New York City sent out the first offers to Mayor Mamdani’s free childcare program for 2-year-olds on Tuesday, the first major step toward fulfilling a campaign promise.
The city made over 2,000 offers ahead of 2-K’s launch this fall in select neighborhoods, out of 5,700 families who applied, Mamdani and Gov. Hochul announced. Families who didn’t get an offer will be given the option to join a waitlist in case some parents turn down their 2-K offer. 2-K is expected to expand citywide in future school years.
The 3,700 of families who did not receive an offer have just over a month to find alternative childcare.
The demand may help Mamdani show proof of concept as he prepares to ask Albany for more funding to expand and continue his signature program in future years. Gov. Hochul gave Mamdani money to launch the first 2,000 seats of 2-K in September and expand to 12,000 seats the next school year: $73 million and $425 million, respectively. The governor has yet to allocate the dollars to keep the program afloat after the 2027-28 school year, though she has said she intends to.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News)
“The overwhelming demand for 2-K shows what families across the city have known for years: New Yorkers need free, universal child care, and they need it now,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Together with Governor Hochul, we’ll keep expanding 2-K until every family that wants a seat can get one.”
The mayor and governor were expected to appear together in the Bronx later Tuesday morning to celebrate the offers.
Mamdani campaigned on free childcare for all NYC kids as young as 6 weeks. So far, he’s started with scaling the city’s popular universal childcare program to include 2-year-olds and opening more sites in the pre-K program for 3-year-olds, or “3-K.” Mamdani has said 2-K will reach full scale by the end of his first mayoral term.
Through 2-K, the city contracts with local daycares to provide free early education to families of 2-year-olds. The program is open to families of all income levels, not means-tested like most of the city’s other childcare options for kids that age. In a welcome change, 2-K runs for the full work day and year-round, so parents don’t have to arrange care for after school or over the summer.
Gov. Kathy Hochul. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
The program’s launch this fall will start in five local school districts: Manhattan’s District 6 in Washington Heights and Inwood; the Bronx’s District 10 in Fordham, Belmont, Kingsbridge and Norwood; Brooklyn’s Districts 18 and 23 in Canarsie, Ocean Hill and Brownsville, and Queens’ District 27 in Ozone Park and the Rockaways. The program will expand to Staten Island during the 2027-28 school year.
In the run-up to the application deadline, Mamdani encouraged families to apply with his signature communication style that earned him the label of the city’s first influencer mayor — from a 2-K jingle contest with Cardi B and Lin-Manuel Miranda, to a “2-K for 2-K” run in Upper Manhattan. His administration has continued traditional outreach efforts as well, such as signing up families at churches, block parties and resource fairs, and partnering with community groups.
Applications opened at the end of June. The first day of school is Sept. 10.