New York City Council
Amanda Farías pitches child care for council staff
Child care – a point of alignment between the governor and incoming mayor – is an emerging topic of discussion in the City Council speaker’s race too.
City Council Majority Leader Amanda Farías wants to provide child care for members if elected speaker. John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit
The first female majority New York City Council has featured a number of new mothers (and, by the way, its fair share of new fathers).
But as many New Yorkers – and many powerful elected officials – agree, child care is broken in the city. A push for universal child care is an early shared priority for Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul. And child care already emerged as a talking point in the internal race for City Council speaker.
Council Member Julie Menin, who is seen as a more moderate member who wouldn’t fall in line with all of Mamdani’s policies, has named their shared interest in universal child care as something she’s eager to work with him on. Council Member Crystal Hudson, a more progressive member, has backed it too. The current council as a whole is broadly behind Mamdani’s push for universal child care, according to a new report.
But in a new proposal shared exclusively with City & State, Council Member and speaker candidate Amanda Farías is pitching a more concentrated program targeted to members and staff of the council itself. Under her proposal, the “Council Cares Division” would offer child care at or near 250 Broadway, where most of the council works, and operate 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the work week, with emergency drop-in options.
The city announced a small child care pilot for city workers last month. Farías suggested the council version could be paid for through allocating speaker discretionary funds to cover vouchers for approved child care providers. Farías said the rough estimate they’re working with is $25 million, though an official cost analysis hasn’t been done and it’s unclear how many parents and caregivers in the council would look to make use of such a program.
Farías is not a mother herself, but said she realized that “this institution wasn't built for the people that are currently here” after joining with the first majority-female class in 2022 and seeing “lacking” spaces for lactation and baby changing. “Now that we’re here, we have to make it better, not only for ourselves, but for the people that come into this building … beyond us,” she said.
The five current candidates for City Council speaker – Menin, Hudson, Farías, Brooks-Powers and Marte – will have more time to articulate their visions at a forum hosted by the Association for a Better New York on Monday night. Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is set to moderate.