Chair Gutiérrez asks about provider mix and equity

And then I just have one more question, if no one else has.

I just wanted to ask, I know that we've had testimony from providers, from network providers, individual providers, and then some of the, I guess, larger franchise modeled providers.

There's concern for kind of, you know, their level of resource and infrastructure, but I think they also have expressed interest in wanting to be a part of this program.

I know one of the two case sites is one of these programs uptown.

How are you all thinking about early on the balance of, you know, what you've said, Emmy, is we need these home-based providers, right?

Majority of who are not a part of a franchise, but how are you all thinking about the universal piece?

So similar to the folks that are not in a network, but some of these larger networks, how are you all thinking about kind of the equity piece, where they currently are, where I think they'd want to expand?

What can you share with me about how you guys are thinking about it?

You know, I think with a mixed delivery system like we have, one of the really important values for us is that we have a really diverse mix of providers because that

both represents the diversity of our early childhood educators in New York City and it also meets families'really diverse preferences.

We know that families are interested in really different types of settings for all sorts of reasons, and we want to value that.

So as we continue to expand, we will look at both the providers who already work with the city, who already offer 3K and pre-K, to bring them into the 2K program so we can have that continuity for families.

And then we will create opportunities for new providers to come in as well.

In order to deliver universal 2K and ultimately universal child care, we need everyone.

And so we want to create on-ramps for all of our providers to participate.

Thank you.