Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels today announced a comprehensive overhaul of the City's child care procurement process and New York City Public Schools' Division of Early Childhood Education to better support child care providers and ensure they can continue serving New York families.
The Mamdani administration is taking a whole-of-government approach to ensure providers can open their doors on the first day of school by expediting interest-free bridge loans, accelerating contract registration and delivering critical supplies directly to providers. The overhaul also includes a $43 million investment to transform NYCPS' Division of Early Childhood Education, restoring staffing capacity and implementing reforms designed to prevent future contracting and payment delays.
"Child care changes lives. For parents struggling under the weight of the affordability crisis, it can mean the difference between being able to work and being forced to choose between a paycheck and caring for your child. But we cannot deliver that relief without the child care providers who make it possible every day," said Mayor Mamdani. "We are bringing every resource to bear to get providers paid, get classrooms open and make sure families have the care they were promised. And we are changing this system so that providers are never again asked to carry the cost of the City's bureaucracy."
"As a parent of three, I know firsthand the importance of finding a safe and affordable child care program. Our families and our small business owners cannot wait for contracts to clear - they need access to child care now," said Chancellor Samuels. "Our families shouldn't have to worry about their child care provider being able to pay the bills, and our providers should be focused on getting their classrooms ready for learning - not wondering when a check will come. Mayor Mamdani and I are absolutely committed to addressing the current issues now, and reforming our processes so this does not happen again."
"Early childhood education providers have been grappling with cash flow and other contracting challenges for many years. To achieve our shared vision of a universal birth to five system, this administration must address all the issues that have perpetuated this dynamic. These proposed reforms are important and will go a long way to stabilize the system. We appreciate Mayor Mamdani for making this commitment to providers, and we look forward to working with the mayor and his team to build a system that will last," said Susan Stamler, Executive Director, United Neighborhood Houses.
"As the City moves toward universal child care, the Day Care Council of New York appreciates Mayor Mamdani's recognition of the tremendous financial strain facing providers, driven by long-persisting contracting and invoicing delays, and his Administration's decisive steps to strengthen staffing across City agencies and reinforce contracting and payment systems after years of underinvestment," said Tara Gardner, Executive Director of the Day Care Council of New York. "These immediate actions are critical to helping providers address operating expenses incurred for summer programming, meet payroll, retain staff and continue providing uninterrupted care to children and families. Just as importantly, the City's upcoming early childhood reprocurement presents an opportunity to build on these reforms with contracts that provide greater stability and prevent these cash-flow crises from continuing to burden an already undervalued and overextended workforce."
PREPARING FOR FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL:
The Mamdani Administration is taking a whole-of-government approach to ensure approved providers have the resources and support they need to open on the first day of school. These efforts include:
- FAST-TRACKING CONTRACT REGISTRATION: Deploying additional staff from across City government, including every available contracting staffer at New York City Public Schools, to finalize outstanding contracts and quickly deliver them to the City Comptroller for registration and payment. These efforts have effectively tripled the number of staff working on early childhood contracts and increased the pace of contract review by several weeks.
- EXPEDITING INTEREST-FREE LOANS: Accelerating the processing and disbursement of interest-free bridge loans, which will be processed within five business days of submission, provided all required materials from vendors are complete. Once received, bridge loans are ultimately reconciled through the provider's NYCPS budget. Providers will not be required to take additional action or directly repay the bridge loan after receiving it.
- DELIVERING CRITICAL SUPPLIES: Delivering schools supplies and other essential resources , including toys, diapers, educational materials and more, directly to any provider who needs it, ensuring they have the tools necessary to welcome children on the first day of school at no cost.
- DIRECT PROVIDER OUTREACH: Calling and emailing every affected child care provider directly to ensure they have the support they need to open on the first day of school and to walk providers through the interest-free bridge loan application process.
- ENHANCING COMMUNICATIONS: Increasing the staff assigned to monitoring incoming communications so child care providers receive timely, accurate and informed responses to their questions.
TRANSFORMING DIVISION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION:
The Mamdani Administration is investing $43 million to transform the NYCPS Division of Early Childhood Education. The investment will support the initial reforms outlined below, and the incoming Deputy Chancellor for Early Childhood Education will be charged with building on this work to create a system that prevents future contracting and payment delays.
- RESTORING HEADCOUNT: Rebuilding the division's staffing after its capacity was reduced during the prior administration, starting with the initial hiring of more than 200 employees dedicated to this work. The investment will expand contracting and enrollment outreach capacity and rebuild provider support ratios that have been severely diminished.
- PROCUREMENT REFORM: Implementing procurement and contracting reforms that establish clear timelines for every stage of the contracting process and centralize key functions to eliminate the administrative bottlenecks that have left providers waiting for the resources they are owed.
- COMMUNICATIONS OVERHAUL: Launching a top-to-bottom overhaul of how NYCPS communicates with child care providers and bringing these small businesses into the center of the system's work. This will include a new commitment to transparency, clear communication and stronger service for families and providers.
- ENHANCING FEEDBACK CHANNELS: Creating structured opportunities for child care providers and families to share feedback directly with the City and participate in policymaking discussions in partnership with the Mayor's Office of Child Care and Early Childhood Education as the administration works toward models of true co-governance.
