The Owensboro Family YMCA unveiled plans Monday to increase the number of children the organization can serve through its preschool, toddler, after-school and day camp programs this year, with officials saying the organization will be ready to add about 250 childcare spots by the end of the summer.
YMCA officials also announced a plan to construct a new childcare center in an as-yet undetermined location. When complete, that center will create another 150 child care openings, officials said.
The announcements were made at Monday’s ribbon-cutting of the Y’s childcare center behind the YMCA main building at 730 Harvard Drive. YMCA trustees purchased the facility, which had been a childcare center previously, and renovated the structure with a combination of dollars from local and state governments and donations from private foundations.
“It’s unbelievable what this community did for us,” Family Y President and CEO Tom Bontrager told the crowd of officials Monday.
The city, county and state each contributed $330,000, while the Family Y raised $1.8 million in funds from foundations to renovate the Harvard Drive facility. The Public Life Foundation provided $423,000 for operations of the center
“(State Rep.) DJ Johnson really led the charge” on securing the $330,000 contributions from city, state and county government, Bontrager said.
Meanwhile, the Public Life Foundation was heavily involved in helping the YMCA board secure donations from foundations, Bontrager said.
“This is a unique project,” in that it involves city dollars, county dollars, state dollars and private investments, Public Life Foundation executive director Joe Berry said.
“This is an investment in our future, an investment in our workforce that is going to pay dividends,” Berry said.
The YMCA is moving to address a deficit in available childcare in the community, Daviess Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen said.
“We’ve had two churches that announced they are closing their daycares,” Castlen said.
“One thing we have to have is good childcare, so people can feel comfortable going to work,” Castlen said.
Bontrager said Kentucky Wesleyan College will allow the Y to use space in the Jack T. Wells Activity Center for the YMCA’s after-school program, which is currently housed at the Harvard Drive facility. That move will free up space in the Harvard Drive facility to be used entirely as a preschool, Bontrager said.
The shifting of programs will also create 40 additional spaces for the YMCA’s toddlers program, Bontrager said.
All of the changes, including renovating space in the Wells Activity Center, will be completed this summer. The city and county both put about $100,000 toward renovation of the Wells Center.
“We are going to end up with about 250 additional slots,” Bontrager said.
The facility the YMCA plans to construct will be built with $6.6 in federal funds that officials received through Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell. The funds are through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development grant that YMCA board members have not yet received.
“We are still finding a location,” YMCA board chairman Harrison Price said.
Bontrager said Kentucky Wesleyan will allow the YMCA to use space in the Wells Activity Center for two years, while the new facility is constructed.
Price said officials have not yet decided what kind of childcare programs will be housed in the building once it is finished.
“It’s certainly going to more than double the capacity we have in this facility,” Price said.
Berry said the Public Life Foundation’s $423,000 contribution to the Harvard Drive facility is intended to for operations and staff salaries.
“One of the challenges for the childcare industry is the pay scale,” Berry said, and that the Public Life Foundation provided the donation “to ensure the quality of the education is consistent.”
Bontrager said Mayor Tom Watson and former Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candance Castlen Brake helped secure the federal loan.
The community was an important part of securing the various streams of funding, Bontrager said.
“I’m proud to be part of Owensboro,” Bontrager said.
By James Mayse Messenger-Inquirer