Stimulus money to bring third daycare to Nellis

By Jeff Pope

Friday, April 3, 2009 | 1 p.m.

Plans are under way for a third child-care center at Nellis Air Force Base that will be established with $13.4 million from the federal economic stimulus package.

The new center will accommodate 225 to 250 children and alleviate a typical waiting list of 150 to 300 children at the base’s two other centers, said Barbara Bettens, director of the child-care centers.

“Our biggest need for Nellis is for care for children under 2 years old, because that’s hard to find on the outside and unaffordable on the outside,” she said. “People can put their kids in these centers, not worry about them and be able to do their military duties and support the mission.”

The cost of care to military families ranges from $60 to $130 a week, based on income, Bettens said.

The new 30,000-square-foot center will employ 120 people, including care givers and support staff. The target date to open the new center is September 2010, Bettens said.

It will join two existing centers that meet the needs of 520 children from 6 months to 12 years old. There’s also a youth center that offers before- and after-school programs for teens.

The base built a $750,000 addition last year to the youth center and added two classrooms to one of the child care centers in 2007.

“We keep building, but the kids keep coming,” Bettens said.

Nellis received another $8.5 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for maintenance, repair and renovation of existing infrastructure.