Full-Day Care — NYC
Live now · City Council budget hearings
A funded seat that ends at 2pm doesn’t work for a parent who works until 6. Extend care to a full working day.
Parents organized · We won
Free child care for every kid in New York.
We’re parents who got fed up with $2,800 daycare bills. So we organized. Last January we won $970 million from the city and state — the biggest commitment to free child care in U.S. history. Now we make sure it sticks.
Free guides on what your family qualifies for. We’ll add you to the list — two emails a month, unsubscribe anytime.
- parents organized across New York State
- 12,184parents organized across New York StateUpdated weekly
- fights won
- 3fights wonWon 2-K and statewide Pre-K. Saved 3-K.
- free child care seats won
- 40,000+free child care seats wonSeat count being confirmed
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As reported in The New York Times, Bloomberg, Politico, The City, Crain’s, and WNYC.
01 — What we just won
The largest commitment to free child care in U.S. history.
Won January 2026.
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- $500M
- Free child care for 2-year-olds in NYC. First seats open this fall.
- $470M
- Pre-K expansion across New York State — first time it’s reaching outside the five boroughs.
- $100M
- To repair NYC’s 3-K program after years of cuts.
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02 — What we’re fighting for now
Four fights. Two of them are live this session.
Every campaign has a one-pager: the problem, what we’re asking for, and who has to say yes.
Statewide 3-K
Live now · Albany budget season
Free 3-K for every 3-year-old in New York — not just the districts that could afford to pilot it.
Universal Child Care
The long fight · Ongoing
The whole point. Free child care for every New York family, birth through school age.
2-K
Won in NYC · Now making it permanent statewide
We won it. Now it needs permanent funding in the state budget so it can’t be cut back.
03 — Help with what you’re dealing with now
Can’t find care that fits your shift?
You’re not the only parent stuck on a waitlist, and you’re not failing — the system is. Here’s what actually exists and what you might qualify for. No membership, no meeting, no pitch.
Free · No sign-up
How child care works in New York
Plain language: 2-K, 3-K, Pre-K, CCAP vouchers, and Head Start — who qualifies, what it costs, when to apply, and what to do when the waitlist is full.
Read the explainerFree · Takes 2 minutes
The UCC Guide
Our full parent guide as a PDF, plus a short form so we can point you at what’s available in your county — including programs that don’t advertise.
Get the guideWe’ll ask for your email and ZIP so we can send it and follow up. That’s it.
04 — What the press is saying
A hundred stories. Here’s three highlights.
Press inquiries: press@nyuc.org(212) 555-0100Press kit: one-pagers, bios, headshots, logos
The New York TimesJan 8, 2026
Hochul and Mamdani Announce Plan to Make N.Y. Child Care Universal.
“The proposal has one obvious set of fingerprints on it: a parent group that spent three years turning daycare bills into a voting bloc.”Read at NYT →
The New YorkerFeb 5, 2026
The People Who Will Actually Make Universal Child Care Happen.
“They are not lobbyists. They are people who brought their toddlers to a budget hearing and refused to be treated as a scheduling problem.”Read at The New Yorker →
PoliticoJan 23, 2026
Hochul and Mamdani spent months quietly crafting a plan to expand free child care.
“Aides in both offices credit the same pressure campaign — thousands of parents who kept showing up long after the cameras left.”Read at Politico →
05 — Why we’re doing this
12,000 parents…and counting.
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“I was paying more for daycare than my mortgage. I didn’t even know this was something you could fight.”
Maya R., Crown Heights, BrooklynMom of two, ages 2 and 4
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“Every place near me closes at five. I work nights. I got told I was on three waitlists and then heard nothing for a year.”
Danielle P., SchenectadyMom of an infant and a toddler, overnight shift
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“My kids are grown. I stayed because everybody I know with a toddler is doing the math on leaving New York, and that’s the whole city walking out the door.”
Andre W., Jackson Heights, QueensMonthly donor since 2024
06 — Get involved
Start wherever you are. The first step takes a minute.
Step 1 — Sign a petition
The easiest thing you can do that actually counts.
Your name goes on the list we hand to the people who vote on this. Tick the box if you’d also help organize — that’s how most of our leaders started.
Sign the petitionStep 2 — Come to one thing
Bring your kid. We mean that — there’s a kid corner.
Strategy meetings, City Hall rallies, ice cream socials. Virtual and odd-hours options, and we pay for childcare at events so your schedule isn’t the reason you can’t come.
See what’s coming upOr — Chip in
$25 a month pays for the organizers who win this.
Small-dollar money is the money we can spend on whatever fight matters most, without asking a foundation first. Here’s exactly what your dollar buys.
Give monthly