The fee discount is meant to lure qualified employees to those centers, where working parents — Department of Defense civilians and service members alike — send their children during the day. Child development centers are open to infant and preschool children of eligible families.
The DOD operates the largest employer-sponsored child care program in the United States, serving approximately 200,000 children of service members and DOD civilians at Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force facilities, according to a Congressional Research Service report in January.
The Air Force has been planning new child development center projects since August, according to an Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center news release that month.
New facilities are designated with $205 million at Joint Base San Antonio and Sheppard Air Force Base, both in Texas, Scott Air Force Base, Ill., and Wright-Patt.
Butt Construction Co. Inc. was awarded a $31 million contract to design and build the child development center at Wright-Patterson. The building will cover about 43,000 square feet, to be located on Wright-Patterson’s Area A, Charles Delano, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Some of the amenities will include a childcare facility for children up to five years of age, with a playground and a traditional day care facility, Delano said.
Groundbreaking for construction is expected later this spring.
Another five centers are scheduled with $167 million between now and the next fiscal year. The Pentagon received nearly $2 billion in the fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act to maintain and improve barracks, child development centers and training ranges.
At the Yume center at Yokota work was already underway to replace its playgrounds before Biden signed the last-minute bill March 23 that forestalled a government shutdown. Prior funding paid for that work, Hayes said.
“Thanks to the efforts of base Civil Engineers, other projects also in the works include replacing the heating and air conditioning in the Youth Center and the Teen Center,” Hayes said.
“Any additional funding we receive for the improvement of our child development centers will go a long way to help us maintain and enhance our facilities, directly benefiting the children and families we serve,” he said.
