Breukelen Early Childhood Development Center in Canarsie welcomed a special guest on March 4.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined 11 3-K students and their teachers on the circle-time rug for story time, reading from the children’s picture book “Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle” by Chris Raschka.
The mayor’s youngest constituents were an attentive audience as he sat cross-legged on the rug, reading aloud and showing them the book’s illustrations, which depict a young girl triumphantly accomplishing a major childhood milestone.
Monica Bechan, executive director for Recreation, Rooms and Settlement, told Brooklyn Paper the center felt honored and privileged that the mayor chose their program — part of the Early Learn NYC network — for story time. The center offers a full-day program for children ages 2.5 to 5.
“He could have chosen a lot of programs; he chose this one, and I think this was an important one to choose. We’ve been in the community for close to 70 years,” Bechan said, noting that the mayor’s and governor’s commitment to supporting early child care and education efforts in New York City was something the community desperately needed.
“I definitely think this is something that the community needed for a long time. The children find family here, they find education, they find strong foundations. And I think 2k finding it earlier than 3k, I think, is a real blessing that’s long overdue,” Bechan said.
Bechan emphasized the importance of early education as children develop language, social-emotional and cognitive skills.
“Small class setting, more individual attention to foster learn these skills, but at the same time, be able to congregate and learn in a group to mimic a lot of what the societal expectations are, especially as they get to 3k.”
The visit followed Mamdani’s and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announcement on March 3 of a major milestone: launching 2,000 free 2-K seats this fall in four New York City neighborhoods — Washington Heights and Inwood; Fordham and Kingsbridge; East Brooklyn, including Canarsie, Brownsville and Ocean Hill; and Ozone Park and the Rockaways.
The program will expand to 12,000 students next year and to every 2-year-old within four years. Parents can apply regardless of immigration status or income.
At a press conference following the circle time, the mayor said he was “incredibly heartened” by the governor’s commitment to allocate $1.2 billion to deliver universal child care.
“The state is not walking away from this, and that’s incredible, because we’re building something we want to last the test of time to transform families for generations to come,” Mamdani said. He added that he chose Breukelen Early Childhood Development Center for story time because it is located in one of the areas eligible for the city’s 2-K program, which plans to expand to 12,000 seats next year and reach universal access within four years.
“They’re going to be at centers like these kinds of ones, as well as home-based providers, a wide variety of options, so that we can actually meet the needs of parents and take what would otherwise be a $26,000 a year expense and deliver them high-quality childcare for free,” the mayor said.
Universal free early childhood education is one of Mamdani’s top priorities. His administration has reached out to early childhood development providers, sending them a Request for Information to assess existing infrastructure such as classroom capacity.
“So these 2,000 seats, we’re actually able to deliver them without building any additional childcare centers. This is in partnership with existing providers,” Mamdani said. “But as we go on and scale this up, so that this delivers to every single two-year-old across New York City by the end of four years, the city is going to make the investments necessary so that not only do we have the spaces, but also we finally recognize the hard work of child care workers.”
Mamdani also pointed to a recent Siena poll showing that 54% of New York state voters support raising personal income taxes on New York City residents earning at least $1 million. The poll found 62% of New York City residents and 72% of Democrats support such an increase.
“It’s always encouraging when we find that our opinions are in line with that of majority of New Yorkers, and we’re excited, frankly, at the prospect of finding a structural solution for a structural crisis. We’re encouraged by the conversations we’re having with the governor and with the legislative leaders on how we can put the city back on a firm financial footing,” Mamdani said, noting that he has always considered raising property taxes a last resort.
Emily Liss, Mamdani’s executive director of child care and early childhood education, said the distribution of the 2,000 seats among Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx will vary based on the results of the application process, including provider capacity in each community.
“The distribution of seats is really going to vary based on the anticipated number of families we have in each community, which is different. These are not equally sized parts of the city,” Liss said. “Our goal is to meet the needs of families across these four areas and to serve as many families who apply as possible.”
