As a candidate, Eric Adams promoted expanded access to child care as a key to lifting up working-class women, including Black and Latino mothers. 

“Universal care: Nothing holds back a woman’s opportunity to move up in business or to be employed more than the lack of child care in this city,” Adams said last May. “It is a moral imperative that we provide this child care for children, zero to three, and give them the quality education that they need.”

As City Council speaker, the first mother and grandmother in the post, Adrienne Adams has also cited free or affordable child care as a priority.

What You Need To Know

  • Adams team says it's looking at laying groundwork for expanded child care access

  • Eric Adams promoted UCare, or universal child care, as "moral imperative" on campaign trail

  • Adrienne Adams, colleagues say women- and mother-led council will get initiative done

“Another important issue of course is child care, and this is not new,” she said last month. “We have to be able to provide child care to every parent or guardian who needs it. There is no excuse not to. New York is the richest city in the world.”

The will is there among the city’s elected leaders.

The implementation may be another matter.

It’s early, but Mayor Eric Adams has yet to announce an initiative resembling the so-called UCare universal child care program he pitched on the campaign trail.

And the City Council is just getting started on its legislative and oversight process.

A mayoral spokesperson told NY1 that Adams is committed to breaking the, quote, negative economic cycle, adding: “The administration is assessing how to lay this foundation and it’s clear that to fully deliver universal child care, we will need our state and federal partners.”

Speaker Adams told NY1 that the council is pursuing universal child care in partnership with the mayor and others.

“This historic women-majority City Council can demonstrate the difference for our city when women lead,” she said in a statement.

This new council does include several mothers who have been candid about their balancing acts.

“It’s unique demands and so in terms of legislation that promotes for example universal child care and other ways that we can support working parents, that’s what this council can really do and accomplish,” said Julie Menin of Manhattan, a mother of four. “If you have a young child at home and you can’t go to a meeting unless you bring your child, these are the unique circumstances that we mothers certainly know.” 

Julie Won of Queens is an expectant mother.

“We want to continue to nurture an environment where working mothers are able to take on places of leadership,” Won said, “as well as children who are able to receive the adequate care and education that they need.”