Transcript: Mayor Adams Announces $80 Million in New Investments to Bolster Early Childhood in NYC, Builds on Administration’s Historic Commitment to Early Childhood Education

July 10, 2025

Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar, Strategic Initiatives: Good afternoon everyone. I think it's afternoon, it's two seconds before noon, but it is noon. I am Ana J. Almanzar and I am the deputy mayor for Strategic Initiatives. I am honored to be here with all my colleagues and friends, alongside Mayor Eric Adams, deputy mayor and Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack, New York City Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, Deputy Chancellor Christina Foti, Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins, the executive director of the Mayor's Office for Early Childhood Education, Amber Cartwright, and Betty Baez Melo, director of the Early Childhood Education Project at Advocates for Children.

Since day one, the Adams administration has stayed focused on what matters most, and at the top of that list is giving our youngest New Yorkers the opportunities they deserve right from the start. We believe every child should have access to affordable, high-quality early childhood education, independent of their zip code or background. That is why we have prioritized lowering the cost of child care and expanding access by increasing the number of available seats to continue building the largest early childhood education system in the country.

And this is only possible because of the leadership of someone who has never wavered his commitment to families across the five boroughs, a leader who continues to invest in what matters most, making New York City the best place to raise a family, and delivering what we proudly call the Best Budget Ever. Please join me in welcoming New York City's chief executive officer, Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much, DM, and just your commitment to this issue. We were really focused on ensuring that we continue, really, the legacy that former Mayor Bill de Blasio started. We had real change. We had real challenges with the fiscal cliffs from the stimulus dollars, but the team knew that we had to find a way.

The numbers and the research is clear. Early childhood education really impacts the development of a child's brain and their mind and their socialization skills, and it just gives them the start that they need. Far too often in communities where there were economic challenges, these young people were not getting and receiving the same level of start in life with early childhood education.

Not only the academic part of it, but just the emotional intelligence that's attached with early learning, and the nutrition. Sometimes people forget that these young people are receiving a well-balanced meal. Many of them are coming from households where that is a challenge. We had to find ways of dealing with the impediments that prevented our young people from receiving the same advantages that were received in other parts of the city.

And we know that the best way to pursue the American dream, and make it a reality for all, is by making our city more affordable for working class children and families. We know that child care costs have skyrocketed, putting pressure on monthly bills and budgets, and [for] too long working families have struggled to afford the high cost of child care. This impacts, studies have shown us, it impacts women the most. Many of them leave their jobs to stay home and take care of their children, and over a lifetime, you're talking about $145,000 in lost income to a family. The entire family is impacted by that.

And so today, I'm proud to announce key funding commitments that we've made, and free child care is part of our Best Budget Ever that passed with all of the City Council votes. 51 city councilmembers voted for this bill, and I think they agreed it was the Best Budget Ever. We are investing $80 million to support working families, and ensure that every child has fair access to our early childhood education programs.

And far too often, universal pre-K wasn't fully universal, since it left out children with special needs. But our administration has changed that. We are proud to invest $70 million to support pre-K special education students who require occupational therapy, speech therapy, or other related services. And last week, under the adopted budget, we also announced a groundbreaking $10 million pilot program that will provide free child care for children aged two and under from low income families.

This will prove, if successful, that this will be the beginning steps of ensuring universal child care for low income families. No one works harder for this city than parents who are attempting to raise their children under some difficult and economical challenges. And so we believe if we can continue to expand this universal child care for low income families, it will send a clear, loud message that we are investing in these children at an early age.

And I know how difficult juggling child care and work can be. I watched it growing up, mom doing three jobs, and my sister losing her childhood raising five of us, and knowing that if we are giving the opportunities to the parents, we're giving the opportunities to the entire family. And so I want to thank our partners across the entire city.

I want to thank our partners across the entire city. She's not here, but Councilwoman Rita Joseph for her commitment to this, as well as the DOE team that knew how important this is. We have made almost $170 million in funding for early childhood education, permanent in our city. And what I am truly proud of is what we're doing with children with special needs, how we're not leaving them behind.

I say all the time, behind every child with special needs, is a special parent, and a parent wants the same thing for their child, no matter what circumstances or conditions that child is under. And far too long, we've overlooked that. Children with special needs want to play, they want to develop, they want to have opportunities. In this administration, we understand that, and we're going to continue to lead into it.

We know that in this government, it takes an entire city to raise a child, but it must start with City Hall, and our commitment will continue to be for the children and families of this city. So I want to thank our team that's here, job well done. We're going to continue to move forward, ensure the best quality education for our children, and we will develop their full personhood, not only have them be academically smart, but emotionally intelligent to face the challenges that they have in front of them. Thank you very much. Thank you, DM.

Deputy Mayor Almanzar: I know it's only noon, but we can do better than that. Thank you, Mayor Adams. There we go. And I want to echo the mayor's sentiment and thank the chairperson of the Education Committee, Rita Joseph, with whom the team and I have worked very closely for the last year, making sure that we implement a successful 10-point plan. So thank you to the chairperson, and we hope that she will make it here in a few minutes.

But now, I have the pleasure of introducing my colleague, who knows firsthand how important this work is, and specifically, always advocating for our youngest scholars in special education, our deputy mayor and chief of staff, Camille Joseph Varlack.

Deputy Mayor Camille Joseph Varlack, Administration: Thank you, Deputy Mayor Ana. It is truly an honor to be here today with all of our partners to commemorate this historic funding, which will ensure that New York remains the best place to raise a family. I have had the privilege of working very closely with New York City Public Schools since the beginning of this administration, and one of my biggest priorities has been working with this team to reimagine special education. Under this mayor, we have done just that.

Hats off to our colleagues at New York City Public Schools and the Mayor's Office of Early Childhood Education, the work that Chancellor Aviles-Ramos, Deputy Chancellors Foti and Hawkins, and Executive Director Amber Cartwright, and Deputy Executive Director Tovah Gottesman and their teams have done is nothing short of exemplary. This is a team that I know personally works every single day, 24/7, seven days a week, to be focused on these issues.

Thousands of families across the city rely on access to these essential services to ensure that their students with special education requirements get the resources they need to thrive. This $80 million investment is going to do so much to broaden that access. It means shorter wait times for families, increased hiring of much-needed support and administrative staff, and reduced burdens for private providers.

This administration has been laser-focused on making sure that key investments are made where it matters to the lives of working families. This is just another way that we are building on that commitment and driving harder every single day to make New York City a better place.

We have also been committed to leveraging new, innovative tools to proactively address the challenges our neighbors face. We are making history today in establishing the already mentioned pilot program for zero to two-year-olds with a focus on low-income families in our city. Working to expand child care access to those most in need of it is exactly the kind of transformative investment that makes this the Best Budget Ever. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Almanzar: Thank you, Camille. And now I have the immense pleasure of introducing a lifelong learner, educator, I'm sorry, a champion for equity, and learner, that's right. Thank you, thank you. The chancellor of the largest school system in the nation, and I have to do this in Spanish, la canciller, Melissa Aviles-Ramos. How is that?

Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, Department of Education: Definitely always a lifelong learner. And what a privilege it is to be here celebrating this great investment. Mr. Mayor, as an educator, as a woman, as a mother, someone who has been impacted personally by lack of access, and who truly understands how hard it is to reach for the stars professionally while taking care of your own children, I want to thank you for living up to your commitment to making New York City the safest and greatest and affordable place to live. Can we give it up for this administration?

I want to thank our partners in the City Council because this investment is so important. It goes beyond the money that we are putting into this investment. It goes into the support that we are giving families, the opportunity, the equity work that we are doing when it comes to making sure that families have what they need to give children the very best opportunities from day one. And our partners in the City Council understand how important that is. So, Chair Rita Joseph and all the team over at City Council, we want to thank you for that commitment.

I also want to thank the incredible deputy mayors who are standing up here, Deputy Mayor Ana Almanzar, deputy mayor and Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack. As they mentioned, it's lots of nights, lots of meetings, lots of working groups. But, you know, when you have a lot of smart, determined people who always ask, how do we get to yes, good things happen, great things happen.

I also want to thank my own team. I'm so honored to work alongside some of the most dedicated educators I've ever known in nearly two decades as an educator. Deputy Chancellor Christina Foti, Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins, their incredible teams who do this work because they understand the purpose behind it, both professionally and personally. We also have a number of friends who advocate for this work, advocates for children and all the advocates who work with us to get to yes. Thank you for your commitment.

Over the next several months, we will be engaging our community leaders, providers and families and conducting an in-depth analysis so that we can operationalize and launch the city's first birth to two pilot program. And we know that the community and stakeholder engagement is truly important when it comes to operationalizing these great big ideas.

We are also going to work on staffing up so we can expand access to services for preschoolers with disabilities, because as the mayor said, we need to make sure that no student is left behind and our children with special needs bring brilliance and greatness and joy to this system. And we need to make sure they are always prioritized. As chancellor, supporting our most vulnerable communities has been a top priority for me, and I am truly thrilled to be a part of a team that also prioritizes this. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Almanzar: Thank you, chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos. Now, we have so many partners, and I know the chancellor mentioned some of them, and I have the honor of introducing someone who has advocated for equity within the system and for affordability for all our families to access early childhood. Betty Baez Melo, she is the director of Early Childhood Education Project at Advocates for Children. Betty.

Betty Baez Melo, Director, Early Childhood Education Project, Advocates for Children: Thank you. I feel like I should start with buenas tardes. As you heard, I am the director of Early Childhood Education at Advocates for Children. I'm also a lawyer. But well before that, I started my own educational journey in this neighborhood at a St. Mark's Head Start program just a few blocks from here. So it really feels fitting to be in this new program today to celebrate the important investment in early childhood education that are included in the 2026 city budget.

If we want this city to be an attractive place to raise young children, and if we want this city to live up to the promise of making 3K and pre-K truly be for all, then we need to make sure that all early childhood education programs can serve every and all students. That includes children with disabilities. But over the last year at Advocates for Children, we repeatedly heard from families who have children who are struggling in their 3K and pre-K programs because they were not getting the services and support that they need to learn, and that they have a legal right to receive.

One of those was a mother here in Brooklyn who contacted us in April because her son had gone without, her son was a student with a disability, and he had gone the entire year without the speech therapy and occupational therapy services he needed to learn. She was getting really concerned seeing that he was growing increasingly frustrated and was having a hard time communicating and interacting with his peers. She contacted the DOE again and again, but unfortunately was told that there was nothing they could do because there were no providers available.

And we know that this family isn't the only one. Thousands of other families face similar challenges. As of this spring, more than 600 children were waiting for a seat in preschool special education classrooms, and about 7,000 preschoolers were waiting for at least one of their mandated services to begin. That's why we were relieved and very grateful to see the addition of $70 million for preschool special education in this year's city budget, as well as $2.9 million for preschool inclusion specialists.

This investment is a critical step that has the potential to help thousands of children, thousands of preschoolers with disabilities get the evaluations, services, and placements that they need in order to learn, and it's a big step in making 3K and pre-K truly be closer to being for all students. So we want to thank the mayor, the administration, City Council, especially Speaker Adams and Councilmember Joseph for responding to this need, to responding to the calls from parents.

We look forward to working with the city to make sure that it meets its legal obligation to provide every child with the classroom and special education services that they have a legal right to receive, and to really make the most of these really formative early childhood education years. So thanks to those services.

Deputy Mayor Almanzar: Thank you, Betty. And I'm going to steal a page from the chancellor of Education who, a few months ago, we were at a press conference and she took the time to make sure that she gave a few remarks in Spanish. I learned.

Durante mucho tiempo, las familias neoyorquinas han tenido que tomar decisiones difíciles, entre pagar el alquiler o pagar el cuidado infantil. Aceptar un trabajo o quedarse en casa. Pero este presupuesto, el mejor presupuesto de la historia, busca ponerle fin a esa situación.

Estamos creando programas que benefician tanto a los padres como a los niños. Ofrecer cuidado infantil, de calidad, permite que los padres puedan trabajar, lo que impulsa el crecimiento de los negocios y también fortalece la economía de la ciudad de Nueva York. Al mismo tiempo, prepara mejor a nuestro niños para la escuela y la vida en general. Es una política inteligente y es lo correcto.

Sin duda, la inversión de $80 millones es como logramos que esta sea la mejor ciudad del país para criar una familia y lo estamos haciendo día a día. Muchísimas gracias. Thank you.

Translation: For too long, New York families have had to make difficult choices, between paying rent or paying for childcare. Taking a job or staying home. But this budget, the Best Budget Ever, seeks to put an end to that.

We're creating programs that benefit both parents and children. Providing quality childcare allows parents to work, which drives business growth and also strengthens New York City's economy. At the same time, it better prepares our children for school and life in general. It's smart policy and the right thing to do.

Without a doubt, the $80 million investment is how we make this the best city in the country to raise a family, and we're doing it every day. Thank you so much.

###