The Portage Township YMCA received a $10,000 grant, to be spread over a three-year period, from Horizon-Cares Charitable Grant Program. 
The money will be used to cover expenses associated with the construction of the Portage Township YMCA's Child Care and Development Center and Preschool Academy wings in the new facility.
These programs offer early childhood education services to more than 300 children annually. These are children who otherwise may not have the opportunity to enter kindergarten with the skills necessary to succeed academically.
More than 60 percent of the families that participate in these programs are of a single-parent household and/or classified as low-income.
At the Portage Township YMCA, one of the goals has always been to enrich the lives of children in the community. It gives them a safe and nurturing place to obtain the early childhood educational tools they need to succeed in school which benefits the entire community.
Expansion of the Child Care and Development Center and Preschool Academy has offered the YMCA an opportunity to strengthen and enrich more children in the YMCA's direct service area.
For more information regarding the Portage Township YMCA, call 219.462.9622 or email info@ymcaofportage.org.