The city will provide 100,000 childcare spots this fall for families with young children and students enrolled in blended learning, with the kids fully supervised by city staffers at places like libraries and cultural centers, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced at his press briefing Thursday.

"We're going to use every conceivable space: community centers, libraries, cultural organizations, whatever we can find in communities," de Blasio said. "There'll be childcare for 100,000 kids and we aim to go farther. Families will get that child care regardless of ability to pay. And that we will make sure that every parent who needs help, we're going to constantly look for every option to help them."

The new childcare program, for groups of no more than 15 children, is being posited as “learning lab” days, said Melanie Hartzog, the city’s Director Office of Management and Budget.

“We are framing these remote days as the mayor mentioned as 'learning labs' partnering with libraries and cultural institutions to provide care and programming. It will include activities like arts, recreation, tutoring, local field trips where possible, and, of course, social and emotional supports,” Hartzog said.

Last week, de Blasio and schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced the city’s public school system plan to offer a blended learning model for the 2020-2021 school year, where most students attend school in-person about 2-3 days a week and are enrolled in remote learning the remainder of the time.

The city’s school reopening plan had failed to answer some pressing questions, including how working parents will manage remote learning on days their children do not attend in-person school.

The “learning lab” model seems to be the administration’s answer. But the projected availability for 100,000 students falls far below the 1.1 million students who attend New York City public schools.

Hartzog said the goal is to expand the program as more space is identified.

“Space is critical. We'll be exploring all viable space options to accommodate children and youth, looking at both public and private locations that meet our program’s needs,” she said.

“Programming and staffing: we’ll be seeking to expand our contracted early childhood portfolio, as well as community programs, and our after-school providers that are under contract with the Department for Youth and Community Development,” Hartzog said. “Programs will follow the Department of Health and Mental Health guidance, which is based on New York state requirements of 15 children per room. We want to ensure that both staff, and children participating are safe and therefore we will provide funding within the programming for PPE.”

“We obviously knew this was an imperative,” de Blasio said of the childcare component. “We've been trying to find every way to create new childcare and to build it from scratch honestly, because we're having to create something that didn't exist before on this scale, to accommodate a new need and a new reality.”

City Council Member Brad Lander, who had been calling for the mayor to appoint a "child care czar" to address these needs and many more was cautiously optimistic about this step, but wants more action:

The city’s plan has to be ultimately approved by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who on Monday announced some criteria for school reopening—if a region in Phase 4 of the reopening remains at a 5 percent (or lower) infection rate for 14 days, schools can reopen, he explained; however, schools will close if the regional infection rate is 9 percent or higher, using a seven-day average. Cuomo said the state will decide on individual district plans by early August.

More details on the childcare offerings: Early childhood programming will be available for children ages 3 to 4 years old who aren’t enrolled in remote learning, with “age-appropriate activities to support learning and development"; For students K-8, the city will offer Department of Youth and Community Development programming during and after school hours.

The city plans to have “some availability by the start of the school year,” Hartzog said. “We are building it as the mayor says as we're going, with capacity increasing on a rolling basis.”

Hartzog added that anyone who has space to offer the city’s schools should reach out at http://www.nycsca.org/Real-Estate/Overview/sites