New York City will add 10,000 free 2-K seats next fall, expanding the program to all five boroughs, including the entirety of Staten Island and the Bronx, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday as part of their push for universal childcare.

The expansion, set for fall 2027, will bring the program to 22 of the city's 32 geographic school districts, up from five where it launched this September. The city also plans to add seats in those original districts, bringing the total number of planned spots to more than 12,000.

The city is moving ahead with the next stage of Mamdani's universal childcare plan after more than 5,700 families applied for the first 2,000 seats. Staten Island's inclusion also follows criticism from borough officials after the administration excluded it from the program's first year.

“For far too many New York City families, the joy of welcoming a child comes with a terrifying set of questions: How will I afford child care? Will I need to give up my job? Will I be forced to leave the city I love?” Mamdani said in a statement Monday. “Today, for 10,000 more families, we have an answer.”

The next phase will cover every school district in the Bronx, expanding beyond District 10, which was included in the inaugural rollout. Staten Island, which has a single school district covering the entire borough, will also be included for the first time.

In March, Mamdani defended his administration's decision to leave Staten Island out of the first phase, saying that expanding across the entire borough could strain provider capacity. He pledged at the time to include Staten Island in the following year's expansion.

“One of the key things we wanted to do is not only identify the need in these neighborhoods, but also the readiness to be able to deliver it to an entire school district,” Mamdani told reporters during a visit to Canarsie at the time.

Elsewhere, the program will expand into two additional Manhattan school districts, covering East and Central Harlem, West Harlem, Morningside Heights and surrounding neighborhoods.

In Brooklyn, six additional districts will receive seats, bringing 2-K to neighborhoods including Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, East New York, Bay Ridge, Coney Island and Bushwick.

Three additional Queens districts will be included, extending the program to areas including Corona, Elmhurst, Forest Hills, Jamaica, Queens Village, Laurelton and Rosedale.

The city will also add capacity in the five districts where 2-K began this fall: District 6 in Manhattan, District 10 in the Bronx, Districts 18 and 23 in Brooklyn and District 27 in Queens.

The administration has not yet determined how many new seats each district will receive. Emmy Liss, executive director of the Mayor's Office of Child Care and Early Childhood Education, said allocations will depend on provider interest and estimates of how many families are likely to apply.

The expansion follows the September launch of the city's first free 2-K program, which serves roughly 2,000 children in selected districts across four boroughs. Mamdani has pledged to provide free child care to every 2-year-old whose family wants a seat by the end of his first term.

Demand for those seats far exceeded availability . More than 5,700 families applied for just over 2,000 spots this summer, with approximately 3,700 applicants placed on waitlists when the first offers were announced in August.

City Hall has estimated that a free 2-K seat will save families an average of $26,000 annually in child care costs. The program is part of a broader $1.2 billion state investment over two years supporting 2-K, improvements to existing 3-K programs and additional child care vouchers. According to the city's Independent Budget Office , the state has committed $425 million in fiscal year 2028 to expand 2-K to 12,000 seats.