Universal Child Care Must Include Early Literacy, Says LINC's Deputy Executive Director, Eliana Godoy, in The New York Times

To the editor, a response to “How Mamdani’s Audacious Child Care Plan Could Work,” by Rachel Cohen Booth (Opinion guest essay in The New York Times, Dec. 15, 2025)

From Eliana Godoy, Deputy Executive Director of Literacy in Community (LINC)

Hopes for Mamdani’s Vision for Child Care

As an immigrant mother and literacy advocate, I read this essay with both relief and resolve. Relief, because it confirms what families like mine have long known: The child care crisis is not a personal failure but a policy failure. Resolve, because this moment demands courage, not caution.

Attempts to discredit universal child care miss the point. Universal child care is not inherently harmful — poorly designed systems and implementations are. Quality is everything. We must invest in early childhood educators: fair pay, sustained coaching, pathways for growth. Anything less undermines children and families alike.

Child care is not only about giving parents the ability to work. It is also about the development of children. It is about building the foundations of lifelong opportunity. In New York City, only 19 percent of children affected by poverty read proficiently by fourth grade according to the Nation’s Report Card (2024). Children who cannot read become adults whose independence, mental health and upward mobility are severely affected. We cannot separate care from learning; education in early years determines long-term outcomes. Universal child care must include universal literacy.

This is the unfulfilled demand of the feminist movement and a moral imperative for immigrant and working families today. Leaders like Zohran Mamdani are showing what bold, values-driven leadership looks like. Child care is essential infrastructure. Families are waiting. Our children deserve it. We must act.

For more information, please contact communications@lincnyc.org or visit us at www.lincnyc.org.