Parents Assail YMCA’s Closure of Eagle Rock Child-Care Center

A group of Highland Park and Eagle Rock parents is fuming over the loss of a local YMCA child-care center, which officials closed because of dwindling resources and the lack of an appropriate site.

At least 35 children who attended the Eagle Rock center will be displaced when the after-school program fails to open in the fall. Many of the children attend the YMCA’s summer day camp, which ends Aug. 29 and is not expected to reopen next summer.

The center’s closing is especially bitter for these working parents because just a few miles away, similar programs are thriving in the more affluent communities of San Marino and South Pasadena.

For many of these working parents, the loss of the program is part an all-too-familiar frustration: they struggle to find such basic services to stay afloat while wealthier communities more easily sustain them.

The demise of the Eagle Rock Boulevard center will end the YMCA’s presence in the neighborhood. Last October, the YMCA sold its site on Eagle Rock Boulevard and the South Pasadena YMCA took over the administration of the remaining programs in the area. In the winter, the YMCA closed its Eagle Rock preschool, displacing about 45 children.

The summer day camp and after-school center were the last remaining YMCA programs.

For many families, the loss of the programs exemplifies the struggle to survive.

“It’s too much,” said Christine Garcia, a single mother whose 6-year-old daughter has attended the center for more than two years. “It bothers me there’s a better site in South Pasadena, and our kids are having to go through this. We all pay the same amount and we all work hard. I just don’t want the kids to be discriminated against because it’s not as wealthy of a neighborhood.”

YMCA officials said they are eliminating the program because of a lack of community support and resources in the area during the last several years. In 1995, the YMCA branch in Eagle Rock was dissolved, and since then other branches have traded responsibility for its programs.

“It’s very sad and painful. It’s one of those things you never want to have to do,” said Alan Hostrup, senior vice president for the Los Angeles Metropolitan YMCA. “I’m not happy with this at all, but at some point we had to make a decision.”

YMCA officials said they were forced to close the program because they could not find a new location for the Eagle Rock child-care center. Since the fall, the YMCA has been renting classroom and playground space at its former site, which was purchased by Victory Outreach, a church that works with former gang members and drug addicts.

Staff members and parents felt the two programs were not compatible and that the center needed to move, Hostrup said. But officials couldn’t find a site, he added.

Moreover, the program was losing money because of dwindling attendance and the number of students receiving hefty state and private subsidies, Hostrup said.

“We were left with about 10 families that are paying full fee, and that’s not enough to sustain a viable program site,” he said.

Eventually, he said, the YMCA hopes to increase community support and reopen a branch in the Eagle Rock area.

On Wednesday night, Hostrup met with a group of angry parents who say the day-care program was their only option in the neighborhood.

About 20 parents expressed their frustration that they weren’t consulted about the closure and pleaded for a reprieve. Many said they would be willing to run fund-raising drives to keep the doors open.

Hostrup agreed to discuss the matter with the Los Angeles YMCA president, but warned the parents not to get their hopes up.

“I found out on Monday and I almost started crying,” said Tina Leyssius, whose 8-year-old son has been at the program for four years. “They kept promising they would stay open, and then, boom! The next we hear, ‘We’re closing.’ I’m just hoping they’re going to change their mind.”

Other parents also said they have been very pleased with the day camp and after-school center, one of the only programs that offered affordable and safe child care in the area.

Children were picked up after school by staff members, who helped them with homework and provided arts and crafts activities until 7 p.m. During the summer, the day camp runs from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For parents such as Richard Bentley and Ruth Hutchison who both have full-time jobs, there are few other places in the area where they can leave their 6-year-old daughter Hope.

They chose the YMCA program two years ago for Hope because “it looked solid, it looked stable and it looked like they would be here for a while,” Bentley said.

He said he feels the YMCA is turning its back on a community that relies on accessible child care.

“We don’t have the community resources that South Pasadena and San Marino do, and apparently because we don’t, [the YMCA doesn’t] want to be here--even though we have a larger need,” he said.

Many parents said they were angry that the YMCA officials didn’t let them know earlier about the shutdown. In the spring, parents said staff members assured them that the YMCA was committed to the area and to keeping the center open.

But officials said they warned parents that the future of the program was in jeopardy.

“My understanding is they were aware there was some concern,” Hostrup said. “If they were caught surprised, I feel very bad about that.” Now, many parents said they don’t know what to do this fall.

YMCA officials said they will try to help place children in other child care centers in the area. They will not, however, provide transportation for local children to the day-care program in South Pasadena, which serves about 200 children.

“This program provided a service the community really needed,” parent Susan Homayouni said at Wednesday’s meeting. “Unfortunately, our need doesn’t end when you close your doors.”