Daycare gets new space
Centre for Northern Families shows off new 54 Street facility; old daycare to become semi-independent living quarters
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Centre for Northern Families last week completed the purchase of a house on 54 Street it plans to use as a daycare as part of a plan to move that service from its facility on Franklin Avenue that also serves as an emergency shelter for women.
A person walks up to the building purchased by the Centre for Northern Families this month on 54 Street that's expected to serve as its daycare facility. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo
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"We're really excited that we're able to do it," Anusa Sivalingam, board chairperson, said Saturday about the purchase as daycare staff got their first look inside 5117 54 St.
The building had a list price of $614,900. The centre had been saving money for several years in anticipation of the move. The funds were used as the down payment and a mortgage will pay the rest.
The house, recently renovated inside and out, must still go through several permitting steps. The property is zoned downtown which allows for childcare facilities.
Bree Denning, executive director of the centre, said the organization hopes to have the daycare moved over later this summer, depending on when renovations inside are complete.
She said there's work they have in mind to turn the residential house into a daycare including removing some walls between bedrooms and adding an emergency exit to the basement. The cost of that work has not yet been determined.
Denning said a representative of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment had already looked through the home and provided suggestions about changes.
The new site may allow the daycare to increase its capacity by several children over the current 20 spots. The daycare has children between 12 months and five years old. They will also consider whether to expand the daycare service into evenings and weekends depending on the needs of the community.
Sivalingam said there's no intention to raise the costs of the service.
"Having the lowest cost daycare in town is really important to us," she said.
A large kitchen that opens to a living room space will be used for cooking programs. They plan to get a large table for the space for meetings. The organization is considering allowing other groups to use the space for community meetings.
The organization was intent on staying downtown to be easily accessible to families in the area. Denning first viewed the house while personally house-shopping. Though it didn't fit what she was looking for as a home, she said the idea of turning it into a daycare seemed attractive.
"I think it's the best possible option," Denning said.
The space the daycare used in the current building is expected to be turned into semi-independent living quarters for women, allowing more privacy than the centre is able to now.
The centre currently has two to eight women sharing several rooms.
"It will help women in a way that we can't right now," Denning said.
The emergency shelter hosted 166 women between April 2015 and March 2016, some for more than 300 days and some for just a short stay.
