Naval Base Kitsap cuts ribbon on new child development center

A new child development center at Naval Base Kitsap, Wash., was unveiled in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday with 204 future spaces for children of military personnel in the region.

The new center nearly doubles the number of spaces of the center it replaced, with 16 classrooms for children aged 6 weeks to 5 years old that will open in three phases starting Oct. 1. The facility, located in the Bangor area of the base, will be fully operational by early January 2027.

Capt. Alex Baerg, commanding officer of Naval Base Kitsap, said the center demonstrates the Navy’s commitment to service members and their children.

“A strong community is built on the well-being of its families,” Baerg said in a Navy news release Wednesday.

The new child care center part of the Navy’s “Sailors First” initiative. 

“Our Navy families serve alongside our Sailors, and ensuring they have access to dependable, high-quality childcare is one of our highest priorities,” Vice Adm. Scott Gray, Commander, Navy Installations Command, said in the release.

The project is part of an accelerated timeline to open new child care facilities for the base. The same construction crew that built the Bangor center began building a center in the Jackson Park area of the base earlier this year.