Families across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx will soon be able to sign up for free 2-K child care programs, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday.
Mamdani campaigned on a pledge of free universal child care, and the 2,000 seats that will become available in four school districts this fall 2026 represent the first phase of the program. Days after Mamdani took office, he and Hochul announced a more than $1 billion investment in child care funding. The state will provide $73 million for this initial round, an investment that will expand to $425 million and 12,000 seats in the city for the following school year.
In a statement, Mamdani said that launching free 2-K in the four districts “is just the beginning of our work to put money back in New Yorkers’ pockets, strengthen our entire economy and help more families build their lives here.”
The districts are in every borough except Staten Island:
- School District 6: Washington Heights, Inwood and Hamilton Heights as well as parts of Manhattanville
- School District 10: Fordham, Belmont, Norwood, Marble Hill, Morris Heights, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Van Cortlandt Village and Kingsbridge and parts of Kingsbridge Heights, Bedford Park, Mount Hope, Claremont-Bathgate and East Tremont
- School Districts 18 and 23: Canarsie, Rugby-Remsen Village, Brownsville and Ocean Hill, and parts of East Flatbush-Farragut and Prospect Lefferts Gardens-Wingate
- School District 27: Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Howard Beach and Rockaways and parts of Lindenwood and Springfield Gardens North
When to Apply
Applications for 2-K will be available in the early summer. The mayor’s office will provide information in the coming weeks on how to apply. The program will be available “to any family who needs it, regardless of zip code, income or immigration status,” the mayor’s office said in a press release.
Districts Not Included
City officials stated they chose the school districts based on “economic need, projected child care demand, existing access gaps, provider capacity and readiness.”
Epicenter NYC analyzed the school districts selected for free 2-K based on the city’s Economic Need Index (ENI), a metric that estimates the percentage of students facing economic hardship based on factors like the use of temporary housing and eligibility for public assistance.
The ENI values for the districts chosen for this first wave range from 75.6% to 92%, according to 2024-2025 school year data provided by the city. These areas serve high concentrations of Black and Hispanic/Latino families. Advocates for Children of New York, a nonprofit group, estimates that more than 20% of students from School Districts 9 and 23 experienced homelessness in the 2024-2025 school year, among the highest rates across the five boroughs.
Several districts with high economic needs were not included in the initial 2,000-seat rollout. District 9 in the South Bronx and District 19 in East New York have ENI values at 95.4% and 89.4%, yet were not included for this first phase. City officials are working to increase 2-K provider capacity across school districts as the program expands.
In early February, the mayor’s office put out a call for providers interested in joining the 2-K and 3-K programs, stating in a press release that the city “plans to expand to serve all interested families citywide by year four.”
“Through deliberate planning, we’re committed to sustainable growth that expands access for New York’s cutest while supporting the dedicated educators and providers who make early learning possible across all five boroughs,” said Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.
