Actual Nice Thing: Universal Child Care Is Coming To New York City
Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul are ready to make it happen.
There is no question that it has been a very rough week, news-wise, so here is a little ray of sunshine for you!
On Thursday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani put aside their differences and got together to announce the launch of the 2-Care program, which will make child care free for two-year-olds across the city, along with a promise to fully universalize the city’s 3K program, which currently provides free childcare to three-year-olds. It’s just the latest step on the path to making universal child care a reality in New York City and eventually the whole state.
Hochul also announced the formation of an Office of Child Care and Early Education that will be focused on making that happen. After all, New Mexico just pulled it off, so why not New York?
“There’s one thing that every family in New York can agree on, the cost of childcare is simply too high,” Governor Hochul said. “As New York’s first mom Governor, fighting for New York’s families has always been at the core of my agenda. Since taking office, I’ve put families front and center, fighting to make our state more affordable and laying the groundwork to deliver universal childcare. Today, I’m proud to partner with Mayor Mamdani and leaders across our state to make this a reality, turning that foundation into a concrete roadmap that will transform the lives of working parents and kids across our state.”
The cost of child care is, in fact, absolutely ridiculous — and enough to make people seriously rethink even having children. On average, in New York it costs from $12,000 to $20,000 per child, and that is in addition to all of the other child-related costs. And sure, you can say “Well, gee! That is New York! Surely it is cheaper in other places!” — but the state where it’s cheapest is Mississippi, and it costs an average of $7,696 there. Personally, I think that’s still pretty expensive in a country where most people don’t have a spare $1000, nevermind $7,696, to throw around.
Hochul plans to spend $8.6 billion on child care related costs throughout the state, which sounds like a lot until you consider that this money would be spent either way — if not through taxes, then on the free market — and that universalizing childcare is the most efficient way of doing that.
You would think that the people who are so het up about abortion and “the birth rate” would be into things that help people have more kids, but no. It’s almost as if they care more about women having to stay home to raise those children than about the children themselves.
“Over the past 14 months, a movement was born to fight for a city where every New Yorker could afford a life of dignity and every family could afford to raise their kids. Today, Governor Hochul and I meet that movement as we celebrate our joint commitment to universal child care,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. “This victory represents much more than a triumph of city and state government working in partnership—it is proof that when New Yorkers come together, we can transform the way government serves working families.”
Isn’t that nice?
The fact is, we all benefit from universal childcare, even those of us (like me!) who don’t have kids. We benefit from parents being able to spend that money on other things (possibly our own businesses and industries), we benefit from parents being able to work and being less likely to be priced out of our communities, and we benefit from the fact that the kids who get quality childcare will have better cognitive, academic and social development than those who don’t, will be less likely to commit crimes and more likely to have a higher earning potential later on, and so on. As someone without kids, I am happy to pay taxes that go to child care, because I simply think that we should all feel some sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of the children (and parents!) of this country.
We benefit from being a community and by taking responsibility for that community. We benefit from the stress reduction that comes from taking something off people’s plates, from giving them one less thing to worry about. We benefit from feeling like we live in a civilized society that takes care of its people and takes care of its children — a society we can be proud of.
Additionally, the more things we universalize, the less scared people get by the idea of other things being universalized; The more they realize that sometimes, it’s not “free stuff” so much as it is simply the least stupid and most responsible way of paying for some “stuff.”
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
"The fact is, we all benefit from universal childcare, even those of us (like me!) who don’t have kids. "
Then you're not really a woman then, are you, Pennacchia? I jest of course. Some people who are worthless do think that though.
"As someone without kids, I am happy to pay taxes that go to child care, because I simply think that we should all feel some sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of the children (and parents!) of this country."
YES! THIS! ALL THE THIS! I don't have kids but I want the schools and libraries here to be awesome.
Don’t phase it out with a means test, please. That would make it NON-universal.
I feel like almost every progressive policy seems to have a phase-out, which basically means an extra tax on upper middle class wage earners.