Zohran Mamdani will be New York City's next mayor. The Queens assembly member has rocketed from local political obscurity to national political celebrity in less than a year, making bumper-stickery campaign promises aimed at alleviating the city's cost-of-living crisis. Fast, free buses. A freeze on rents. Municipal grocery stores. Universal child care. That last proposal has gotten little attention'perhaps because a relatively small sliver of New Yorkers would directly benefit, perhaps because the proposal hinges on a tax increase Albany would have to approve, perhaps because early-childhood initiatives are so pervasively underemphasized in American life. When Mayor Bill de Blasio created a universal prekindergarten program and a near-universal 3-K program in New York a decade ago, it was rightly described as a miracle. But in many ways, that undertaking was far simpler than what Mamdani is promising. He aims to provide high-quality, year-round care to toddlers and infants as young...
learn more
