Join our zero2eight Substack community for more discussion about the latest news in early care and education. Roughly 2,000 families received offers for a spot in the inaugural year of 2-K, New York City’s new free childcare program for 2-year-olds, officials announced Tuesday. Around 5,700 families applied for the initial 2,000 seats, which were restricted to priority neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Those programs, while wildly popular and oversubscribed in some neighborhoods, have struggled with thousands of empty seats in other parts of the city. Unlike 3-K and pre-K, which mostly follow the K-12 school calendar, most 2-K seats are free from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., year-round.