SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The Downtown South Bend YMCA's childcare enrollment is now open. The new center aims to provide high- quality education that is both affordable and accessible.
The Y has historically provided childcare through their "Child Watch" program; where parents can have child supervision while they work out. There is also "Must Do Care," where parents can drop off their child while they complete a task. Now Downtown South Bend is joining Niles with a full-time daycare, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The kids will have 3 meals and enjoy indoor and outdoor play in a structured environment. Childcare director, Kelly Doherty, says the program has been developing for over a year, and stems from the need for childcare in Michiana.
"Theres a lot of working families downtown," Doherty said. "They just don't have access to good quality care. We're also trying to [make] it for affordability for all ages and all incomes. Some daycares are just too expensive, and the ones you can afford are not good quality. So were going to be affordable, were going to take vouchers and were going to take scholarship programs. So were going to all the community on all ranges and that really is our main goal is to help that need and help everybody that needs it."
Doherty is looking forward to building a good quality program for the community from the ground up and knowing families by face and watching them grow.
Zechariah Hoyt, the executive director of youth programs, give us insight on what the new facility looks like, and what will make it different from previous expansions.
"We typically are taking our teams office spaces and renovating them." Hoyt said. "They get booked up and we take care of children. That's been our, what we've done, is use the spaces we've been blessed with. But this is going to be really exciting. It's going to be a brand-new space. It's going to have seven classrooms. We'll serve anywhere from infant, toddlers up to preschool age; potentially summer for school age and some wrap around care, as we continue to grow. It's going to be secure. It is going to be a demonstration site. All the spaces have been outfitted with new materials. We're going to have a really cool playground space"
What Hoyt means by demonstration site is that the new facility will be in partnership with Family Connections to ensure high-quality care. Their instructors will show best practices then the Y's teachers will be observed modeling it. Hoyt hopes to have an open house for families to tour the facility and meet teachers by the end of November.
To enroll, you can go to the YMCA's website. From there send an email to Kelly Doherty and she'll provide you with registration instructions. The first day of school is set to be January 11th.