Screenshot courtesy of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani
Ahead of the Friday, Feb. 27, deadline to apply for Pre-K and 3-K childcare programs, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined children at a Pre–K and 3-K program in Morningside Heights on Wednesday, Feb. 25, urging families to submit their applications to the program. Families with children turning three or four in 2026 are encouraged to apply, he said, adding that every family that applies by the deadline will receive an offer, and applications are not first-come, first-served.
“Child care can cost more than $26,000 a year in New York City — a price tag that puts raising a family out of reach for far too many,” said the mayor. “When families enroll their children in Pre–K and 3-K, we’re putting that money back in their pockets and making this city more affordable. If you have a child turning three or four this year, now is the time to apply. The deadline to apply is Feb. 27, and every family that applies by then will receive an offer.”
3-K and Pre–K programs provide children with enriching, educational and supportive care, setting them on a path to lifelong success, City officials said. They added that families can apply at myschools.nyc, visit a City Family Welcome Centers in person, or call 718-935-2009. Online applications are available in 13 languages: English, Albanian, Arabic, Bengali/Bangla, Chinese, Haitian Creole, French, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Uzbek.
Since applications opened Jan. 14, City officials said more than 75,000 families have applied for 3-K and Pre–K seats. They said the Mamdani administration also launched a citywide outreach effort to ensure families know how and when to apply, which includes multilingual advertisements across LinkNYC kiosks and NYC Ferry, and partnerships with trusted community organizations to host application workshops and conduct direct outreach. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) joined him in one Spanish-language PSA.
City officials said this was particularly in order to target families who may be hesitant to engage with government. They said the administration also coordinated with faith leaders, elected officials and community-based organizations in targeted neighborhoods to encourage residents to sign up to the program. Shelter-based staff are also hosting application events for families in shelters, they said. According to the Coalition for the homeless, around 34,000 children live in city shelters as of 2025.
Source: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani
City officials went on to say that as part of the City’s commitment to universal child care, and with funding from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the administration will launch an initial 2,000 2-K seats this fall, the first time 2-K will be offered in New York City. They said earlier this month, the City issued a new request for information (RFI) for 2-K and 3-K providers to deliver early child care services, which they said marked the first time in five years that providers have been invited to join the 3-K program.
Last week, after what City officials said were delays under the last administration, Mamdani announced the opening of an early childhood center on the Upper East Side after critical demand in the neighborhood. They said in the coming months, as applications are reviewed to determine where additional
As reported, Bronx Councilmember Pierina Sanchez (C.D. 14) announced on Aug. 14, 2025, the passage of a package of bills at the New York City Council on inspection training in relation to New York City’s childcare facilities and an outreach campaign to inform parents of their rights in relation to childcare programs.
The passage of Int. 1041 and 1042 followed news that a one-year-old baby girl died in an apparent accident at a daycare home in the Unionport section of The Bronx on Aug. 1. As reported, the City Council bills were introduced in December 2023 in the wake of the prior death of one-year-old baby, Nicholas Feliz Dominici, from fentanyl poisoning at a Kingsbridge Heights-based daycare center on Sept. 15, 2023. Read more about Nicholas’s case here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The councilwoman said in part last year, “In Nicholas’ honor, and through the West Bronx Community Partnership, which I founded last year, we will keep fighting, bringing every resource possible to confront the illegal drug trade and violence that has taken too many lives. Nicholas should still be with us. In his honor, we are turning unimaginable grief into action to protect every child.”
Meanwhile, State senate bill S6226, sponsored by State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33), which also stemmed from Nicholas’s death, and which was carried in the Assembly under bill number A1382 by Brooklyn Assemblymember Amy Paulin (A.D. 88), passed in a previous legislative session, as reported, and both have since been signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
This pair of bills legislates for the provision of training to staff members accepting registrations, issuing licenses or conducting inspections of child day care homes, programs or facilities on the recognition of controlled substances.
Photo by Síle Moloney
Read more about other related state level legislation introduced by Rivera and Bronx Assemblyman George Alvarez (A.D. 78) here.
At the federal level, Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) has also co-led a bipartisan bill to address childcare affordability. We’re following up with Torres on the current status of the bill and will share more updates as we receive them.
As reported, a youth is currently sought for shots fired in July 2025 next to the site of the former Kingsbridge Heights-based daycare facility where Nicholas died. The infant was honored at a street co-naming ceremony in Kingsbridge Heights in Sept. 2024, one year after his death. Last year, on Nov. 21, a jury delivered two unanimous guilty verdicts for the couple charged in relation to Nicholas’s death.
In June 2024, as reported, a Norwood-based daycare provider, Silfredo Castillo Martinez, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a child and for producing child pornography.
Fentanyl Patch Safety
Video courtesy of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration via YouTube
NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) provides training and regularly updated information on how to obtain and administer naloxone (Narcan). Click here for more information.
admin
Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.