Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 06/98) - The YWCA announced Monday it will close its day care for the summer and its fate in the fall is unknown.

"Essentially, we experienced a continuing shortfall of revenue to meet our expenses," said YMCA executive director Lyda Fuller, who attributed the revenue shortfall to the centre's need to serve infants.

This is because the GNWT requires that day cares for infants, defined as between 12 weeks and two years old, must have a one-to-four staffing ratio, which is expensive.

"The actual per-space cost for infants is $930 per month. At the $700 per-month maximum allowable fee for each infant space, we cannot even cover staffing costs, let alone any of the other expenses of running a day-care centre," Fuller said.

The 28-space centre, which forms part of St. Patrick high school, was originally designed to provide care for parents who wanted to complete their education. Providing care for infants is therefore critical for the organization to meet its goal.

"The YWCA was the only day care that accepted parents on subsidy without payment in advance," said parent Kim Rogers, whose daughter has been in day care since she was three months old.

"If we lose day care, everyone loses out," she said.

Karyn Hicks, president of the YWCA board of directors, said the Y usually has between eight and 12 spaces filled over the course of a year, with high school students forming the top priority.

"Infant care is in short supply in Yellowknife," she said. "And the YWCA has from the beginning dedicated spaces to babies and younger children."

Not all parents who use the day care are St. Patrick high school students. Many are enroled in educational programs such as the productive choice options, which is available for people on income support.

The YWCA squeezed through this fiscal year by dedicating the entire $40,000 profit from last June's $100,000 bingo toward assisting the day care.

"Unfortunately, this was a one-time-only windfall," said Liz Kornichuk, who helped with the fundraiser.