Parents read to their two year old in their home in Brooklyn, New York.
Photographer: Charlotte Giddings/Bloomberg
With Child-Care Bills Averaging $26,000, New York City Tries Free Program for Toddlers
Parents said the program, part of a larger plan to expand free child care in the city, can’t come soon enough.
New York City’s child-care costs, among the highest in the country, are a factor in families deciding to leave the city. Local and state officials say their plan to offer free care for all two-year-olds will provide a reason for them to stay.
“I don’t want any more families to leave New York,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said during a visit to a Queens child-care center last week. “We want them to stay, but we have to work as a government to make life more affordable for them.”