03-29-2007 Parents turn to city’s Camp Fair to fill child care gap

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families with school-age children, 41 percent pay for child care during the summer, according to the Urban Institute study. In 1997, working families with children under age 13 spent 9 percent of their monthly earnings on child care during the summer months, according to the Urban Institute. "Camp Awareness is a great price for everything you get there," said Dowd, who, like many working parents, prefers daylong options. "Any time when [programs] are going 8 to 5, those are so much more beneficial to parents." With potential cuts in city services from the looming threat of the statewide property tax "Circuit Breaker,"programs for youth face competition from police, fire and other city services in light of a 25 percent reduction in revenue. "I hadn't thought about how it could even effect the services the city provides like this," Dowd said. "As parents with the changing of these times, these are the things that need to be addressed by the city as well." - 30 -