Dow Bay Area Family Y expands, bringing more jobs and more child care openings to Bay City

With limited space to expand, the Dow Bay Area Family YMCA Child Care program needed to think outside of the box, or at least outside their own building.

The YMCA runs a highly-regarded, full-service child care for nearly 100 infants through pre-school aged children. The program operates Monday through Friday from as early as 7 a.m. until as late as 6 p.m. Between the extended schedule and high-quality ratings, the program is in demand. The waiting list is nearly 100 families long.

Steve Krankota, CEO of the Bay Area Family YMCA at 225 Washington Ave., and says over the last couple of years, the waiting list has grown.

“We knew the need was there, but we’re kind of landlocked with where we can go, facility-wise. So we started thinking about where we could potentially look for an off-site, satellite location.”

Thanks to a resourceful YMCA member, Krankota says they found a nearby solution.

The Dow Bay Area Family Y expanded its child care program into a nearby church, adding spots for nearly 40 kids. The spots quickly filled, still leaving the Y with a waiting list for openings. (Photo courtesy of the Dow Bay Area Family YMCA)“We met with First Presbyterian Church over on Center Avenue, and they ran a pretty successful child care up until COVID, but they never re-opened.”

Krankota says the rooms and everything needed to run a child care program was still available at the 805 Center Ave. church. All the Y had to do was work through the logistics of a partnership and collaboration. The negotiation and licensing process began in February 2023, and “We opened three new rooms on Dec. 26th.”

The need for child care is a big issue is Bay County and throughout the state.

Even this expansion didn’t reach every family in need. The new center is licensed for 39 children, which Krankota acknowledges is a good start. Still, between 50 and 75 children aged 5 and younger remain on the waiting list.

“A lot of your home child cares that were licensed (pre-COVID), when they had to close, they never re-opened, so that just kind of created the need,” Krankota says.

“We won’t be the solver of all the problems, but we’ll be a partner and at least helping.”

For now, the Y isn’t considering expanding its program further. The two programs exist physically close enough to share staff and programming, which made this expansion make sense. When the program grows again, that sharing may not be possible.

Another benefit of the new location is it created jobs. Krankota says he added three full-time and between 15 and 20 part-time positions at the church-based facility.

“So in addition to growing child care, we’re also trying to add jobs in the area, which is a huge thing, too, especially the full-time roles.”

The bottom line for any child care program, though, is giving kids a good start in life.

“Our staff at our current location have provided such good care to the kids in our community and created us such a good reputation with child care that it gave us the ability to think bigger,” he says. “It really has to do with our staff that take such good care of the kids.”