“The child care industry requires an immediate jumpstart to support this expansion. Incentives for entry-level employees can balance the low-wages and school debt that come with being a teacher.”

New York City is once again daring to lead as Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a proposal to increase funding and take a major step towards implementing Universal Child Care. With this initiative, we have a once in a generation opportunity to change the lives of working families. 

Care for children from 6 weeks to age 2 is complex, workforce intensive, and costly to deliver. If universal child care is going to become a reality, it must be built with, not merely for, the providers who already carry the system. To ensure it is sustainable, equitable, and grounded in operational reality, we must include family child care providers, community based nonprofit organizations, and long standing neighborhood institutions that have served working families for decades. 

We need more highly-trained educators to make universal child care possible. A lot more. Gov. Hochul’s proposals for strengthening the workforce pipeline by partnering with higher education are laudable, but the child care industry requires an immediate jumpstart to support this expansion. Incentives for entry-level employees can balance the low-wages and school debt that come with being a teacher. 

We must think big—like making tuition at CUNY and SUNY schools free for students pursuing Early Childhood degrees who commit to working for community based organizations serving children 2 and under. This would immediately improve our pipeline and bring new, highly trained educators into the workforce. 

Universal child care must start with affordability for families, but it must also deliver stability for providers. Child care providers operate on razor thin margins. Payments are delayed. Contracts are complicated and unpredictable. Federal funding disruptions have frozen hiring and strained programs that families rely on. Without reform, even well intentioned universal policies risk accelerating provider closures and consolidation, undermining access and stability in the very communities that need care the most. 

That means predictable, multi-year funding. It means modernizing city procurement and payment systems that ensure timely reimbursement and reliable cash flow. And critically, it means valuing teachers with appropriate salary and benefits whether they work for the Department of Education or local community providers. 

Salary parity is essential to recruiting and retaining qualified educators, reducing turnover, and ensuring consistent quality across all programs. The current system pays teachers at programs operated by New York City Schools more than those at other providers, creating constant turnover and instability. Highly trained educators doing the same work for the same public purpose should not be paid differently simply because they work in community based settings, rather than city-run programs.

Importantly, we must ensure access for all families for truly universal care by making it possible for child care centers to operate throughout the city. Government owned buildings, public housing, mixed use developments, and underutilized commercial space all represent opportunities to expand child care supply in high need neighborhoods if paired with smart capital investment from government and thoughtful real estate incentives. 

New York has built durable public systems before. Our public schools and public health infrastructure did not emerge overnight. They were built deliberately, with phased implementation, clear standards, and shared responsibility across government, labor, philanthropy, and the private sector. 

Universal Child Care deserves the same seriousness. 

That is why implementation must be guided by broad cross sector engagement that brings parents, providers, educators, labor, and community voices to the table. 

Done right, universal child care will be one of the most powerful workforce, equity, and economic development strategies New York City has ever pursued. The mayor and governor have made this a defining priority. Now the task before us is to deliver a system that is ambitious and durable. 

Rita Joseph represents Brooklyn’s District 40 in the New York City Council and serves as chair of the Council’s Committee on Higher Education. Robert Cordero is chief executive pofficer of Grand Street Settlement, one of New York City’s largest community based early childhood and family service organizations.

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