Atlantic Iowa –  Nishna Valley Family YMCA Director Dan Haynes, Wednesday night, said in a press release, that “The 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. The YMCA will vacate the school’s room, as asked by December 22, 2023.

“The Wickman operation has not been taking any new children since April of 2023 in order to downsize and fit back into the original building. We have added 46 new kids to our waiting list for childcare spots since April. In order to support families and employers we will all need to come together to address the long term need for childcare in our community.

“The YMCA Board,” Haynes said, “has researched many options which include relocating a classroom to another community location. We have a very giving community and many churches have offered up their classrooms for use by the Wickman center. After working with the churches, the fire Marshall, Department of Human Services, Childcare Resource and Referral and many hours of deliberation, the YMCA Board has made the difficult choice to continue to not take any new children.

“We will hold this policy until we can fit all children into the original Wickman building with the addition of the 4 years olds who will stay at the renovated racquetball room space at the YMCA. We anticipate that this, along with natural attrition, will help us fit by the end of December 2023.

“The cost, regulations, and logistics of opening another classroom location is not something the YMCA Board is able to 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.”

Haynes said “The other issue the YMCA Board is struggling with is the lack of staff. The YMCA board is looking for ways to increase wages and to be able to offer some type of benefit package to employees in order to attract and retain a stable workforce. Currently the starting wage is $12 an hour and no health insurance benefit. The board anticipates that our starting wage will need to increase to at least $15 per hour in the future and provide some type of 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 type of subsidy by the local community, businesses and donors OR a combination of the two. We look forward to having a community discussion about how childcare in our community can move forward and stay affordable to families.”

For more information you can call the YMCA at 712-243-3934 or stop by the YMCA at 1100 Maple Street, Atlantic Iowa.