My childcare provider - another victim of the economy

My son's daycare, the place I spent so much time and care researching during my pregnancy, is closing this spring. He has been there 3 years and this will be tough on all of us. The following article is from the Times Union, I added a comment to the Business Blog expressing my frustration & sadness. There are not many places that provide the kind of services he needs for his physical & developmental needs.

This picture shows him at the CloverPatch annual Halloween festival, holding hands with his favorite teacher, Joelle.

Center for Disability Services cuts jobs, services
January 20, 2009 at 10:00 am by Chris Churchill, Business writer

The Center for Disability Services, the Albany non-profit that primarily provides services for the disabled, is cutting its daycare and pre-school programs and eliminating about 50 jobs.

In a letter mailed to center employees, Alan Krafchin, the organization’s president and chief executive, said the cutbacks are a “response to the continuing economic uncertainty and mounting fiscal challenges facing the center.”

Krafchin adds that the daycare and pre-school programs have traditionally run a deficit, but that “the deficits we have supported in the past are now too great to overcome.”

“With shrinking government support and the slowing economy, we anticipate fewer funds being available to fund our deficits and keep these programs afloat,” he said.

On June 19, the center will close the Hudson Early Childhood Services site and Cobleskill Early Childhood Services site. Daycare facilities in Albany and Glenville will also close that day, the center said.

Glenville and Albany Early Childhood Services will continue operating only the specialized self-contained classrooms. The Fulton Montgomery Clover Patch services will also continue operating, the center said.

The Center for Disability Services, headquartered on South Manning Boulevard in Albany, has an annual budget of $101 million and, with 2,400 employees, calls itself the seventh largest private employer in the Capital Region.

It provides services to 15,000 people at 85 locations in nine upstate counties.

[link to article on Albany Times Union: http://blogs.timesunion.com/business/?s=center+for+disability&x=0&y=0]