Mayor Mamdani broadcasts the growth of the 2k program hours on the Victory Music and Dance Firm IN Brownsville on his 99th day in workplace on April 9, 2026.
Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
Thursday, April 9, marks the 99th day of Zohran Mamdani’s time period as mayor. New York News is following Mamdani round his first 100 days in workplace. We’re carefully monitoring his progress on fulfilling marketing campaign guarantees, appointing key leaders to authorities posts, and managing town’s funds. Right here’s a abstract of what the mayor did yesterday and at the moment
Dad and mom who get one of many metropolis’s first 2-Ok seats this fall will be capable to use this system from 8 a.m. to six p.m., 260 days a yr, as Mayor Zohran Mamdani strikes to show the rollout into one thing nearer to full-time youngster care than a conventional college schedule.
Mamdani introduced Thursday in Brownsville that “the default model for 2-K seats across the city will be full day and full year, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.”
“That is going to be 10 hours a day, 260 days a year. A typical school year, as we know, only lasts 180 days,” the mayor stated.
Town is launching this system with 2,000 seats this fall, and Mamdani solid the longer schedule as a solution to a fundamental drawback for folks working normal hours.
“For those New Yorkers with young kids, holding down a nine-to-five and managing pick up and drop off at a traditional 3 p.m. time can be unmanageable,” he stated.
Mamdani stated many dad and mom are pressured to overlook work, in the reduction of hours or pay for further care to cowl the hole left by a school-day schedule. “What this will do is save working parents at least $20,000 per child,” he stated, tying the growth to the $1.2 billion in youngster care funding town secured with Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this yr.
Constructing out common youngster care
Emmy Liss, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s youngster care czar, speaks on the podium as Metropolis Corridor unveils expanded 2-Ok hours. Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
The announcement is a part of the mayor’s broader push to construct out common youngster look after households with youthful youngsters.
On the press convention, Mamdani stated town is planning not only for 2-year-olds, however in the end for youngsters “as soon as we will reach down to six weeks and older.” He additionally urged dad and mom to fill out town’s new survey to assist form the following section of this system.
The growth might additionally check town’s skill to workers a for much longer day. Requested how suppliers would deal with the shift, Mamdani stated the administration has been in dialog with suppliers about their wants and capability, whereas Emmy Liss, the mayor’s youngster care czar, stated town plans to rely closely on suppliers already serving households.
“For this fall for the launch of 2k, we’ll be working primarily with child care providers who are already up and running,” Liss stated.
She added that household youngster care suppliers, who usually run packages out of their properties, are anticipated to be an vital a part of the rollout and that “the vast majority are already operating programs for 10 or more hours a day.”
Liss additionally stated town doesn’t count on the expanded schedule to require a separate funding stream. “The budget is fully covered within the commitment that the governor announced with the mayor earlier this year,” she stated.
The transfer goes additional than what many metropolis households at the moment get by means of 3-Ok. Liss stated “the majority of our city’s 3-K programs operate on a school day schedule,” whereas solely “a subset” supply an extended-day mannequin.
Colleges Chancellor Kamar Samuels applauded youngster care growth.
“New York City Public Schools have always been the backbone of our communities, and 2-K is our opportunity to support families even earlier in their child’s life,” he stated. “This is a historic moment, and I am proud to partner with Mayor Mamdani to build an early child care and education system that is truly universal, equitable, and tailored around the real needs of the families we serve.”
The mayor lately introduced a first-of-its-kind youngster care supplier map and on-line useful resource hub, designed to make it simpler for households to search out care and perceive the choices accessible to them, and the Metropolis’s first free youngster care program pilot for municipal staff.
