Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced that New York City School District 6, which encompasses a swath of Upper Manhattan neighborhoods, will be among the first four districts citywide to receive free 2-K seats during a fall rollout of a universal program.<\/p>\n
Specifically, the district\u2014which includes Washington Heights, Inwood, Hamilton Heights, and some of Manhattanville\u2014will receive an unspecified chunk of the 2,000 initial free seats expected to come online as the program ramps up.<\/p>\n
These initial seats will receive funding from a $73 million pot, which is expected to grow to $425 million by next year; NY Governor Kathy Hochul has committed $1.2 billion to such programs.<\/p>\n
The free 2K program is supposed to provide seats for 12,000 two-year-old children in New York City by next fall, with the goal of eventually providing a seat to any family who needs one, i.e. universal coverage.<\/p>\n
City officials say that District 6, much like the other three districts, was selected for the initial rollout due to \u201ceconomic need, projected child care demand, existing access gaps, [and] provider capacity and readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani said that the initial rollout was \u201conly the beginning of our efforts to deliver universal child care across every corner of the five boroughs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUniversal child care will not just provide our kids with the quality education they deserve,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt will place at least $20,000 per child back in the pockets of parents across our city, and will make it possible for countless parents to return to the careers they love.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time the State of New York has made such an unprecedented commitment [to] the families and children of the City of New York, and we\u2019re not going backwards,\u201d Gov. Hochul said. \u201cWe are committed.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his turn at the mic, NYC Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels promised a swift rollout of the program in districts outside of the initial four: \u201cLet me be clear, for families in districts not included in Phase One: \u2018We\u2019ll see you soon.\u2019 Now, we know the need is real, and that\u2019s why this is a first phase and not a final answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani noted that applications for the program would begin this summer. Anybody living within District 6 can apply, regardless of their occupation, income, or immigration status.<\/p>\n
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal did not attend the presser, but he chimed in with an effusive statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m deeply grateful to Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul for recognizing the urgent need in Washington Heights and Inwood and selecting School District 6 as one of the first communities to receive 2-K seats,\u201d he said. \u201cFor so many Northern Manhattan families, the cost of child care is an overwhelming burden.\u201d<\/p>\n
City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, also provided a statement praising the forthcoming rollout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis initial launch of 2-K in neighborhoods across the city is a critical next step toward full universal child care, and I thank Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani for their leadership in moving this forward,\u201d she said. \u201cI have long championed universal child care as essential to making New York more affordable and equitable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced that New York City School District 6, which encompasses a swath of Upper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[41579,75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-154883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-kamar-samuels","9":"tag-manhattan","10":"tag-manhattan-headlines","11":"tag-manhattan-news","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154883","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=154883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}