Find Free After School!
Scroll down to open the map and find free programs in your neighborhood.
When my kids were little I wanted an app (think Yelp) that displayed all the afterschool programs in my neighborhood with details. While the City expands afterschool capacity, I create tools that help parents parents and caregivers navigate the complex system to find what they need in their neighborhoods.
The map below includes free afterschool programs managed by the NYC Department of Youth & Community Development that serve children ages 4+, including COMPASS elementary, COMPASS middle school, and Beacon, usually serving a mix of ages as well as Cornerstone programs located in neighborhood public housing projects, also serving a mix of children and adults.
What makes this tool better than the “official” tool.
Designed to place the parent/caregiver at the center of the experience.
Start with a school to find nearby programs that help with enrollment decisions.
It includes all free afterschool programs for elementary age children.
School pop up information includes grades, school size and a website link.
No sign in required, easy to access from any device.
Tap on the small box in the upper left of the black banner to filter by grade and type of afterschool program.
Select the entry grade you want. If you have a child who would be entering 3K in the fall, select ONLY 3K schools.
Select the type of free afterschool program that fits your needs.
COMPASS afterschool is usually on site at elementary or middle schools.
Beacon afterschool can be either on site at a local school or at a local community center and may serve students from multiple neighborhood schools.
Cornerstone youth programs are offered in partnership with NYC Housing Authority projects and local community-based organizations. They serve children to young adults ages 5-21.
School data is valid from the DOE My Schools website as of January 2026.
The DYCD information is from the DYCD NYC Open Data portal based on fiscal year 2025 —the most recent data available on the portal.
Use the + / - to zoom into your neighborhood.
Check marks in red, orange and gold represent free programs managed by NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). (Data provided by NYC DYCD and downloaded from NYC Open Data portal January 2026; filtered for all programs for ages 4+)
Map points in green, blue and violet represent all public schools with kindergarten classrooms. Data downloaded from MySchools web site filtered for kindergarten in February 2026
User instructions
1. Tap on the small square in the upper left of the black banner to open and close the filter list. This lets you quickly find specific schools and programs by neighborhood.
2. Once you’ve got the list open, start by selecting the checkbox(es) for the entry grade you want (3K, PreK, K). So if you are looking for schools in your neighborhood with 3K classrooms only, tap to uncheck PreK and K and keep the check mark in 3K box. You can search for any or all the grades.
3. If you want to see the full list of schools or go straight to a school, click on the down arrow directly under the checkbox. This gives you the list of schools where you can tap on a school name to bring up its details.
The search tool includes all NYC Public Schools with kindergarten classrooms including schools that start in 3K, PreK or in Kindergarten.
A call for more than bandaids to make childcare work for working parents.
With hope for change with new tools for parents.
