Wright Patterson Air Force Base has four child care centers, with a total daily capacity for 634 military and civilian kids.
But there’s a growing wait list of families who need this service.
"On average, 250 to 350 children on our active waiting list," said Nancy Adams, deputy director of the 88th Force Support Squadron, the group that oversees all of the base child care centers.
The new facility will add room for more than 200 youth, from age six weeks to five years old, and create about 70 new staff positions.
The base will also build a new afterschool center. It has the capacity for 304 youth. Both buildings carry a combined price tag of more than $50 million.
On May 13, military commanders, community leaders and politicians gathered to ceremoniously break ground for the new child care development center.
Dayton’s U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, who attended the ceremony, said military childcare centers actually support national security.
"Everybody who works here is on development and capability of weapons systems and intelligence gathering and parents will not have to worry when they’re at work what’s going on with their children, are they getting the care they need," Turner said. "The people who work here directly contribute to whether or not our country is safe.”
The 41,000-square-foot center has a “daylight harvesting system,” that will adjust artificial light inside the rooms based on the available sunlight coming through the windows.
