss, Executive Director, Office of Child Care: 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?
Governor 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?
Governor 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.
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