Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani touts $6B universal childcare plan but offers few details — except it’ll be modeled after Quebec
The picture above sets the stage for Mayor‑elect Zohran Mamdani’s big announcement: he calls for a universal childcare system that mirrors Quebec’s model, backed by a $6 billion plan that, as he explains, will need to take cues from the Canadian province. Speaking on Thursday, Mamdani boasted about Quebec’s success—“We only need to look at Quebec as an example for what they implemented universal childcare — they saw a 10‑to‑1 return on their investment. The program more than paid for itself,” he told reporters.
He didn’t stop there. Mid‑speech, he was at a Chelsea day‑care center where he read “The Night Before Christmas” to a room of distracted toddlers, using the moment to remind listeners that a comprehensive childcare program would not only bolster New York’s workforce—but also give employers a leg up in recruiting and retaining talent.
The core of his platform is straightforward: free childcare for every child from six weeks to five years old. Yet, despite his enthusiasm, he has left many details fuzzy. Even as state leaders like Governor Kathy Hochul signal support, the mayor hasn’t pinned down exactly how the initiative will be financed—he suggests raising taxes on corporations and the affluent, but no concrete figures are out yet.
I spoke with business big‑wigs, including Warby Parker CEO Neil Blumenthal, over the topic. Their frustration stems from families being priced out of affordable child care, forcing many to leave the city. Mamdani said, “What I appreciated about this meeting and these business leaders is that they are committed to taking on this issue and committed to taking it on because of the imperative of the moral level, of an economic level, of a political level,” though he did not name any specific pledges.
When pressed for numbers—how many childcare seats would be required—the mayor ran short of a quick answer. “I’m not yet the mayor, but I am hard at work at preparing this, and what it looks like, frankly, is first assessing the failures of our current approach that we have, and I think that has to be the most urgent point of business is reckoning with and then rectifying the issues that are in 3 K here in New York City,” he said, and hinted at a roadmap to expand care starting from six‑week‑olds.
At present, roughly 100 000 children attend childcare in the city. Mamdani’s vision would lift that number to over 500 000. His comparison with Quebec is clear: Quebec offers care for kids up to 12 years old at roughly $7 U.S. dollars a day, an inexpensive rate that covers both public and private center costs and includes early education. Launched in 1997, the Canadian system is praised for near‑90 % employment rates among mothers (according to The Globe and Mail) but criticized for difficult enrollment and uneven quality standards.
Mamdani and the business leaders talked about scaling enough daycare centers and home‑based options to make the plan realistic. The roundtable also included Christy Carter of Boston Consulting, Kathy Wylde, and Steve Fulop of the Partnership for NYC. “We had a wide‑ranging conversation about the changes that need to take place so that we can actually implement a system where childcare is a reality as opposed to something that people can be priced out of,” Mamdani told reporters afterward.
He added that this shift “would put money back into the pockets of families to spend in their local communities,” and noted the governor’s and business community’s shared commitment to the vision.
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