Mayor Zohran Mamdani is launching a 2-K initiative, in which he'll provide free, universal child care for 2-year-olds in New York City. He's on a search for the person who can come up with the best jingle for it, and he's teamed with Cardi B for a contest in which she'll help select the finalists.
Video of Mamdani asking Cardi for her assistance was posted to the NYC Mayor's Office social media Friday and later reposted to her Instagram Story.
“Can you believe that?" Cardi says in the clip. "We have a 34-year-old mayor! I feel like I’m a kid, and you’re, like, running New York,” she continues, before Mamdani poses a question about child care.
“Cardi, what do you think of free child care?” he asks. The mother of four responds, “I feel like free child care is very important. Sometimes us women, we can’t really go forward because we don’t have nobody to help us take care of our kids.”
“This fall we’re starting to deliver universal 2-K, which is just like pre-K, just like 3-K, but 2-K for 2-year-olds. Free child care, 2,000 seats in the fall, and there’s gonna be seats in the Bronx starting it up. ... Enrollment actually starts in June," Mamdani says.
He then asks Cardi if she would help judge a competition to find the best jingle, and she replies yes.
“The mayor’s going to help you! And I’m gonna judge, and he’s going to give because he’s the one with the funds,” she clarifies. New Yorkers will vote for the lucky winner.
The deadline for submissions is April 17; rules and guidelines can be found online. The winner's jingle will be the theme song for Mamdani's 2-K initiative; it will also play on the radio.