Zohran Mamdani has taken a major step to make sure government workers can put forward their best work without worrying about child care. New York City Mayor and Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Commissioner Yume Kitasei announced that the city’s first free child care program for municipal workers will begin accepting applications on April 30, 2026.
Taking the stage, Mamdani announced that the program will be open to all municipal workers. Under Zohran Mamdani’s leadership, the program will be open to all city workers based at the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building. All DCAS employees, regardless of their work location, will be eligible.
.@NYCMayor announces free childcare center for government workers:”We never want city workers to have to choose between a job that they love and raising their kids in the city they call home.” pic.twitter.com/Fb5KlnuJT5
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 30, 2026
Zohran Mamdani said, “…it is a site that we are building for the few New Yorkers who can be louder than an active site, which is New York’s cutest. And this fall, it is a center that will be transformed into New York City’s first-ever on-site child care program for municipal employees. This is a site that will be 100% free with the child care that it provides.”
The Municipal Building is one of the largest government buildings in the world that houses more than 2,000 employees across multiple agencies. The $10 million renovation is underway to construct a 4,000-square-foot child care facility. The renovation is expected to be completed this fall.
Mamdani added, “(The program) will provide full-day care for children as young as six weeks to as old as three years old. And on April 30th, these applications will open for every single worker in the David Dinkins building, as well as every single DCAS employee, regardless of their location across the city.”
Mayor Mamdani is right.
Families in New York City deserve free child care.
But it’s not just New York. Instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, Congress must pass a universal child care bill to guarantee high-quality child care for every American family. pic.twitter.com/NsxTaj1jnn
— Sen. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 30, 2026
He continued, “This will be managed in-house by DCAS and operated by a contracted child care provider that we will be announcing later this spring. Now, this is a building of over a million square feet of office space and more than 2,000 city employees from over a dozen agencies.”
Mamdani closed his speech by saying that the program will work to bridge the gap between the workers’ job and their responsibilities as parents. He said, “Now, for too many of those employees, finding affordable childcare has long been one of their greatest obstacles they faced. And we never want city workers to have to choose between a job that they love and raising their kids in the family in the city that they call home.”
According to the Office of the Mayor, the child-care program will operate on the ground floor of the municipal building’s North Tower and will function year-round on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
