“You’re using our city transportation system and you’re taking the bus in and you have to go to work or school or somewhere else and you have childcare to drop off, let’s reduce that time.”
Heather Walczewski is Executive Director of Childcare at the YMCA. She says the new $9 million childcare center being built within the Rapid Central Station in downtown Grand Rapids will be the first of its kind in the nation.
“It could reduce for some families about 45 minutes one-way just to take out a transit or another ride that they have to do, and so by reducing that time, it allows them to adjust their schedules. They’re already going to be there, so let’s just make it easier for them.”
The center will accommodate 100 children from birth to five-years-old, with more space available during summer months. City officials say there is a deficit of 7,300 early childcare spaces in Grand Rapids.
Walczewski hopes the new center inspires other communities to consider using what already exists rather than building new.
“People can look at us around our state, around the country, as the model that works and replicate it in their community somewhere.”
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation provided $3.5 million for the project.
For a weekly dose of news right to your inbox, sign up for the WGVU newsletter.
