Monday, March 30, marked the 89th day of Zohran Mamdani’s term as mayor. amNewYork is following Mamdani around his first 100 days in office. We are closely tracking his progress on fulfilling campaign promises, appointing key leaders to government posts, and managing the city’s finances. Here’s a summary of what the mayor did yesterday and today.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Monday that New York City will open applications on April 30 for a free on-site child care pilot at the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building, expanding a similar program first announced by former Mayor Eric Adams last year.
Mamdani said the center is expected to open this fall and will offer full-day care for children ages 6 weeks to 3 years old.
The Adams administration announced a $10 million municipal child care pilot on Oct. 23, 2025, for DCAS employees working at the Dinkins Building, with an estimated 4,000-square-foot center designed for up to 40 children, completion anticipated by spring 2026.
Asked Monday how his plan differs from that earlier rollout, Mamdani said his administration has expanded eligibility to include everyone who works in the building and will add operating funds that were not previously budgeted.
Mamdani said the city expects to put about $2.3 million in the executive budget to run the site. He also said the center will be open to every employee of the building and every DCAS employee citywide. DCAS will manage the program in-house, while a contracted provider to be announced later this spring will operate the center.
Construction workers continue renovations on Monday at the future child care center for city workers inside the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Lower Manhattan. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Standing in the construction site, Mamdani framed the project as part of his broader affordability push, saying free child care can save families at least $20,000 a year and help city workers stay in public service. DCAS Commissioner Yume Kitasei said agency officials wanted the demonstration project opened to all city workers in the building because DCAS serves workers across the city government.
Labor and elected officials at the event cast the pilot as both a family support program and a workforce retention tool. Henry Garrido, executive director of DC 37, said child care and affordable housing are among the top concerns for many municipal workers, while City Comptroller Mark Levine and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said employer-backed child care can help recruit and retain staff.
Pressed on whether the model could spread to other city-run sites, Mamdani did not give a timetable but said the administration is pursuing “every possible avenue” to make it easier for New Yorkers to have and raise children in the city.
City workers can now apply for undergraduate scholarship support
Mamdani and DCAS Commissioner Yume KitaseiPhoto by Lloyd Mitchell
Following the press conference, in another boost for municipal workers, Mamdani’s office announced the launch of the city’s first undergraduate scholarship program for full-time municipal employees, expanding the longtime Mayor’s Graduate Scholarship Program into a broader education benefit that will now cover both undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Applications for the new undergraduate track opened Monday and will remain open through April 27, with selected participants expected to begin classes in fall 2026, according to the mayor’s office.
The program will be overseen by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which said city employees must apply through their agency personnel offices and meet the admissions requirements of participating schools.
City Hall said the expansion was meant to respond to growing demand from workers seeking support to earn associate’s and bachelor’s degrees. According to the administration, a recent sampling of roughly 100,000 city employees found that nearly half did not hold an undergraduate degree.
The undergraduate program is launching with 10 partner institutions, including Columbia University School of General Studies, Fordham University, Lehman College, Marist University and Purchase College, SUNY, with more schools expected to join later. The city said the graduate program already includes more than 30 participating institutions across the region.
The scholarships will be awarded and funded directly by participating colleges and universities, rather than by the city itself. According to the mayor’s office, those institutions collectively provide between $360,000 and $530,000 in scholarship support to city employees each year, and applications to the graduate program have increased by more than 30% over the last two years.
“Our city moves when our workers do,” Mamdani said in a statement. “By expanding it to include undergraduate degrees, we are investing in a new generation of public servants who act ambitiously, think creatively and believe firmly in government’s power to deliver for the many.”
Mamdani praises officers who ‘ran toward’ danger at Gracie Mansion
Mayor Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch appear onstage during an NYPD promotion ceremony at One Police Plaza on March 30, 2026.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Later on Monday morning, Mamdani used an NYPD promotion ceremony to highlight the officers who responded to the alleged terror plot outside Gracie Mansion earlier this month, telling the crowd that “as New Yorkers ran away from danger,” NYPD Chief Aaron Edwards and Sgt. Luis Navarro “ran toward it.”
The remarks came during a ceremony honoring 200 promoted NYPD members, including 137 uniformed officers and 63 civilian members, at One Police Plaza on Mar. 30.
Mamdani framed the event as both a recognition of rank-and-file service and a reminder of the department’s role during recent emergencies, saying the NYPD had responded not only to the Gracie Mansion incident but also to winter weather and other emergencies
“New York City is no ordinary city, and the NYPD is no ordinary police force,” Mamdani said, thanking officers for what he described as the “commitment, skill and courage” required to protect the city. He also used the speech to tout department-wide public safety gains, saying the city had seen the lowest number of shooting-related incidents on record in the first two months of the year and that police had taken 1,000 guns off the street since Jan. 1.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, in remarks that followed, returned to the same incident and cast it as an example of the dangers officers face. “We saw that on full display earlier this month when officers ran to a live explosive device in a crowded part of the city and made the decisions that kept people safe,” Tisch said. “That’s what heroism looks like in this job.”
Federal prosecutors allege that the two accused of the incident, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, attempted to detonate improvised explosive devices during a March 7 protest and counterprotest outside the mayoral residence and were acting in support of ISIS.
Tisch described police work as “unpredictable” and “unrelenting,” saying officers are routinely thrust into “people’s hardest moments when the outcome is still uncertain.”
“New Yorkers do not call their local city council person. They call you,” Tisch said.
She also used the ceremony to reinforce her emphasis on what she called the department’s crime-fighting strategy, pointing to the same 1,000-gun milestone and praising investigators, sergeants and lieutenants whose leadership she said would shape how the NYPD responds “when circumstances are fluid.” “This is serious work that requires restraint without hesitation, authority without excess, confidence without ego,” Tisch said.