Basin families will soon have access to more quality, licensed child care spaces as part of Columbia Basin Trust’s continued partnerships with regional child care providers and the Province.
“Families have told us that too few child care spaces is a critical issue in many of our communities,” said Johnny Strilaeff, President and Chief Executive Office, Columbia Basin Trust. “We have been privileged to partner with child care providers across the region to support their efforts to tackle this issue head-on by providing funding and supporting proposal development. Congratulations!”
Castlegar, Nakusp, Nelson, Winlaw and Valemount will see the addition of a combined 216 new spaces:
- Castlegar – Blueberry Creek Community School Council is creating 20 spaces at Tarrys Childcare Centre.
- Nakusp – School District #10 (Arrow Lakes) is creating 96 spaces at the Nakusp Child Care Centre.
- Nelson – Littletree Kinderhouse is creating eight spaces at Enchanted Forest.
- Winlaw – School District #8 (Kootenay Lake) is creating 20 spaces at Our Place.
- Valemount – the Village of Valemount is creating 72 spaces at the Robson Valley Community Services Society Children’s Centre.
These newly licensed spaces are some of the 3,634 new child care spaces funded through the Province’s New Spaces Fund, part of the ChildCare BC Plan.
“The pandemic has highlighted the importance of child care, not just for children and families, but for our communities and the economy,” said Katrine Conroy, Minister of Children and Family Development. “These more than 3,600 new child care spaces are part of the fastest creation of child care spaces in B.C.’s history and show our ongoing commitment to building a child care system that benefits families across the whole province.”
Along with helping to support the creation of 658 new child care spaces since launching its Childcare Support program in 2017, the Trust has also helped Basin providers purchase equipment or upgrade facilities to improve over 2,000 existing spaces as well as provide support to help train 115 early childhood educators.
Learn more about what the Trust is doing to support childcare in the Basin.
Read the full press release here.
