New York has taken the first step toward significantly expanding access to free and low-cost child care for children under the age of five in the state, as part of a plan expected to save local families billions of dollars each year.
Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Thursday that they will work together to deliver free child care for 2-year-olds in the Big Apple and strengthen the existing 3K (3-Year-Old Kindergarten) program to ultimately achieve universal care.
The move puts Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, on track to keep one of his key campaign promises, and New York City on track to become the first city in the nation to provide free universal child care.
“This is the day that everything changes,” Hochul, a Democrat, said during an event in Brooklyn on January 8.
“Today we take one step to realizing a city where every New Yorker, every family, every child can afford to keep calling it their home,” Mamdani said.
Why It Matters
The cost of living in New York is one of the highest in the world, and raising a child in the state—especially in New York City—can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars every year when you include rent, food and child care.
According to a report released in February, more than one in four (26 percent) children in New York City, or 420,000, were living in poverty in 2023, nearly double the national average.
Hochul’s and Mamdani’s proposal to offer affordable child care to families in New York could prove a godsend for households struggling with the state’s high cost of living, especially housing.
What To Know
Hochul is proposing to spend an additional $1.7 billion to expand access to affordable child care for New Yorkers, bringing the total to $4.5 billion in fiscal year 2027. The governor has estimated that this investment would deliver affordable child care to nearly 100,000 more children.
As part of her plan for 2026, the state would make pre-K “truly” universal across the state by the start of the 2028-2029 school year and partner with Mamdani to launch the new mayor’s signature 2-Care program, granting universal 3K access in the city over the next few years.
Under the proposal, the 2-care program would offer free child care to 2-year-olds in “high-need areas” of New York City beginning this year, with plans to expand access citywide over four years. Mamdani said he expects the program to cover 2,000 children this fall.
The state would also support other counties in building out new child care pilots offering high-quality, affordable care to New York families, regardless of their income, and would expand child care subsidies to tens of thousands of additional families statewide.
Hochul will also launch an Office of Child Care and Early Education to manage the implementation of universal child care for New York families.
Since taking office, the governor said she has already spent more than $8 billion on the state’s child care infrastructure, significantly expanding access for families.
The two Democrats’ joint announcement came only days after the Trump administration froze $10 billion in child care federal funds in five blue states, including New York, over allegations of widespread fraud.
The other states involved are California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota. The latter was recently at the center of a fraud scandal involving child care centers in the state run by Somali residents, which has triggered an attempt by the Trump administration to tighten its oversight on federally-funded child care services.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in documents shown to Newsweek that it had “reason to believe” these states may be committing fraud, though it did not provide details.
On Friday, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration could not freeze federal money for child care subsidies and other programs aimed at supporting low-income families with children in the five Democratic states.
What People Are Saying
Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Moms First, said in a statement shared with Newsweek: “Governor Hochul’s announcement is a turning point for families across the state. It shows what’s possible when parents, businesses, and policymakers come together and treat child care as the economic priority it has always been. New York just proved it can be done, now it’s time to take this blueprint and make every city in the country a place where families can afford to raise their kids.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement: “There’s one thing that every family in New York can agree on, the cost of childcare is simply too high. As New York’s first mom Governor, fighting for New York’s families has always been at the core of my agenda.
“Since taking office, I’ve put families front and center, fighting to make our state more affordable and laying the groundwork to deliver universal childcare.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement: “Over the past 14 months, a movement was born to fight for a city where every New Yorker could afford a life of dignity and every family could afford to raise their kids. Today, Governor Hochul and I meet that movement as we celebrate our joint commitment to universal child care.
“This victory represents much more than a triumph of city and state government working in partnership—it is proof that when New Yorkers come together, we can transform the way [the] government serves working families.”
What Happens Next
Mamdani has proposed universal, no-cost child care in the city during his campaign, generating a national conversation on the topic.
While it seems unlikely that the Trump administration would introduce it at the federal level, if New York City is successful, more cities—especially in blue states—might consider the traditionally progressive policy.
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