Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic front-runner in the New York City mayoral race, said Wednesday he wants to double the size of a program for homeless students at public schools in a plan shared exclusively with the Daily News.
The small pilot program, called “Every Child and Family Is Known,” pairs students in Department of Homeless Services shelters with individual school staffers, who hold daily check-ins with children and weekly meetings with their parents. At last count, 1 in 8 city school kids did not have a stable place to call home.
The two-page plan is to grow the number of students served from 3,200 to 7,000 children in his first year as mayor, before expanding citywide to all homeless families. While Mamdani has floated a number of education ideas — scaling back gifted programs or weakening mayoral control — Wednesday’s policy proposal marks his first written, detailed education plan.
Mamdani’s campaign said the commitment is based on his belief that kids cannot focus on reading or math without the assurances of a roof over their heads, as well as a commitment to immigrant families living in shelters while they apply for asylum in the United States.
“That attention, that care, it has increased senses of belonging, it has increased levels of attendance, it has increased wellness for these children,” Mamdani said on a Jewish Currents podcast in April. “This is a funding issue, [but] it’s also a prioritization issue, where if we’re not showing these kids that they matter to this city, then that’s how they will have to live their lives.”
Andrew Cuomo, the former governor who is running as an independent, has said he would prioritize schools serving homeless students for conversion to “community schools,” which offer support services for the full family. As part of his platform, GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa denounced the high rate of student homelessness as the city continues to invest in migrant housing.
Mamdani would start the Every Child and Family Is Known expansion with the “highest-need” schools with 10 or more children in DHS shelters, growing the number of participating schools from 125 to 230.
The price tag is $8.6 million, which the Mamdani campaign said it would fund through a combination federal Title I and McKinney-Vento funding for students in poverty and temporary housing, as well as city tax levy. President Trump has pushed for changes to both federal programs.
That total is based on estimated costs of $1,200 per child to pay current teachers and other staff members overtime to serve as the so-called “Caring Adults,” as well as books, laundry cards and detergent, and professional development.
The expansion of Every Child and Family Is Known is the first written plan for K-12 schools put forward by Mamdani, who has made free child care the focus of his education agenda and expressed interest in giving up some of his power over the public schools.
It comes less than a week after Mamdani responded to a questionnaire in The New York Times that he would eliminate Gifted and Talented admissions in kindergarten, reviving a simmering debate over the separate track for select students, who are less likely to be Black or Hispanic.
Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos recently announced during her 2025 State of Our Schools speech the program would grow citywide this year.
Asked if Mamdani would consider keeping Aviles-Ramos on as chancellor given their mutual interest in growing the program, the campaign said the candidate has not made any personnel decisions yet but was “heartened” to hear about this year’s smaller expansion.
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