BAKER CITY – The Baker County YMCA will open a childcare center at the Baker Early Learning Center in September.

The center can accommodate 40 children – 12 between the ages of six weeks and two years and 28 three, four or five year olds.

In a press release announcing the facility, Rob Wilkinson, CEO of Baker County YMCA, said the center is a collaborative effort to meet critical needs for families and employers.

“We look forward to providing high quality, reliable childcare to the local families who need them,” Wilkinson said in the press release. “Parents and other caregivers can be productive across the community without worrying about caring for those who are most valuable to them.”

According to the press release, the new center is the result of “tremendous community support” with multiple agencies and donors.

The Baker School District will provide building and administrative services at the Baker Early Learning Center in the historic North Baker School at 2725 Seventh St.

Kindergarten teachers from Baker School District and preschoolers from Head Start are now attending classes there.

The YMCA will provide daycare staffing and programming with ongoing financial support from the Saint Alphonsus Medical Center and the Wilson Cattle Company.

Start-up resources were also provided by St. Luke’s Health System and the Ford Family Foundation.

“We are honored to be partners in providing this additional resource to the families in our community,” said Angela Lattin, director of the Baker Early Learning Center. “Working together to meet this need has been inspiring.”

Investments in a playground to be shared by all Baker Early Learning Center students were made possible by the Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative, the Intermountain Education Service District, the Head Start of Eastern Oregon University, and Chaves Consulting.

In an email, Wilkinson said the estimated total cost for the center is $ 250,000.

• $ 100,000 from Saint Alphonsus

• $ 28,000 from Wilson’s Cattle Company

• $ 10,000 from Intermountain ESD

• $ 5,000 to begin with

• $ 2,000 from Chaves Consulting

St. Luke’s donated $ 10,000 for sensory sidewalks.

According to the press release, a survey of Eastern Oregon’s childcare resources ranked Baker County a “childcare desert,” which covers 20% of its childcare needs.

A recent community health assessment conducted by the Saint Alphonsus Medical Center also recognizes childcare as a key need that is currently not being met.

For more information on daycare, contact the YMCA at 541-523-9622.