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New York City could well become the first major city in the country to enact a universal child care program, as candidates in the mayoral race line up to support it and advocates roll out a concrete plan to achieve it.

 attended an event last November where the nonprofit New Yorkers United for Child Care launched a  for expanding care: City Comptroller Brad Lander, State Sen. Jessica Ramos, State Sen. Zellnor Myrie and State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani. Ramos has put the issue  of her mayoral run. 

Two other candidates have also embraced the issue. Former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer has  to cap the cost of child care for the city鈥檚 families, and in a previous run for mayor he  universal child care. Michael Blake, a former aide to President Barack Obama, has also  he supports it. 

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who recently entered the race, is  to make the city鈥檚 3-K program fully universal; as governor, he  state funding for New York City鈥檚 groundbreaking universal pre-K program and  a task force on child care affordability before he resigned in the wake of multiple sexual harassment allegations.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a strong argument that New Yorkers United for Child Care has already won the New York City mayor鈥檚 race,鈥� Lander said. 

New Yorkers United for Child Care got its start about a year ago. Rebecca Bailin, its executive director, realized there was no group dedicated to the single issue of child care. 鈥淚t felt really insane that we didn鈥檛 have a constituent base ready to build power around this very critical issue,鈥� she said. 

The group had its work cut out for it. Instead of working toward creating new early education programs, it found itself immediately leading the opposition to Mayor Eric Adams鈥檚  to what was supposed to be a universal 3-K program. While the program is still not universal 鈥� despite Adams鈥檚 promise that every family would get a seat who wanted one this year, plenty  being waitlisted 鈥� the mayor last year  some of the funding he threatened to cut.

A Plan for Universal Child Care

Now New Yorkers United for Child Care is going on the offense with its to achieve free care for all children at a cost of $12.7 billion a year, or 6 percent of the state鈥檚 current budget, once the plan is fully implemented. The plan would launch in the city and spread across the state, using state funding, perhaps through taxes on capital gains, corporations or high-income earners. 

The idea is to create an early childhood education system for children from infancy through age 4 that mirrors the K-12 system. The plan calls for a free, full-day program, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., to accommodate parents鈥� work schedules. Spaces would be within 15 minutes of families鈥� homes 鈥渂ecause you cannot bus a toddler or a baby,鈥� Bailin said. 

The first year of the plan would be spent ensuring that 3-K and pre-K programs in the city are 鈥渢ruly universal鈥� and expanding them to other areas of the state. Year two would guarantee universal access statewide while growing access for 2-year-olds, and then later years would be spent on younger ages. 

Bailin isn鈥檛 waiting for lawmakers to come around. In January, her organization brought advocates, parents and elected officials to New York City鈥檚 city hall  a campaign for free care for New York City 2-year-olds, which it鈥檚 calling 鈥�2-Care.鈥� They ultimately want to serve 60,000 toddlers at a cost of about $1.3 billion annually. Ramos and Lander both support that campaign, too.

Support from City and State Leaders

Indeed, the push for universal child care has found fertile ground in the current mayoral race. Both Ramos and Lander have children and dealt with the problem firsthand. When Ramos had her first child 13 years ago, she had to put together a 鈥渉odgepodge鈥� of child care coverage 鈥渁nd it was just really, stressful to do,鈥� she said. But then when her child was 4 years old she worked in the administration of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio setting up universal pre-K, and both of her sons got to attend. 鈥淭hat was really eye opening,鈥� she said.

So when she was elected to the state Senate, one of the first bills she introduced was  that would create a funding stream to cap families鈥� child care costs at 7% of their income and pay providers at least $45,000 a year. That legislation has not yet passed. She鈥檚 also worked on expanding eligibility for child care subsidies so they are now available to families earning 400% of the federal poverty line, or $128,600 for a family of four. The state has  spending on child care over the past four years, although it still only devotes less than half a percent of its budget to it.

鈥淢y campaign proposal is really building off of, or taking from, my state plan to implement a city system,鈥� she said. If elected mayor, she鈥檚  she would streamline the bureaucracy of the existing system, open more facilities, invest in providers, and, ultimately, achieve universal child care. As with Bailin鈥檚 plan, she would start by 鈥渞eally mak[ing] 3-K work,鈥� and then move down to create a program for 2-year-olds and 鈥済et as close to newborns as possible.鈥� She would start 鈥渙n day one.鈥�

Lander said enacting universal child care would be one of his top three priorities if elected. His other priorities are tackling homelessness and building affordable housing, but he said those initiatives would take a long time to come to fruition. Universal child care, on the other hand, 鈥渋s the single biggest thing we could do to have a near-term impact on the affordability crisis that is facing New York City鈥檚 families.鈥�

Lander鈥檚 first step would be to ensure the existing 3-K program is universal, something he says can be done in his first year with existing city funding. Then he would work with New Yorkers United for Child Care to expand universal, free care to age 2 and, eventually, all the way to 6 weeks old. 

鈥淚f you want to have a functioning democracy, if you believe in any meaningful way that every kid ought to have as close to equal opportunity to thrive as you can provide, and if you want a city where you can have a thriving economy with families working, publicly provided early childhood education is a linchpin,鈥� Lander said in an interview. 

New York City can鈥檛 create universal child care on its own; both Ramos and Lander acknowledged funding will have to come from the state government. Bailin agrees, though believes it will eventually pay for itself as universal child care has been  to do in Quebec, Canada. 

There are signs of interest in Albany. State Senate Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins  鈥渦niversal, affordable child care鈥� in 2022. In December, Sen. Samra Brouk and Assemblymember Michaelle Solages published  also calling for free, full-day universal child care, and Sen. Andrew Gounardes  in his priorities for 2025.

In her state of the state address this year, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul  for putting the state 鈥渙n a pathway toward universal child care.鈥� So far, nothing concrete has passed, 鈥渂ut before they weren鈥檛 saying anything,鈥� Bailin noted. 

If a candidate who supports universal child care wins, Bailin said parents like those in her group will have to make it clear this is a priority. 鈥淭his is what their constituents are clamoring for and demanding,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 our job to make sure that our elected officials are hearing from them.鈥� 

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