YMCA provides child care during the school year and summer
Nearly half (47 percent) of children attending camp at the YMCA of Hagerstown use a Child Care Scholarship through the state of Maryland. The number of kids on Child Care Scholarships could be increasing later this summer when a 2022 state law takes effect, making enrolling in the scholarship program easier.
“It’s going to help parents a lot more,” said Rhoni Mills, senior director of youth development at the Hagerstown Richard A. Henson Family YMCA, in an interview in her office.
Mills oversees child care programs for 70 children, ranging from six weeks to 4 years old on the Hagerstown YMCA’s Eastern Boulevard campus, and about a third of those kids are on scholarship. About a quarter (24 percent) of the 700 elementary school-aged children, served by the YMCA at afterschool programs at the 22 sites across Washington County, also receive the benefit that pays child care providers and reduces the cost of child care for working families.
