B.C. fund will add more child care spaces
British Columbia’s children’s minister visited a child care facility in Coquitlam on Friday to explain how the government intends to create thousands more child care spaces across the province.
Katrine Conroy said providers can now apply to the Childcare B.C. New Spaces Fund for a portion of the $237 million that was announced in the spring budget for such programs. She said $221 million has been earmarked specifically for the new spaces fund and it will be available to private-sector, non-profit and public-sector child care providers, with the aim of creating 22,000 new licensed spaces over the next three years.
Katrina Chen, minister of state for child care, said the new fund will also support the creation of spaces on school grounds for before- and afterschool care for elementary-aged youngsters.
It will give boards of education 100-per-cent eligibility, up from 90 per cent, for the total cost of any child care project launched up to a maximum of $500,000, Chen said.
Spaces for infant and toddler care continue to top the list of priorities and funding preference will be given to communities with the greatest need, such as fast-developing urban centres and Indigenous, rural and remote communities.
Public-sector partnerships, including local governments and school districts working with other non-profit providers to create child care spaces, will also be eligible for funding of up to 100 per cent of the total cost of a project, to a maximum of $1-million, Chen said. Not-for-profit organizations remain eligible for up to 90 per cent of any project, to a maximum of $500,000 while private child care providers can apply for 75 per cent of the cost of adding new spaces, to a maximum of $250,000.