Mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie desires to make afterschool applications free for all New York Metropolis households.
On Thursday, the state senator from Brooklyn stated he would assure a spot in an area afterschool program to all college students in 3-Ok by way of twelfth grade. Applications would run by way of 6 p.m. at a close-by public college or by way of 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 stated at a press convention in decrease Manhattan.
It was not instantly clear how Myrie would pay for a dramatic growth of town’s little one care and work programming. He estimated the plan’s first yr — which would come with extended-day preschool and begin on a few of the different initiatives — would price $420 million.
The mayoral hopeful urged common afterschool was an financial improvement coverage that will enhance tax income as extra dad and mom might keep of their jobs. He additionally floated lobbying Albany or Washington, or discovering financial savings within the metropolis’s present finances.
Myrie touted the tutorial advantages of afterschool and the little one care reduction and financial alternatives common programming would provide hundreds of extra households. A dad or mum with one little one usually spends $12,000 on afterschool annually, or 26% of their wage, in accordance with Myrie’s 25-page plan.
Myrie estimated it could take one other 110,000 seats to make present Ok-12 afterschool programming common. He additionally needed 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 — obtainable to any household who applies.
Initially Revealed: March 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM EST
