In 2021, Deb Prato started her job as CEO of The Rapid Transit Authority, Grand Rapids’ public transportation system. She looked around Rapid Central Station and noticed a lot of vacant space, space that had been vacant for 20 years.
When Tracie Coffman heard that Prato was looking for ways the public could use vacant space on the second and third floors of Rapid Central Station, her wheels started turning. She texted her team at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), “This building is about to come open. What if we consider a childcare center here?”
The 12,000 square-foot space is now home to the Central Station Early Childhood Center.
“The Rapid is offering it rent-free. We have to pay utilities because it needs to be cost neutral for the Rapid, but there is no rent associated with it,” says Coffman, WKKF program manager and member of The Rapids’ board of directors. “Deb really felt as though the community had already paid for this building and deserved to be a community benefit. Again, public space for public good.”…