STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced $100 million will go toward a program to expand child care across New York state, including New York City.

Hochul announced on Tuesday the launch of a new Child Care Capital Construction Funding Program designed to increase the availability of quality care and expand the capacity of child care, including school-age programs, across the state by funding the construction of new child-care facilities or expanding existing ones.

The initiative is expected to add between 6,000 and 10,000 new child-care seats for New York families.

“I deeply understand how important it is for New York State to continue to address the critical child care shortage that makes it difficult for families to find the safe, quality child care services they need,” said Hochul. “Our construction grants will go a long way to increase the availability of quality child care statewide. Affordable, high-quality child care is a necessity that I want to see extended to all New York families.”

The program is a component of Hochul’s 2025 State of the State and expands upon a $50 million Child Care Capital Program in 2024, which added about 5,500 new seats at child care facilities in the state.

It is overseen by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services and administered by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York.

The program will provide funding for design, construction, reconstruction, renovation, equipment, and other capital assets for existing or proposed non-profit or municipal Office of Children and Family Services-licensed child day care centers, registered school-age child care programs, and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene permitted group day care programs.

The facility must be intended to be used as a child care program for at least eight years and be located in an area with a current shortage of regulated child-care services.

Individual grant awards will range from $500,000 to $5 million.

Sixty percent of the funding will be targeted to the downstate region, including New York City, Long Island, and the Mid-Hudson Region, while 40% will be awarded in the rest of the state.

Applications will be accepted from Feb. 2, 2026, through March 13, 2026.

Awards will be announced no earlier than May 4, 2026.