New York City and New York State will add 17 school districts to 2-K, the free full-day child care program for 2-year-olds, in fall 2027. All of the Bronx and Staten Island are included, bringing the program to 22 districts in total. The application schedule has not yet been announced.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Oct. 19 that 2-K, the free, full-day, year-round child care program for 2-year-olds, will expand to 17 additional school districts in fall 2027. The Bronx and Staten Island will be covered in their entirety, raising the number of districts with 2-K from the current five to 22 (out of 32 citywide). The city said 10,000 new seats will be added.
The existing districts are District 6 in Manhattan, District 10 in the Bronx, Districts 18 and 23 in Brooklyn, and District 27 in Queens. The districts being added are Districts 4 and 5 in Manhattan (including East Harlem and Central Harlem); Districts 16, 17, 19, 20, 21 and 32 in Brooklyn (including Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, East New York, Bay Ridge, Coney Island and Bushwick); Districts 24, 28 and 29 in Queens (including Corona, Elmhurst, Maspeth, Jamaica and Queens Village); and the remaining districts in the Bronx and Staten Island. The city also said it will increase capacity in the existing five districts.
The program will be offered through center-based programs and licensed family child care providers, and full-day, year-round service is the default. It will be funded by a $1.2 billion state investment. The city said that starting in fall 2027, more than 12,000 children across the five boroughs will be able to use 2-K.
Eligibility requirements and the application schedule have not yet been released. The city said it will announce the application schedule for the fall 2027 term within the next few weeks. Information on child care for children under 5 is available at nyc.gov/childcare. The city's Department of Education also plans to release soon a survey of existing contracted child care providers and a request for information (RFI) for organizations interested in running new 2-K programs.