EXCERPT FROM: Foster's Daily Democrat
By Geoff Cunningham Jr.
KITTERY — A lack of funding amid a tough economy has resulted in the decision to close the Family Resource Center at Landmark Hill just before the Christmas holiday.
Bill Hager, the executive director of Child Care Services of York County, said the center has been operating with a deficit for years and noted that shrinking funding prompted the decision to shut things down.
"We are reliant on community monies and with the economy as it is, there hasn't been enough to keep it open," Hager said.
Child Care Services of York County — a private nonprofit — has served as the parent organization running the center since it opened six years ago.
Hager said the center has been offering a variety of free parent support and education programs for families throughout the Seacoast regions of New Hampshire and Maine. The center served upward of 600 families each year from areas ranging from Dover and Portsmouth to Eliot and Kittery.
He said the decision to shut the center down on Dec. 23 came as a result of financial hardships.
The Family Resource Center has no dedicated public funding stream and relied on money coming in from grants, foundations, individual donations and from annual contributions from the United Way of York County and the United Way of the Greater Seacoast.
Hager said his organization has requested funding from communities they serve, but noted the recent downturn in the economy resulted in little response.
"We've asked, but that doesn't mean we've gotten any," Hager said.
He said the final blow came when the United Way of the Greater Seacoast dropped its annual funding from $15,000 to $3,600.
"That was kind of the final nail in the coffin ... we were losing money before that reduction," Hager said.
The family center was viewed as an important social service "net," but was losing up to $25,000 a year, according to Hager.