Full-Day, Full-Year Care.

A free seat that ends at 2:30 doesn’t work for a parent who works until six.
A seat you can’t use isn’t free. New York City can do better — and together,
we’re going to make sure it happens.

LIVE NOW

Updated August 2026

sign the petition

Why it matters.

Too many child care seats in New York don’t work for working families. Most 3-K and Pre-K programs in New York City run from 8am until 2:30pm — and pause for the summer.

Jobs don’t work that way. As a result, parents pay thousands for after-care, scramble to leave work early, or leave their jobs entirely. Mothers and hourly workers pay the highest price.

XX%

of parents opted out of 3-K and Pre-K because it doesn’t cover after-care

$XX

a month families pay to cover the hours a “free” seat doesn’t

“When my 6-year-old was three, I got a 3-K seat — with no after-care. I ended up paying for child care AND after-care AND summer camp. One summer, every dollar of my paycheck went to covering care.”

AN NYUC PARENT

New York City

XX%

of parents cut hours or left a job because care ended too early

2x

families with kids under six are twice as likely to leave New York

What we’re fighting for.

Full-day care

Every free child care program should last as long as a workday does — not end at 2:30 and leave parents scrambling.

Fair pay for the workforce

A full-day system doesn’t work without the providers who staff it. That means paying child care workers a living wage — not the poverty wages that we settle for now and that are driving talented educators out of the field.

Full-year care

Families don’t stop needing child care in the summer. Free programs should run year-round, so no parent has to shell out thousands for summer programs or take unpaid leave to fill the gap.

Permanent funding

Full-day, full-year care needs a dedicated source of funding that parents can count on — so it won’t get cut the first time a budget gets tight.

Press or legislative staff: email us for the printable one-pager, the numbers behind it, and someone to quote.

The full story

HOW WE GOT HERE - AND WHY THE GAP PERSISTS

New York City made a historic promise: free care for its youngest children. But the seats families actually won mostly run a school day, not a working day — and pause entirely for the summer. For a parent on an hourly schedule, that gap is the difference between a “free” seat and one they can’t use.

The fix isn’t a new program. It’s funding the hours and the months the current programs leave out, and paying the workforce enough to staff them. That’s a budget choice — one City Hall and Albany make every year.

This section is a placeholder for the fuller Full-Day, Full-Year background. The detail Sam trimmed for concision belongs here; restore Asya’s and Rebecca’s vetted long copy before publish.

New York City made a historic promise: free care for its youngest children. But the seats families actually won mostly run a school day, not a working day — and pause entirely for the summer. For a parent on an hourly schedule, that gap is the difference between a “free” seat and one they can’t use.
The fix isn’t a new program. It’s funding the hours and the months the current programs leave out, and paying the workforce enough to staff them. That’s a budget choice — one City Hall and Albany make every year.
This section is a placeholder for the fuller Full-Day, Full-Year background. The detail Sam trimmed for concision belongs here; restore Asya’s and Rebecca’s vetted long copy before publish.