Hundreds of New York City daycares still have no funding, and the program launches in twelve days.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s universal childcare program for 2-year-olds is set to begin September 10. With less than two weeks to go, hundreds of providers across the city have not received the money they need to buy classroom furniture, pay newly hired teachers, or stock basic supplies. Some centers have already warned parents they will not open on time.
The city’s promised bridge loans have not arrived either.
As originally reported, one Bronx daycare owner is feeling the collapse most personally. Nurita Love, who runs a center with monthly expenses exceeding $320,000, described the core problem in plain terms. “Yes, they have a 2-K program, but they didn’t set up the infrastructure to make it work,” she said.
With no city funds arriving, Love did not wait for the government to fix it. She took out a personal loan and a reverse mortgage on her home to cover her employees, utilities, and insurance. She is now subsidizing a signature mayoral program with her own home equity because the city that promised to run it never built a functioning payment system.
This is the gap between the promise and the reality. Mamdani campaigned on an ambitious platform of government-provided services, including free childcare, free buses, and city-run grocery stores priced 30 percent below retail. What is playing out in the Bronx right now is the difference between a campaign poster and an operational system.
The money was promised. The infrastructure was not built. The launch date is approaching. And a daycare owner in the Bronx is mortgaging her house to keep a government program alive.