In episode 37, Heather Walcheski, the executive director of childcare at the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids, discusses the organization’s newest and most unconventional facility: a childcare facility built inside a transit hub. The facility is located at the Rapid, the Grand Rapids station that handles long-range coach travel, trains and the city’s commuter buses. The Y didn’t originate the idea but was invited into it, partnering with Grand Rapids Public Schools and County Head Start, which needed an experienced operator.
The result is a state-of-the-art center licensed for roughly 140 children, from birth through age 5, supported by a mix of head start funding, tuition and private pay. Housed in a three-story building that had been sitting empty, the space includes two floors of window-lined classrooms, a rooftop playground and outdoor classroom for preschoolers, a protected infant and toddler playground at the front, and indoor gross-motor spaces that most urban centers cannot offer. Walcheski notes that pairing childcare with transportation is common sense given both rank among the greatest needs in Kent County. One staff member saves 45 minutes each way simply by working where the center is.
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Walcheski, who has spent 21 years with the Y and 35 in early childhood, frames the project against a persistent shortage of affordable infant and toddler care. All nine of her West Michigan programs carry waiting lists for children from birth to three. Community response has been enthusiastic from families to teachers, and has sparked wider conversations about repurposing vacant buildings and about where else the Y might fill a gap. Enrolled families also receive free Y memberships, broadening the brand beyond gym and swim. Her advice to other rec leaders, drawn from a four-year development process: build genuine relationships with state licensing agencies, philanthropic donors and partners, then secure your people and the location your community actually needs.
