Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday unveiled the first five New York City school districts set to receive free child care for 2-year-olds this fall.

Two thousand free seats will roll out in the following districts, the two lawmakers said in a news release:

School District 6 in Manhattan, which includes Washington Heights, Inwood and Hamilton Heights, as well as parts of Manhattanville
School District 10 in the Bronx, which includes Fordham, Belmont, Norwood, Marble Hill, Morris Heights, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Van Cortlandt Village and Kingsbridge, as well as parts of Kingsbridge Heights, Bedford Park, Mount Hope, Claremont-Bathgate and East Tremont
School Districts 18 and 23 in Brooklyn, which include Canarsie, Rugby-Remsen Village, Brownsville and Ocean Hill, as well as parts of East Flatbush-Farragut and Prospect Lefferts Garden-Wingate
School District 27 in Queens, which includes Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Howard Beach and Rockaways, as well as parts Lindenwood and Springfield Gardens North

The program is slated to become universal within four years of its launch, according to the release.

“This is only the beginning of our effort to deliver universal child care across every corner of the five boroughs, and as we roll out this program, we want to get it right, to ensure that every family can access child care, that providers are supported,” Mamdani said at a press conference. “And that when fall 2027 comes around, we have the infrastructure in place to provide free 2-K to approximately 12,000 children.”

No Staten Island neighborhoods were included in the initial list, a decision that was criticized by Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella in a statement.

“We have young, hardworking families here, just like any other borough,” Fossella’s statement reads, in part. “If help is going to be offered for free, these families sure could use it, as they work to make their kids’ future the best it can be.”

The first five school districts getting seats were chosen “based on economic need, projected child care demand, existing access gaps, provider capacity and readiness,” the city’s release said.

At the press conference, Mamdani promised that Staten Island neighborhoods would get free 2-K seats by year two of the program.

“Next year, we will be announcing additional neighborhoods and school districts that this will apply to,” the mayor said. “It will extend beyond these sets of districts, and one thing that I can tell you for certain, is that it will also extend into Staten Island.”

In January, Hochul pledged to provide more than $1.2 billion to support early child care and education programs in the five boroughs, including $73 million for the first 2,000 2-K seats.

“We’ve done such a good job managing our budget that we’re able to provide this new program, in an enhanced way, to have 2-year-old care in the city of New York, in addition to all of the other investments we’ve made throughout the state,” the governor said Tuesday.

“Today we’re delivering on something that’s been talked about, but this is the first time the state of New York has made such an unprecedented commitment into the families and children of the city of New York,” she added. “And we’re not going backwards. We are committed.”