Parents who work downtown in South Bend often have to travel outside the city to find licensed child care. The city is contributing $600,000 toward a new center planned for the downtown YMCA, aiming to make care more accessible and convenient.
Joe Molnar, assistant director of growth and opportunity, said there is currently no center serving the downtown area.
“Currently right now there is no childcare facility in the central business district area… and so this would fill that specific local gap,” Molnar said.
Molnar said access to child care also affects whether parents are able to stay in the workforce.
“If people want to be able to go to work who have young children, if they want flexibility and good childcare options, and if the city can provide a role in aiding that, that's certainly something we would like to do,” he said.
For parents with young children, convenience is also a major factor.
“If something goes wrong and you get a call, you know, that they're sick or something. That's a 20 minute drive, or even just being able to go visit them at lunch,” Molnar said.
Molnar said the center is one step in a broader effort to support children in the city.
“It's just one piece of that puzzle to make sure that the youth of this community are being taken care of in a productive way,” he said.
Construction is expected to begin later this year, with the center projected to open in early 2027.
