The Mamdani administration is inviting certain municipal employees with young children to apply for free child care, as part of a city pilot program launching this fall.
The child care program will be on-site at the David N. Dinkins building at 1 Centre Street and is open to all 2,000 employees in the building, as well as all Department of Citywide Administrative Services employees, regardless of where they are based.
“We never want city workers to have to choose between a job that they love and raising their kids in the family in the city that they call home,” Mamdani said during a press conference Monday.
Former Mayor Eric Adams first announced the pilot program in October, but Mamdani said he’s adding $2.3 million in operating funds to the program and making every employee who works in the building eligible, rather than only administrative services workers.
It’s the latest effort by the Mamdani administration to make child care more affordable for working families. Mamdani is also launching free care for 2,000 2-year-olds this fall and boosting the number of existing spaces in the city’s free 3-K program for 3-year-olds.
City workers can apply beginning April 30. Employees must be full-time and be a parent or guardian of a child between six weeks and 3 years old.
Parents will be notified in June and those who don’t receive one of the 40 slots will be placed on a wait list. The program will be located on the ground floor of the North Tower and is currently undergoing a $10 million renovation.
The program’s provider has not been announced, but care will be provided year-round and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. That’s a contrast to the city’s existing preschool programs that only offer free care during the school year and during school hours.
