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GREENSBORO — Officials at the financially troubled YWCA Greensboro said Tuesday they plan to sell their building downtown, lease a smaller space, cut staff, further curtail services and serve fewer children.

Yet, they say, the actions mean the 105-year-old institution will survive its long-standing money problems.

“We have had to make some very tough decisions to make this happen,” said Judi Rossabi, president of the YWCA board of directors. “We are doing what we need to do to continue operating.”

YWCA leaders say their current home, built in 1971, has served the organization well, but no longer supports a mission that includes fewer offerings.

For one, the nonprofit said its Kidspace Day Care program for preschool children will close before the move, which should come in two or three months.

Licensed for 20 children, the program currently serves 13. Parents have been guaranteed service through July.

“The key reason for getting out of day care (is that) when we move to a new facility we have to start the licensing process all over again, and there is a soft market for day care right now,” said Jean Pudlo, the YWCA’s interim executive director. “We didn’t see it as something that we could do as well as we would like to do.”

Last February, YWCA officials announced they would suspend their fitness and aquatics programs to reduce costs. Those features will not reopen when the agency moves.

The YWCA, citing a reduction in state funding, also said it will scale back its after-school program from six sites to two. Those sites, which will focus only on middle-school students, have not been chosen.

YWCA officials said state budget cuts also have forced them to cut the number of locations for their summer day camp from three to one and reduce the number of children served from 120 to 60.

The YWCA will continue to operate its teen mentor program, which helps young mothers raise healthy families and celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

Currently, the program serves 250 teens and 100 young adult mothers.

Officials said the various program cuts will reduce the size of the YWCA’s staff from the mid-50s last summer to the mid-20s after the move.

Money from the sale of the building at 1 YWCA Place will go to pay off the agency’s $90,000 debt and establish an endowment.

Pudlo said no price has been set for the 23,555-square-foot building, which includes a pool, gym, dance studio, kitchen area and playground.

She said the move will save about $100,000 a year.

With the cuts in programs and staff, the YWCA will need only 2,500 square feet of office space and the use of two or three large meeting rooms.

Pudlo said the changes should help the YWCA, which in recent years has suffered deficits of between $70,000 to $130,000, operate in the black.

“That’s the plan,” she said. “We should be at a more sustainable level of costs.”

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com