In response to the State of Emergency issued by Cortland County on March 15 and the directives of the Cortland County Health Department, YWCA Cortland’s Daycare and School-Age programs closed to the public at the end of the day on Tuesday, March 17, in order to start providing child care to serve only those individuals identified as essential personnel in maintaining needed services and resources in the community during this time.

Since then, YWCA Cortland has been working with the County, the Health Department, the Child Development Center, the SUNY Cortland Child Care Center, and CAPCO Head Start and Early Head Start to determine the need in the community for child care to serve essential personnel.

Beginning Monday, March 23, YWCA Cortland will be providing care for school-age children (5-12) of essential personnel at the YWCA facility at 14 Clayton Ave. 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. for $180 per week. The facility remains closed to the general public.

Please refer to this letter, which includes more information and a list of essential Cortland County employers that qualify for child care services during the State of Emergency. You can contact Jami Bistocchi, Child Care Director, or Janice Meyer, School Age Supervisor, by calling 607-753-9651 Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

We take the health and safety of the children in our programs seriously so we are following the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19, including limiting group numbers and practicing social distancing. Parents will be dropping off their children at the back door and children will be restricted to our second-floor classrooms.

Because things change rapidly from day to day, leadership is closely monitoring health alerts regarding COVID-19 from reputable sources such as state and county health departments, city, county, and state officials, the CDC, and the World Health Organization (WHO).

We are dedicated to keeping lines of communication open and clear. Watch our website and social media pages for updates as they become available.

Thank you for your patience and support during this unprecedented time. Let’s all take care of one another!