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Two thousand New York City toddlers will receive free full-day child care this fall under the first phase of Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s 2K rollout, with seats concentrated in neighborhoods that, he says, have the greatest economic need and child care gaps. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell. <\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced that School District 27 in Queens will be among the first four communities that will receive free 2K seats this fall.\n<\/p>\n
Mamdani on March 3 announced that 2,000 toddlers will receive free full-day child care this fall as part of his 2K rollout, with seats concentrated in communities that the Mayor says have the greatest economic need and childcare gaps.<\/p>\n
School District 27, which includes parts of Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Howard Beach<\/a> and Rockaways, will be included in the first phase of the rollout, City Hall confirmed in an announcement on Tuesday. The district also includes parts of Lindenwood and Springfield Gardens North.<\/p>\n Mamdani first announced his 2K initiative alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul in early January, pledging to provide free childcare to two-year-olds, regardless of zip code, income or family immigration status.<\/p>\n The program will launch with 2,000 free seats this fall and is expected to expand to full universality within four years.\n<\/p>\n \u201cRaising a child takes a village \u2013 and it takes a city government willing to step up and tackle the child care crisis head-on,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement. \u201cOn day eight, we moved closer to making universal childcare a reality. This fall, 2,000 New York City two-year-olds will have a brighter future because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said Mamdani\u2019s commitment to District 27 would ensure that the city takes a \u201cseismic leap\u201d toward addressing decades of \u201csystemic disinvestment\u201d in education in South Queens and the Rockaway Peninsula.<\/p>\n \u201cWith\u00a0District\u00a027\u00a0set to become the borough\u2019s first 2-K\u00a0district this fall, we are taking another seismic leap forward in righting the wrongs of the past and building an education system rooted in equity,\u201d Richards said.<\/p>\n Council Member Lynn Schulman also welcomed the investment, stating that families in the local community had often been forced to make \u201cimpossible decisions\u201d about their child\u2019s education and care due to rising costs.<\/p>\n \u201cUniversal child care must begin with meaningful, targeted investments in neighborhoods that need it most,\u201d Schulman said in a statement. \u201cThese new 2K seats, some of which are slated for my district, are a critical step toward making early childhood education truly accessible and affordable for every family.\u201d<\/p>\n Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels, meanwhile, said the launch of the 2K initiative reflects City Hall\u2019s commitment to reaching families with the greatest need.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe are opening the doors for thousands of two-year-olds and their families, delivering free, full-day care and early learning and paving the way for bright futures from our students\u2019 earliest ages,\u201d Samuels said.<\/p>\n The rollout is backed by more than $1.2 billion in state funding for early childhood education in New York City, announced by Hochul earlier in the year. That commitment includes $73 million to fund the first round of 2K seats and is expected to grow to $425 million next year, according to City Hall.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two thousand New York City toddlers will receive free full-day child care this fall under the first phase…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[54289,3208,3945,10774,22925,9,24,63,122,124,123,63500],"class_list":{"0":"post-152381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-2k","9":"tag-childcare","10":"tag-donovan-richards","11":"tag-lynn-schulman","12":"tag-mayor-zohran-mamdani","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-queens","17":"tag-queens-headlines","18":"tag-queens-news","19":"tag-school-district-27"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}