Hochul said the state will pick up the cost to launch a program called "2 Care" in the city starting in September. It follows the Trump administration saying it is freezing child care funding in the city and other blue states.
The program will work with home-based providers and build on the existing 3-K program to provide child care for 2-year-olds.
The program launches in "high-needs" neighborhoods this September, before expanding citywide, fully phased in by the 2029-30 school year.
Governor Hochul is committing to fully fund the first two years of the program.
The city already has 3-K, launched under the de Blasio administration, but Thursday's plan will be to strengthen it "to achieve universal care and ultimately, serve all families across the city."
Hochul has said she wants universal government funded child care statewide, and this plan establishes Pre-K access to all 4-year-old children in the state by 2028.
Providing care to cover children as young as six weeks could cost as much as $15 billion annually to fully implement statewide.
Mamdani campaigned on a promise of free child care for all from 6 weeks to 5 years old, regardless of household income.
"This is a day that so many believed would never come, but it is a day that working people across our city have delivered through the sheer power of their hard work and their unwavering belief that a better future was indeed within their grasp," Mamdani said.
Members of the state legislature returned to Albany on Wednesday for the start of the legislative session, and they will be under pressure to fund Mamdani's big budget items like universal child care, free buses and affordable housing.
While Mamdani made other promises, government-funded child care is the only promise Hochul has indicated she may be able to find a way to pay for this session.
Hochul said the state is investing $4.5 billion on child care this year. That includes working with community-based day cares, increasing family vouchers by 40% and working to expand pre-K in areas upstate.
----------
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
* More New York City news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
* Follow us on YouTube