Inside the Healdsburg Community Center near the north end of town, formerly the home of Foss Creek Elementary, two of the school’s old classrooms are newly renovated and filled with children again—this time, even younger. The rooms are “bustling with the sounds of cooing babies, giggling toddlers and active preschoolers,” says Madeleine O’Connell, CEO of the Sonoma County branch of the YWCA.
Why all the commotion? YWCA Sonoma County just chose Healdsburg as the home of its sixth childcare center in the region—and the first to offer full-time, year-round care for infants and toddlers, from 7:30am to 5:30pm. Half-day options are also available.
The center, which opened quietly over summer and celebrated with an official ribbon-cutting last week, can accommodate up to 53 kids. In one room, staffers care for the very youngest members of our community, ranging from 6 weeks to 2 years old. After that, kids “graduate from the infant-toddler environment into the big-kid world” in the next-door preschool room, O’Connell says. They can stay until they’re up to 5 years old and ready for kindergarten or first grade.
“It’s the full life cycle,” says Caroline Rodríguez González, 36, early childhood education coordinator for nonprofit Corazón Healdsburg. Her org’s headquarters are likewise located inside the converted Community Center.
In fact, on workdays, Rodríguez González leaves her own 6-month-old son Leonardo in the YWCA’s new daycare room for the full day—only three doors down from her office at Corazón.
“The schedule is amazing for a working parent,” she says. “I can come to work and I know that I’m just a few doors away. I feel so happy being so close.”
She says she’s been impressed by the quality of caregiving at the center. “I’ve gone into that classroom and I’ve seen my baby crying so loud, and I’ve seen the staff dripping sweat—but with a smile on their face,” she says. “You can definitely tell that they love what they’re doing.” Staffers also send her regular updates throughout the day about Leonardo’s diaper changes, sleep patterns and more through a special app, which she says gives her peace of mind.
Rodríguez González, who in her role at Corazón spends much of her time trying to find affordable childcare and preschool options for local families, was surprised to learn how inexpensive this new option would be for her own family. The cost of the YWCA program is flexible based on income level, and public funding programs are available for eligible applicants.
Now, Corazón’s childcare specialist is telling all her clients about the program. “I think it’s a blessing to our town, to our community,” she says.
YWCA Sonoma County leader O’Connell says there are still openings for more kids at the center, as of late September. Interested parents can apply at YWCASC.org/Childcare-Healdsburg.
Next up for Healdsburg’s newest daycare and preschool: YWCA Sonoma County is building an elaborate playground outside its Community Center classrooms to “inspire a child’s lifelong relationship with nature and play, creating engagement in their most formative years,” O’Connell says.
Kent Gordon England, owner of Terra Natura Design in town, is designing the outdoor space. And the noontime chapter of the Healdsburg Rotary Club just donated $80,450—“the single largest donation in its history,” according to club leader Tim Mann—toward the project. It’s still not fully funded, though, and the YWCA is looking for more donors. Anyone who wants to pitch in can reach out to Madeleine O’Connell at mo*******@yw****.org.
Current designs for the space include play structures, art tables, “a series of musical sound pipes, tubes and wind chimes” for “harmonious noisemaking activities,” theater facades, mud play stations, garden beds with fruits and vegetables, birdhouses, a wildlife rescue area where experts can bring animals for “show and tell,” a “prehistoric forest” full of ancient plant species and life-sized dino sculptures on which kids can climb—and “trees, trees and more trees,” according to O’Connell.
With the interim Healdsburg Library also situated next door as the downtown library gets some upgrades, all this activity makes for a bustling renaissance at the Healdsburg Community Center.
“We have the library, the YWCA preschool, [the city’s] Building Blocks Preschool, and Corazón, and Alliance,” Rodríguez González says. “There’s definitely a lot going on here. It’s amazing.”
