New York, NY – At a press conference I attended at New York City Hall on May 18, 2026 – Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced that the City will be adding 2,000 new 3-K seats for families across all five boroughs. This expansion deepens the partnership with community-based child care providers.
The administration also announced the opening of a new early childhood education center in Brooklyn’s Columbia Waterfront neighborhood. This will add 63 new 3-K and Pre-K seats. After years of community demonstrated need for additional child care capacity, NYC is moving forward with opening this center at a vacant building.
“On day eight of this administration, we made a promise to New Yorkers: we would fix the 3-K system and build a city where every family can count on affordable, high-quality child care. Today, we’re delivering on that promise,” said Mayor Mamdani. “Over the past few months, we have opened nine previously vacant child care centers, added thousands of 3-K seats where families need them most and started rebuilding trust with working families across this city. And we’re just getting started.”
“We are excited to continue strengthening and expanding 3-K so that more children across all five boroughs can benefit from the joyful, engaging learning experiences these programs provide,” said New York City Public Schools Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels. “By adding seats and opening new centers, we are building on our commitment to making early childhood education more accessible for New York City families and giving our youngest learners a strong start from day one.”
To ensure the new seats are distributed equitably and to empower families to make the choices that work best for them, roughly 700 seats added after the application update period closed on April 24 will be filled through the waitlist process. Families can continue adding themselves to waitlists for all programs, and seats will be offered based on availability. The waitlist process will allow families to express interest in newly available sites and potentially receive an offer at a preferred program closer to home.
The opening of the child care center at 129 Van Brunt St. marks the ninth previously vacant child care center opened by the city to meet the demand for affordable child care. The site will contribute 45 3-K seats to the administration’s total 2,000 newly added seats. In February, the Mayor announced the opening of an Upper East Side early childhood education center. Expanding access to high-quality early childhood education has been a priority of this administration. The School Construction Authority has partnered with the school system to prepare Pre-K and early childhood sites for students and families across the five boroughs.
At this May 18th press conference, the Mayor also announced that the primary model for 2-K programming will be full-day and full-year. This fall, New York City will launch the first 2,000 free 2-K seats in the City’s history. Applications for 2-K enrollment opens June 2.
