Mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie desires to make afterschool packages free for all New York Metropolis households.
On Thursday, the state senator from Brooklyn mentioned he would assure a spot in an area afterschool program to all college students in 3-Okay via twelfth grade. Applications would run via 6 p.m. at a close-by public college or via a contracted supplier. A brand new deputy mayor place can be created to coordinate efforts.
“We want afterschool — not for some, not for places where you can afford it — afterschool for all. High-quality afterschool for every single family, every single grade that needs it,” Myrie mentioned at a press convention in decrease Manhattan.
It was not instantly clear how Myrie would pay for a dramatic enlargement of town’s baby care and work programming. He estimated the plan’s first yr — which would come with extended-day preschool and begin on among the different initiatives — would price $420 million.
The mayoral hopeful prompt common afterschool was an financial growth coverage that will enhance tax income as extra dad and mom may keep of their jobs. He additionally floated lobbying Albany or Washington, or discovering financial savings within the metropolis’s present finances.
Myrie touted the educational advantages of afterschool and the baby care reduction and financial alternatives common programming would supply hundreds of further households. A mum or dad with one baby usually spends $12,000 on afterschool every year, or 26% of their wage, in response to Myrie’s 25-page plan.
Myrie estimated it could take one other 110,000 seats to make present Okay-12 afterschool programming common. He additionally wished to increase the hours of preschool to six p.m., add 50,000 slots to the Summer time Youth Employment Program, and make Summer time Rising — a public program combining camp and lecturers — out there to any household who applies.
Initially Printed: March 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM EST
