As the city prepares to roll out a new 2-K program in eastern Brooklyn this fall, education leaders are working to strengthen ties with the childcare providers who will help advance their universal child care goals and increase outreach to families to make sure the seats are filled.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who on Tuesday announced the availability of about 2,000 2-K seats in four boroughs for the 2026-2027 school year, said the administration’s focus is to set up a system that was durable and sustainable.
"For a long time, New Yorkers across the city have been unsure as to whether they would, in fact, get a seat if they applied for a seat," and one close to home, Mamdani said as he stopped by the Breukelen Early Childhood Center in Canarsie on Wednesday.
Building a stable relationship with the childcare providers is a critical step, he added.
As 2-K and other early childhood education seats are expanded, the city also must look into building a pipeline to grow the number of teachers and staff, said Emily Liss, the executive director of the Mayor's Office of Child Care.
“Early childhood hasn’t always had the same focus as K-12, and we need to think about how we help a whole new generation of people who see early childhood education as a profession,” she said.
The number of 2-K seats available in Brooklyn has not been released, but families in school districts 18 and 23, which covers Canarsie, Remsen Village, Brownsville and Ocean Hill, can apply in the first phase.
The seats will be available at community-based child care providers and home-based family child care providers that are already operating within the city system, according to Liss. The city is currently looking into which providers can provide a full-day program, which lasts 6 hours and 20 minutes, and/or 10 hours, an extended day session.
The applications process will begin in the summer, and will resemble the current 3-K and Pre-K process run by NYC Public Schools, Liss said. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, so once a child turns 2 in 2026, families can apply for a 2-K seat.
“All parents with a child turning two this year who live in the districts will be eligible to apply and they'll be able to express interest in different program options that might meet their family's needs and then we'll go through a match process and make families [their] offers,” Liss told BK Reader.
The day-to-day implementation of 2-K will be run by the Division of Early Childhood at NYC Public Schools.
Eventually, the 2-K program aims to provide free child care to any family who needs it, regardless of income, ZIP code or immigration status. By fall 2027, 2-K is expected to serve approximately 12,000 children across all five boroughs, with full universality planned within four years.
During a near five-hour City Council hearing on early childhood education on Monday, Liss said she is meeting with multiple city agencies every week, including NYC Public Schools, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Administration for Children's Services and others to make sure the program can run smoothly.
Liss also noted that the city is prioritizing engagement with the childhood center providers to make sure the city is designing policies that work for them. She said many providers have difficulty with the licensing and permitting process to work as an early childhood center for the city.
“I think about what it means for a small business to contract with the city, making sure that our systems and structures are responsive to their needs, that we are paying folks on time, that we are honoring the contracts that they have and their obligations so that providers can focus on the work of caring for and educating young children and not worrying about all of the paperwork and administration,” she said.
In addition, Liss said she is working on a better way to let families know these early education seats exist.
“We have to actually do the work of engaging families and make sure that they are aware of and able to participate in these programs,” she said. “I think we saw over the last month or so as we were talking to families about 3-K and Pre-K, that families still just don't know that these programs exist and that they are available for them and that families are eligible."
Pay parity was also on her mind, as staff who work for community-based organizations make much less than their DOE counterparts.
“Our vision for universal child care is a system in which every family has access to free, high-quality, culturally responsive care and education for all children under five, with care offered in a range of settings and delivered by caregivers and educators who are respected and fairly compensated,” Liss said at the City Council hearing.
Liss also noted her desire to set up a system where students in the 2-K program will be screened for early intervention services.
City officials have said they expect parents will save an average of $26,000 on child care costs annually as universal child care is expanded and implemented.
