Goodwill of South Central Ohio is planning to open a childcare center later this year in Chillicothe to assist more parents in returning to the workforce.

“We began looking into starting a childcare center after some of our employees who recently had a baby shared how difficult it is to find childcare so they could return to work. Even when childcare is available, it’s also often unaffordable,” said Goodwill CEO Marvin Jones. “Our goal with opening a childcare center is to address both of these barriers to employment.”

A recent report from the Department of Labor revealed Ross County families with a median household income of $60,417 spend 12 percent of their income to send an infant or toddler to a childcare center each year. Which means the nearly 13 percent of Ross County families living in poverty spend an even larger share of income on childcare.

“We plan to provide subsidized childcare through Job and Family Services as well as private pay,” Jones said. “Our staff will assist families in applying for assistance in an effort to ensure everyone who qualifies benefits from that assistance.”

Goodwill’s board of trustees voted to move forward with plans to open a daycare center during its December meeting. Senior staff is putting together the state application which initially looks to provide services for up to 50 children in the current Goodwill administrative offices on Western Avenue. Ideally, the center will be ready to open in late summer. The administrative offices will move to a temporary location until the warehouse and offices facility in the Gateway Industrial Park is completed. The Western Avenue store will remain open.

Updates on the center including job openings and enrollment for the center will be posted online at gwisco.org/childcare.

Goodwill is a nonprofit agency focused on partnering with individuals with disabilities and challenges to help them lead the lives they envision across our eight-county region: Athens, Fayette, Hocking, Jackson, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, and Vinton. As of January, Goodwill of South Central Ohio, based in Chillicothe, was serving 232 people across its region.

For more information on Goodwill, go online to www.GWISCO.org and follow us on Facebook.