Earlier this month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled the initial stages of a plan for universal childcare. To discuss the recent history of childcare policy in New York City, and the lessons it may hold for the Mamdani administration, Nathan Gusdorf spoke with Josh Wallack, an early childhood policy expert who served as legislative director to then New York City Council member Bill de Blasio from 2002 to 2006 and later as the city’s deputy chancellor for early childhood, where he helped implement de Blasio’s signature “Pre-K for All” program.

In the following interview, edited for length and clarity, Gusdorf and Wallack discuss the meaning of “universal childcare,” why merely providing vouchers is insufficient to ensure that every family has access to high quality childcare, the importance of home-based providers, and the significance of the Hochul-Mamdani childcare agenda.