(Atlantic) According to a press release from Executive Director Dan Haynes, the Nishna Valley Family YMCA will decrease its overall childcare capacity from 131 to 108 children after they move kids from the infant room in the Early Learning Center.
As requested, he says the YMCA will vacate the school’s room by December 22, 2023. The Wickman operation has not taken any new children since April of 2023 to downsize and fit back into the original building. Haynes says they have added 46 new kids to their waiting list for childcare spots since April. To support families and employers, they will all need to come together to address the long-term need for childcare in the community.
Haynes says the YMCA Board has researched many options, including relocating a classroom to another community location, and many churches have offered their classrooms for use by the Wickman Center.
Haynes says after working with the churches, the fire marshal, Department of Human Services, Childcare Resource and Referral, and many hours of deliberation, the YMCA Board has made the difficult choice to continue not to take any new children. He said they would hold this policy until they can fit all children into the original Wickman building, with the addition of the 4-year-olds who will stay at the renovated racquetball room space at the YMCA. Haynes anticipates this, and natural attrition will help us fit by the end of December 2023. The cost, regulations, and logistics of opening another classroom location are not something the YMCA Board can take on at this time. The Nishna Valley Family YMCA Board of Directors and the Atlantic Community Schools have agreed to continue to share the ELC gym and the Wickman playground through the end of the current school year.
The other issue the YMCA Board struggles with is the lack of staff. The YMCA board is looking for ways to increase wages and to be able to offer some benefit packages to employees to attract and retain a stable workforce. The starting wage is $12 an hour, and there is no health insurance benefit. The board anticipates that our starting wage will need to increase to at least $15 per hour and provide some health insurance coverage for qualified employees. This will require the generation of an additional $320,000 in revenue annually. This will require a significant weekly rate increase to families OR some subsidy by the local community, businesses, donors, OR a combination of the two.
Haynes says they look forward to discussing how childcare in our community can move forward and stay affordable to families.
