Mayor Adams Announces Citywide After-School Program Expansion

NEW YORK CITY — New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday announced a new plan that would bring after-school programs to all public school students in kindergarten through eighth grade citywide.

“After-School for All” with the help of a $331-million investment will strengthen and scale after-school programs with the goal of achieving universal access for all students and families, officials said.

The new funding will be included in Adams' upcoming executive budget. It will also support the addition of 20,000 new seats over the next three school years, bringing the total number of public school students served by universal after-school programming to 184,000 with a total investment of $755 million annually.

"That’s 184,000 students who will be able to participate in sports, robotics, the arts, field trips, and more — discovering their passions and building relationships with their classmates. We are also pursuing a community-driven effort that will stabilize our current after-school system, ensuring these providers are able to get a rate increase for the first time in 10 years so they can hire and train staff, while delivering quality programming to our youth," Adams said in a statement.

"Our parents shouldn’t have to choose between picking up their child or working a job to put food on the table — and now they won’t have to. This is what it looks like to deliver on our mission of making New York City a safer, more affordable city that is the best place to raise a family.”

Adams’ "After-School for All" plan begins with an immediate $21 million investment allocated in the upcoming FY 2026 Executive Budget that will bring 5,000 additional K-5 seats online for the upcoming fall semester, officials said.