The Mamdani administration is launching a citywide survey for parents with young children to help shape the future of child care policy.
Over the next two weeks, city officials will mail out postcard invitations to New York City families asking them to fill out a 15-minute survey. The survey will ask parents about their child care arrangements, parental leave preferences, the hours of care they need and the types of programs they prefer. The initiative comes as child care has gained increasing attention as an affordability issue in the city.
“Last year, New Yorkers made it clear: Universal child care is not a luxury, it’s a necessity and it cannot wait. The same spirit of community-driven decision-making will guide how we build this system,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. He added, “Every parent and caregiver deserves a voice in shaping the care their families rely on.”
Mamdani is launching a free child care program for about 2,000 2-year-olds this fall and added more than 1,000 seats to the city’s existing 3-K programs. He said the survey results will help inform the program design and guide the city’s goal of providing affordable child care to children starting at 6 weeks old.
Reports show parents pay an average of $20,000 a year for child care and about a third of women leave the workforce because they can’t afford child care.
The survey will be available in English and Spanish and open through April 13. Parents who want to participate but don’t receive a postcard can sign up online at nyc.gov/parentsurvey.
The survey will be conducted by the New Practice Lab at New America, a liberal think tank, and funded by the anti-poverty group Robin Hood Foundation.
