31-07-2025
Column: New partnership to provide after-school child care for Waubonsee Community College student-parents
I remember decades ago writing a column about the most pressing issue I faced as a parent: child care. It was a huge concern, always at the top of my list of stressors and not just in regard to affordability but also to quality.
I mention this because when the new program between Waubonsee Community College and the Boys & Girls Clubs of North Central Illinois was described to me as 'a game-changer,' I knew from personal experience this is not a case of marketing hyperbole.
In a new partnership, Waubonsee and the Boys & Girls Clubs of North Central Illinois are launching a free, on-campus after-school care program for students at the college's downtown Aurora campus. Unlike other colleges that offer financial assistance or care for toddlers, noted WCC President Brian Knetl, this provides no-cost quality care for elementary-aged children of enrolled students from 3:45 to 9:30 p.m. inside the college building.
Convenient? For sure. But if you are, say, a single parent trying to build a better future, this program can be a lifeline. Imagine the emotional relief knowing your kid is spending quality time right down the hall as you pursue a degree or certification.
Imagine the financial burden that is lifted, at a time when it's becoming increasingly difficult for so many to pay rent, keep the lights on and put food on the table.
Game changer? You bet.
And, as an added bonus, it is putting these youngsters in a college environment early in life that can't help but make their own pursuit of higher education at some point in their lives that much more familiar – and expected.
'I totally get it,' says Cathy Russell, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of North Central Illinois who remembers her own days as a single mom. 'It's a win-win for everyone.'
The seed of this partnership was planted in the summer of 2022, a few months after Boys & Girls Clubs of North Central Illinois, which began in Elgin in 1993, opened its sixth club in Aurora. The board, which included WCC employee Adam Schauer, met at the college, and those early gatherings, said Russell, 'helped us to build relationships, have deep conversations' that included how after-school care can be a barrier for students.
'It just makes so much sense for parents to be able to bring their kids to a place where they too will learn,' she insisted.
While Boys & Girls Clubs are known for using non-traditional sites like schools, churches and Section 8 housing, 'adult learning education is a whole new movement,' Russell told me, adding that 'I don't know any other organization doing something quite like this.'
Currently the club in Aurora is meeting in more than a dozen schools in District 131 and around a half dozen in District 129. The hope is to build a new 45,000-square-foot clubhouse in the city – with help from a $500,000 federal grant secured by U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, according to news reports.
The WCC/BGC program, which will kick off this upcoming semester, will provide snacks for the kids, academic support and STEAM enrichment activities, and will also focus on the social and emotional well-being of the kids, said Russell.
The college and this nationally-recognized youth club both have long and trusted reputations. But they also share a 'common mission' of expanding their footprints to best serve the needs of the community, said Knetl, who has been working in community colleges for over 20 years and became Waubonsee Community College president in January of 2023.
The program, he added, is the 'definition of coming together.'
Knetl points to a young couple, who are high-performing students at WCC but sometimes have to juggle their class to take care of their children.
'Our students are finding a way to make it work,' he said. 'What concerns us most is that we may never know about the people who want to go on to college but can't afford a trustworthy place to send their children.'
And so, Waubonsee Community College and the Boys & Girls Club are anxious to get the word out about what really could be a game-changer.
'We want to break down those barriers,' said Knetl. 'We are eager to see where this will go.'
