Mayor Zohran Mamdani is putting out a call for bidders as the city plans a “massive” marketing campaign for the expanded rollout of early childhood programs, The Post has learned.
The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City is seeking proposals from companies to conduct “family focus groups” to guide the administration’s “branding and messaging” for the expansion of 2-K and 3-K classes — a top priority of the new mayor.
The feedback from the focus groups will help “develop a massive marketing campaign to bring families into the City’s early childhood system,” the Mayor’s Fund said in its public notice to potential bidders.
It’s not clear how much the contract would be worth.
The Mayor’s Fund is the not-for-profit fundraising arm for City Hall that pools money from both private and public sources for Hizzoner’s pet programs.
During his campaign for City Hall last year, Mamdani proposed publicly funded universal child care for kids starting at 6 weeks to 5 years old.
Taxpayers will shell out more than $36,000 per tot for the mayor’s free 2-K pilot program – roughly $13,000 more than the average cost of private child care, it was recently revealed.
Gov. Kathy Hochul earmarked $73 million in state funding for the 2,000-seat launch of the 2-K program in the city for the fall — helping the pair move toward fulfilling Mandani’s campaign promise.
Experts estimated that statewide universal child care could cost between $12 billion and $15 billion.
Founded in 1994, the Mayor’s Fund works 50 different city agencies and offices, 300 institutional funders and 100 community-based partners.
The Mayor’s Fund’s major initiatives include creating the Twin Towers Fund, which raised $107 million to support the families of rescue workers killed or severely injured during the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and setting up the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund to support health care workers and small businesses during the deadly pandemic.
In addition, the fund has help raise funds for anti-poverty and mental health programs and support emergency services for asylum seekers under the prior mayoralties of Mike Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams.
