Mayor Eric Adams at an April 1, 2025 press convention at Metropolis Corridor.
Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
Taking a web page from his mayoral challengers’ playbooks, Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday introduced an enlargement of town’s after-school program as a step towards making it free for all college students who desire a seat.
Adams, throughout a Tuesday afternoon press convention at P.S. 20 Anna Silver Faculty on Manhattan’s Decrease East Facet, revealed that he’ll start investing $331 million in his upcoming Fiscal 12 months 2026 Government Price range towards including 20,000 new after-school seats for Okay-5 college students over the subsequent three years.
The mayor additionally pledged to launch a fee of nonprofit suppliers and different stakeholders charged with creating a long-term common after-school program, which he calls “After-School for All.”
“To make New York City the best place to raise a family, we need to make sure our young people and families have opportunities to thrive, and that is why we are launching a big, bold vision to achieve universal after-school for free for all students who want it,” Adams mentioned in a press release. “Our parents shouldn’t have to choose between picking up their child or working a job to put food on the table — and now they won’t have to.”
Adams introduced the transfer as a part of the rollout of his finances plan for the upcoming fiscal yr. He’s set to unveil what he dubbed the “best budget ever” later this week.
The mayor’s announcement comes after candidates working to interchange him within the Democratic mayoral major, which he’s not collaborating in since launching an unbiased bid as a substitute, have pitched their very own plans for making after-school free for all college students who need to take part. These challengers embrace Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander.
Myrie was the primary candidate to roll out a common after-school plan, which he additionally referred to as “After-School for All.” His plan seeks to make after-school programming obtainable to all college students, from three-year-olds in pre-school via highschool seniors.
But, as the present mayor, Adams can beat them to the punch by flexing his government muscle to form town finances.
Based on his workplace, the mayor’s effort to broaden after-school programming, which is run by town Division of Youth and Neighborhood Growth (DYCD), begins with allocating $21 million so as to add 5,000 seats to the upcoming metropolis finances. The quantity will develop to $112 million for one more 10,000 seats in 2027 after which once more to $136 million for one more 5,000 in 2028—at which level it will likely be baselined, which means that quantity can be a locked-in place to begin for future finances negotiations.
Based on Adams’ workplace, a further $195 million will go towards bettering town’s present after-school system by opening a request for proposals to suppliers for the primary time in a decade.
Adams has additionally unveiled the restoration of funding for 3-Okay and common pre-Okay, which can be baseline going ahead, and new investments in housing packages forward of his finances announcement this week.
