Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul have unveiled the first neighborhoods to get free day care for 2-year-olds under the 2-Care program starting this fall.
Mamdani joined Hochul and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels to tour the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, a 2-K provider slated for Harlem.
The first four communities that will receive 2,000 2-K seats this fall are Washington Heights and Inwood, Fordham and Kingsbridge, East Brooklyn including Canarsie, Brownsville and Ocean Hill, and Ozone Park and the Rockaways.
“Launching 2-K in these four neighborhoods 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,” Mamdani said.
The program is expected to be fully phased in by the 2029-30 school year.
“This is the first time the State of New York has made such an unprecedented commitment to the families and children of the City of New York, and we’re not going backwards, we are committed,” Hochul said.
Hochul says the pilot program is already fully funded. It will expand to 12,000 children next year and to every 2-year-old in the city by year four. Until then, enrollment will be limited to certain neighborhoods.
“These determinations were made in part, on a reflection of which neighborhoods had those providers ready to go before the end of this year, and also as a reflection of economic need that will continue to be some of the ways in which we making determinations for the 12,000 seats next year,” Mamdani said. “But then by the end of year four, it’s every single 2-year-old in the City of New York.”
Staten Island is not included in the pilot program. Mamdani did not explain why, but says it will be included next year. Enrollment will begin over the summer but how children will be selected has yet to be determined
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