Earlier on April 29th, Governor Kathy Hochul visited the Capital District YMCA BOCES Preschool to highlight the FY 2026 Budget investments in child care. The Budget delivers a sweeping increase to the Child Tax Credit by giving eligible families a $1,000 credit for kids younger than 4 years old and a $500 credit for kids ages 4-16, effectively doubling the credit for the average family. It also expands access to child care by investing $2.2 billion statewide, including a $350 million investment to save child care subsidies for tens of thousands of New York City families.

B-ROLL: B-roll of the Governor meeting with students is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

VIDEO: The Governor’s remarks are available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor’s Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:

Hello, everyone. I wanted to make my first post-Budget stop right here at this amazing center run by the YMCA and part of the BOCES program. Right next door, we have young people learning how to be child care providers and learning early childhood education, and in this room are the kids.

I'm here because this Budget was all about my fight for your family. I said it back in January that this Budget will not be completed until I can provide relief for struggling families to get a few extra hundred dollars in their pockets to pay those next bills.

But also making sure that we cover the cost of school lunches and breakfasts, and making sure that we can ensure that when they get older, that there will be free college education for those going into high-demand careers.

So we've been working hard. We worked really hard. And I want to thank all my partners in government because all I can say is, we got it done.