Child Care

Happy Child Running Through the Sprinklers, Childcare, YWCA La Crosse

Quality Child Care and Preschool

The YWCA Child Center is a year-round, full-service child care program that also serves as a 4-year-old kindergarten site for the School District of La Crosse. The center, located at 419 N. Ninth St. in La Crosse, also provides a lab school environment for Western Technical College’s Early Childhood Education program. The YWCA Child Center is one of only three in La Crosse County YoungStar five-star rated child care agencies open to the public serving children from 1 years old. Learn more about YoungStar – Wisconsin’s Child Care Quality Rating and Improvement System and how our rating benefits your child!

YWCA Child Center serves children from 6 weeks to 5 years old.

We offer low teacher-to-child ratios in all classrooms from caring, qualified professionals who are ECT*-qualified.

Infants

1:4

1:4

Wobblers

1:6

Toddlers

Child Looking into the Camera, Childcare, YWCA La Crosse

Preschool

Kindergarten

1:10

1:13

Research shows that children learn best through play and the YWCA Child Center strives to provide children with the opportunity to make choices and decisions about play throughout their day. The YWCA Child Center uses a flexible schedule to help your child have a good day. Your child will experience group and individual activities, creative expressions, active and quiet times, outdoor play and intellectual stimulation throughout the day. The YWCA Child Center provides high quality care for the children and families we serve while continuously striving to promote diversity and inclusion.

*Early Childhood Teacher

Tuition Overview

Current Weekly Rates:

6 weeks — 1 year old - $300/week

1 year old - $260/week

2 year old - $230/week

3 year old - $225/week

4 year old - $220/week

Second child over two years of age receives a 15% discount.

What we provide

  • Meals

    YWCA Child Center follows USDA guidelines when planning menus.

  • Play

    Play is a major component of our program. Children learn best through play. Time, materials, and space are provided for children to actively explore the world around them.

  • Activities

    Developmentally appropriate and multicultural activities are planned for each age group. Teachers explore children’s interests and curiosity about the world to help engage them in learning.

  • Creativity

    We offer time for children to express themselves and learn through art and other creative activities. We encourage children to focus on the process and not the product of their projects. Each project, like each child, is different and unique in their own way.

For more information on the YWCA Child Center or to enroll your child, please contact:

Rosanne Northwood
Executive Director
608.785.9541

Please contact executivedirector@ywcalax.org for questions/inquiries.

Prospective families are welcome and encouraged to schedule a tour of the center.

Download the YWCA Child Center Parent Handbook

Coming soon: Hillview Life Center

YWCA La Crosse is expanding its childcare services to a second location in early 2026 at the Hillview Life Center. This new collaborative facility will house Wisconsin’s first Intergenerational Day Program—bringing together the YWCA Childcare Center and an Older Adult Day Program supported by the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of La Crosse County. Children and older adults will share meaningful, structured activities led by UWL Recreation Therapy students, creating a dynamic, connected environment that fosters learning, joy, and community wellbeing.

More information on opening date and enrollment coming soon!