Hochul and Mamdani to unveil free child care plan in New York City

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City parents may soon have access to free child care for their 2-year-olds, under a plan set to be unveiled Thursday by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The two Democrats are expected to detail the program at a news conference Thursday morning, along with a pledge from Hochul to pursue a wider, statewide free child care initiative.

“There’s one thing that every family in New York can agree on, the cost of childcare is simply too high,” Hochul said in a statement. “As New York’s first mom Governor, fighting for New York’s families has always been at the core of my agenda.”

For Mamdani, the announcement is the first step in fulfilling one of his trademark campaign promises, marking a major boon for the mayor just days after he took office with the promise of implementing a transformative agenda focused on making the city a more affordable place to live.

“This victory represents much more than a triumph of city and state government working in partnership — it is proof that when New Yorkers come together, we can transform the way government serves working families,” he said in a statement.

In a statement provided by the governor’s office ahead of the announcement, Hochul said she is committing to fully funding the first two years of the city’s free child care program for 2-year-olds, describing it as an expansion of the city’s existing universal pre-K program.

The first year will focus on “high-need areas” selected by the city, then expand across the city by its fourth year, according to the statement.