Kids and teachers at the Concord Family YMCA’s Child Development Center will be warm and cozy this winter thanks to an Emergency Community Development Block Grant award of up to $400,000 recently approved by Gov. Maggie Hassan and the Executive Council. Grant funds will replace the failed heating and cooling system in the Concord YMCA’s firehouse building. The space is home to the YMCA’s Child Development Center pre-school program and is one of the Kydstop Afterschool Program sites, serving close to 200 children daily.
“This will enable the Concord Family Y to significantly upgrade the facility, improving safety and comfort for the children, staff, and volunteers,” Concord Family YMCA Executive Director Jim Doremus said. “The Y has always been committed to strengthening our Concord community through youth development programming, and this grant will help us continue that commitment.”
The Concord Family YMCA childcare programs are Merrimack County’s largest, serving more than 300 children ages 9 months to 12 years. Child care programs at the Concord Y are license plus certified; the license plus certification from the New Hampshire Child Development Bureau acknowledges a higher level of quality, with fewer than 11 percent of all licensed childcare providers in New Hampshire achieving the designation.
In addition to child care programs at the Concord Family YMCA’s Firehouse Building, located adjacent to their downtown facility, the Concord Y operates Kydstop Afterschool Programs in five other locations: Abbot Downing School in Concord, Boscawen Elementary School, Gilmanton Elementary School, Loudon Elementary School, and Pittsfield Elementary School.
