At the YMCA on a recent afternoon, Jason Cannon watched a small boy in goggles doing barrel-rolls in the swimming pool.
“That’s Ben — he’s been coming here every day since this summer,” Cannon said. The boy has a single dad who works full-time, Cannon explained. “I don’t know what he’s going to do.”
On this day, Cannon was supervising Ben and other children with developmental disabilities in an after-school program run by the Arc of Lane County. But citing monetary woes, the Arc plans to soon end its after-school care, as well as a life skills program for disabled adults. Last week, the nonprofit agency announced that it was laying off 15 employees, including Cannon.
“It hasn’t really hit me yet,” said Cannon, who has been working for the Arc for eight years and will work his last day on Friday.
Angela Phinney, the Arc’s assistant executive director, said shrinking donations forced cutbacks for the agency.
“Our sponsors are closing their own doors,” she said. “When people don’t give, our programs cease to exist.”
After Friday, the agency will be forced to turn away 42 children with conditions such as mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autism and Down syndrome, and finding replacement services for them won’t be easy.
“You and I can send our kids to any day care,” Phinney said, pointing out that parents of special-needs children don’t have the same luxury.
Programs for disabled children require teachers with special training and more teachers per classroom.
The state starts paying for the care of developmentally disabled kids once they turn 18. But before that, parents are on their own and day care programs for such children can cost $1,200 per month. Thanks to donations, the Arc has been able to charge parents of special-needs children fees similar to what they would pay for traditional day care.
Phinney said it would take $50,000 to keep the after-school program going.
The Arc also plans to shutter its On-Track program, which runs classes for disabled adults on topics such as health and safety, nutritious cooking and community living.
The Arc, which is funded in part by the United Way of Lane County, is one of several area nonprofit organizations suffering in the current economic climate, said United Way spokeswoman Cheryl Crumbley.
“Donations are down and need is up,” she said. “It’s a double whammy.”
The recession means that people who’ve never needed assistance before need it now. “A lot of people who are unemployed, who need things like food boxes and rent assistance, they’ve never been unemployed in their lives,” Crumbley said.