About Office of Child Care

The Mayor’s Office of Child Care and Early Childhood Education (OCCECE) is responsible for delivering on the Mayor’s Universal Child Care priority. This includes setting the Administration’s child care strategy, coordinating work across City agencies to deliver a high-quality early care and education system that is responsive to child care providers and meets family needs, collaborating with a range of partners internal and external to City government, and engaging with the public. The Office serves as a central hub for citywide policy implementation and coordination across more than a dozen agencies, including New York City Public Schools (NYCPS), Administration of Children’s Services (ACS), Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), and Department of Social Services (DSS), and fosters strategic partnerships with all levels of government, private entities, nonprofits, and foundations. The Office works closely with families and providers to ensure their voices are represented in the design and implementation of City policy and programs. 

Message from the Executive Director

Emmy Liss is an early childhood policy and system leader with over a decade of experience designing and implementing large-scale child care and early education initiatives. Her work has focused on building equitable, accessible systems through strategic planning, cross-agency collaboration, and operational leadership. Over the course of her career, she has played a key role in shaping early care and education policy in New York City.

Before her appointment to the mayoral administration, Liss was an independent researcher and policy consultant, working with many New York City child care policy and advocacy organizations and advising state and local leaders on early care and education implementation challenges. Previously, she served as Chief Operating Officer for New York City’s early childhood education system under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, where she was instrumental in building and managing a system that now serves tens of thousands of children under the age of five.

Liss’s holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Brown University.