KEARNEY, Neb. -- A new and improved child care center has been given the green light by the Kearney City Council.

Rezoning has been approved for an empty lot just south of the intersection of 11th Avenue and F Avenue in southeast Kearney.

"This is a vacant lot that we've had for awhile that I've really wanted to do something with," said Meredith Collins, the Chief Executive Officer for the Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska (CCAP), when speaking at the Kearney City Council meeting.

The request was made by CCAP, who owns the property. In September, they were awarded a grant of $2.6 million for construction.

"To build a facility that is such needed in Kearney is very exciting for the agency," said Collins.

Directly north of the lot is the current head start preschool. The organization operates this as well as the early head start preschool, in a building they rent on 6th and Central. Once the new structure is complete, they can keep everything centralized.

"We would like to connect it to our current building," Collins added. "We have a lot of parents that are enrolled in both Head Start and Early Head Start. It would have two infant rooms and two toddler rooms."

Currently they have 32 kids they can serve with another 20 on the wait list.

"With this, the capacity would be up to 48 kids that we could serve," Collins said. "I would have to find additional funding to find to serve additional kids and to have additional staff."