Council Member Kevin C. Riley (D-12), who represents a section of the Northeast Bronx, gathered with families at Angelo Campanaro Playground on Gun Hill Road Wednesday to rally support for expanding New York City’s Pre-K and 3-K programs to include children as young as two years old.
Riley urged parents to sign a petition pushing for broader access to early childhood education, arguing that the city’s current offerings fall short of meeting the needs of working families—especially in the Bronx.
While Mayor Eric Adams’ Fiscal Year 2026 Executive Budget, released Thursday, includes $92 million in permanent funding for 3-K, Riley joined childcare advocates like New Yorkers United for Child Care in calling for bolder action to address the city’s ongoing childcare affordability crisis and move closer to the goal of universal childcare.
“As a father of three, I understand the real-life challenges families face in trying to balance work, finances, and raising young children,” Riley said. “In the Northeast Bronx and across the city, too many parents are left without reliable options because child care remains out of reach.”
In New York, more than 80% of families with young children can’t afford childcare, which can cost upwards of $20,000 a year per child for toddlers according to an analysis of a 2022 state survey of childcare market rates by the nonprofit Citizens’ Committee for Children. The advocacy organization found that the cost burden to Bronx and Brooklyn families is the highest, with some households paying up to 63% of their income on child care or after school care.
Advocates, parents, and elected officials—including Council Member Kevin C. Riley and 2025 mayoral contenders Comptroller Brad Lander and State Senator Jessica Ramos—say expanding free early childhood education to include two-year-olds would improve quality of life for working families, enhance child safety, and strengthen the city’s economy.
“Every family deserves access to safe, affordable, and nurturing care starting at age two,” Riley said. “This is how we give our children a strong start and give parents the peace of mind they need to keep their families moving forward.”
Greg Morris, CEO of the NYC Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC), told the Bronx Times that childcare affordability compounds the host of other affordability issues in the city by creating a barrier to employment and decent wages.
“It undercuts the ability of individuals and families to be able to find a pathway that allows them to navigate our city and be able to have the type of wages and opportunities they need to have to be able to take care of themselves and their families,” Morris said.
The crisis is causing families to have to make difficult decisions about where they can afford to raise a family; increasingly, they’re choosing to leave the five boroughs altogether. The Fiscal Policy Institute found that the cost of childcare and housing was driving families with children under six years old out of New York City at nearly twice the rate as other New Yorkers.
Bronx families with young children say they are fighting to stay in the city under the crushing burden of childcare costs.
“We want to raise our family in NYC, but because we don’t have family nearby who can provide free care, we rely on daycare,” said Jamie Christensen Palatnik, an Allerton mother of two kids under five years old. “Since the cost of child care for two kids in New York is almost as much as our rent, we aren’t able to save for things like a down payment on a home or college funds for our kids.”
