The Dixon Family YMCA announced Monday it’s made major progress on the road to financial recovery with its $5.7 million purchase of the childcare center it runs near Interstate 88.

The YMCA was previously renting the building for the Lovett Child Development Center at 1675 Fulfs Lane in Dixon. The center opened in January 2025 and provides child care services for children from birth to age 5.

The YMCA announced in August it was experiencing significant financial troubles, but leaders said Monday that this purchase marks a “defining moment” in its recovery, according to a news release from the YMCA.

“This day belonged to a lot of people long before it belonged to us,” Dixon YMCA Board President Ermir Ramadani said. “Dixon refused to let this Y go. To our staff, our families, our donors, our civic leaders, and the developers who chose to invest in our children, thank you. Owning this building means we can plan for the long term, hold our quality high, and keep showing up for working families in this community for decades to come.”

The Dixon YMCA provides early childhood education, youth development, healthy living, and community engagement programs for Lee County. Its full childcare program serves about 200 children through the center and a separate after-school program.

In late August 2025, the YMCA announced it was facing significant financial challenges, its CEO of 18 years Andy McFarlane stepped down and the Y’s leadership urged the community to rally behind the organization to ensure it could continue operations, Shaw Local reported.

It began to rebuild financially after a group of community leaders came together and secured $200,000 in bridge funding, Monday’s release said.

When organizing that funding ”the question wasn’t whether the Y mattered to Dixon, that was never in doubt. The question was whether the leadership, governance, and financial discipline would be there to make every dollar count," Dixon City Manager Danny Langloss said.

“Eight months in, with eyes on the books and the team running this organization, I can tell you the answer is yes. This purchase is what stability looks like. The Y has earned the trust we placed in them, and they’re earning it again every day,” Langloss said.

Discover Dixon Executive Director Amanda Wike said the YMCA’s recovery is the kind of institutional strength that defines Dixon.

“Childcare is workforce infrastructure,” Lee County Industrial Development Association Executive Director Tom Demmer said. “You cannot recruit families to Lee County, you cannot keep employers fully staffed, and you cannot grow a regional economy without it.”

Demmer said the YMCA’s ownership of the center’s building is one of the most consequential economic development moves Dixon will see this year.

The purchase was largely made possible by a $1 million donation from Xsite Real Estate and Walsh Partners, according to the release.

Those are the developers of Dixon’s 27-total acre economic development near Interstate 88 known as the Gateway Project. The child care center sits within that development along with an array of other businesses that have opened within the last two years and more are on the way.

The Dixon YMCA began talking about expanding its childcare services after it conducted a needs assessment that found Dixon to have “a significant unmet demand for early childhood care,” the release said.

After a $1 million federal grant was secured for the center, construction began and the YMCA had rented the building with the intention to one day own it, the release said.

It has 13 rooms - two for children six weeks to 14 months, two transitional rooms for 15 months to 24 months, two preschool classrooms and several for 3- to 5-year-olds. It also has kitchen services, a nurses station, two outdoor playgrounds and an area for outside services from YMCA partner agencies.

Currently, the center serves approximately 130 children. It can serve 195 at full capacity and the YMCA is focused on increasing enrollment along with retaining and developing high-quality staff now that it owns the building, the release said.

“This acquisition represents stability, opportunity, and a renewed promise to the families we serve,” Dixon Family YMCA Executive Director Heather Grobe said.