{"id":159230,"date":"2026-03-10T15:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/159230\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T15:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T15:13:07","slug":"these-nyc-zip-codes-will-get-more-free-child-care-seats-for-3-year-olds-mamdani-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/159230\/","title":{"rendered":"These NYC ZIP codes will get more free child care seats for 3-year-olds, Mamdani says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-block-key=\"pa1lg\">Mayor Zohran Mamdani will add another 1,000 free preschool seats for New York City&#8217;s 3-year-olds this fall in an effort to alleviate <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-3-k-seat-in-your-nyc-zip-code-check-this-map\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">seat shortages<\/a> in some areas and ensure children aren\u2019t assigned to locations far from their homes.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"4m574\">The Mamdani administration said the new seats for the city\u2019s popular 3-K program will be spread across 56 ZIP codes that include a mix of socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods, such as Park Slope, Canarsie, East Elmhurst and Parkchester.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"rclt\">The expansion will also reach Staten Island, after the borough was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wnyc.org\/story\/staten-island-councilmember-says-its-shocking-for-the-borough-to-be-left-out-of-the-citys-new-free-2k-childcare-program\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">excluded from the city\u2019s initial list of neighborhoods<\/a> that will <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/these-nyc-neighborhoods-will-get-free-child-care-for-2-year-olds-first-mamdani-says\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">launch free care for 2,000 2-year-olds<\/a> this fall.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"814jb\">The cost of child care across the five boroughs averages about $20,000 a year and has been driving <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/young-families-are-fleeing-nyc-rising-child-care-and-housing-costs-are-to-blame\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">young families who can\u2019t afford to pay out of the city<\/a>. While the city offers free care for 3- and 4-year-olds through its 3-K and pre-K programs, parents are often <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/after-nyc-parents-are-denied-3k-seats-city-hall-says-there-is-plenty-of-room\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">waitlisted for care<\/a> or assigned to child care locations miles away from their homes. Meanwhile, some neighborhoods are <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/how-hard-is-it-to-get-a-3-k-seat-in-your-nyc-zip-code-check-this-map\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">sitting with empty seats<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"8giol\">\u201cA 3-year-old can\u2019t take themselves to class 3 miles away and a working parent shouldn\u2019t have to commute from Parkchester to Park Slope just to find child care,\u201d Mamdani said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DVrokd0EaPs\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">social media post<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"e100i\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/09\/nyregion\/mamdani-childcare-expansion-3k.html\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">New York Times<\/a> first reported the addition of new seats.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"ficv\">Mamdani pledged to make child care free and universal during his mayoral campaign. Shortly after taking office, he announced a plan to expand the city\u2019s free preschool program to 2-year-olds. Gov. Kathy Hochul has vowed to fund the first two years of the program and promised another $100 million toward 3-K after years of cuts under the <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/in-a-reversal-mayor-adams-agrees-to-fund-nycs-3-k-program-over-the-long-term\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Adams administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"957dr\">Mamdani in recent weeks has been <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/nyc-child-care-chief-offers-new-details-on-mamdanis-plans-for-universal-free-care\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">pushing hard to encourage more families to enroll<\/a> in the city\u2019s 3-K and pre-K programs. He said getting names in the system will help his administration understand where the city needs to create more seats and to make sure all families know what resources are available to them. The city said enrollment numbers are still being crunched.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"1sn3v\">City officials said that as the new 3-K seats are confirmed, they will notify families in those neighborhoods. The city\u2019s free 3-K program covers six hours of care throughout the school year from September to June. Families can pay out of pocket for additional extended hours if the program offers it.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"e4kpk\">The 3-K and pre-K programs are offered inside schools, centers and family child care providers who care for children in their home. But family providers, who are overwhelmingly women of color, were largely left out of 3-K and pre-K expansion efforts, which <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/nyc-home-care-workers-eagerly-await-mamdanis-expansion-of-child-care\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">destabilized their businesses and plummeted enrollment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"a66hl\">It\u2019s not clear whether the additional 3-K seats will include more family providers, who say they <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/nyc-home-care-workers-eagerly-await-mamdanis-expansion-of-child-care\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">need to be part of the mayor\u2019s universal child care plans<\/a> or will be forced to close their doors.<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"45qh7\">City officials said potential provider capacity as well as previous enrollment data and early numbers of 3-K applications determined where the new seats will go. The additional seats will cover more than half of the city\u2019s school districts and include the following ZIP codes and neighborhoods:<\/p>\n<p>Bronx (Districts 8 and 11)Staten Island (District 31)Brooklyn (Districts 13, 14, 15, 20 and 21)Manhattan (Districts 2, 3 and 6)Queens (Districts 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 30)<\/p>\n<p data-block-key=\"5p58d\">Elizabeth Kim contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani will add another 1,000 free preschool seats for New York City&#8217;s 3-year-olds this fall in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-159230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159230","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=159230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}