The Skagway borough assembly has earmarked $200,000 in subsidies for two licensed child care start-ups. The funding comes amid a child care crisis in Skagway that Assemblymember Reba Hylton, sponsor of the funding, said has been a chronic issue.
“When I first found out I was pregnant 10 years ago, before I told my own mother, I went to Grandma Linda and secured my spot to get child care, because I knew that I could not make it in this community without her help,” Hylton said.
With the closing of Mighty Munchkins Daycare earlier this year, Skagway is left with Linda Calver’s year-round service, Little Cherubs Daycare, and seasonal providers Little Buck-a-roo Daycare and Little Dippers Learning Center.
Little Dippers, which leases a municipally owned building, is not associated with the borough and is managed by Skagway Child Care Council. The center opened early this season to serve the children who formerly attended Mighty Munchkins. Due to staff shortages, the facility is open limited hours, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. as of last week.
“I don’t think I need to spell out why those hours of operation simply do not work for most working people. Six hours a day, four days a week is just not enough,” said parent Anna Nelson. “No blame passed whatsoever. I am just saying that it is not enough.”
Many worry what will happen in the fall when Little Dippers and Little Buck-a-roo shut their doors for the year.
And many wonder when Calver, otherwise known as Grandma Linda, will retire. She has been in the business long enough to have babysat some of her client’s parents.
“I have heard that I am quitting, but I’m not quitting for probably a couple more years. But I have heard that rumor. Even my grandson said that to me yesterday,” she joked.
The assembly resolution, approved unanimously earlier this month, would give $100,000 each to two licensed day cares, with a minimum of 10 children enrolled and operating 11 months out of the year. The facilities would receive $40,00 the first year and $20,000 each of the next three years.
Calver told the committee that the additional funds would go toward hiring more staff to increase capacity and covering operating costs.
“In addition to the amount of families that are already leaving Skagway, this child care crisis is now at a boiling point, and it will be the main reason that more will go,” Nelson said. “I hope ours isn’t included in that. But I don’t know at this point. It is getting extremely hard to raise a family here.”
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