Excerpt: "The Manitoba government is increasing annual operating grants for licensed, home-based child-care providers by $245,000 this fiscal year with additional increases in future years, Families Minister Scott Fielding announced today. 鈥淭hese funds will benefit more than 300 home-based, licensed child-care providers throughout the province with increases based on their licenced number and type of spaces,鈥 said Fielding. 鈥淭his will help strengthen the stability of home-based operators and better support the creation of new spaces in homes in the future.鈥"
Excerpt: "An increase in the province鈥檚 child-care subsidy program of $300,000 will benefit more than 1,600 Island children. Rates for before and after-school child care and private sitters will increase, and the monthly subsidy will increase by $120 for eligible families whose income is below a particular level."
Excerpt: "As of September 1, 2017, Ontario now requires school boards to provide before- and after-school programs for children up to age 12, in all publicly funded elementary schools serving students up to Grade 6, where there is sufficient demand. These programs provide additional opportunities for play-based programming, and are a critical support for parents who rely on before- and after-school care to accommodate their work schedules."
Excerpt: "The agreement allocates just over $7 million, over three years, to Nunavut for early learning and child care investments. The territory's funding will focus on early learning and child care programs and services to support parents, families, and communities to ensure the best possible future for children in the territory."
Excerpt: "As well, to assist hard-working parents and guardians, to strengthen our economy, and to assist businesses with recruitment and retention, we鈥檙e moving forward with plans to provide a quality, accessible, and affordable child care plan for families. Our first step is moving forward with $20 million in new child care investments that will increase our spending on early childhood development and child care to $330 million this year and support more than 4,000 new child care spaces."
Excerpt: "We will deliver a provincewide universal child care program that is safe, accessible and affordable. We will start by creating more spaces to help families waiting months or years for quality care and training more early childhood educators. And this fall, government will consult with families and child care providers on the best way forward."
Excerpt: "Under this agreement, the federal government will invest close to $30 million to improve early learning and child care for preschool-aged children in New Brunswick. The province will contribute an additional $41 million for a total of $71 million; Investments will transform at least 300 current child care providers into designated New Brunswick Early Learning Centres which will provide more quality spaces, have lower fee structures, and implement inclusion policies and guidelines for francophone minority communities. Funding will also be used to provide professional development opportunities for early child care educators and to support other initiatives to improve early learning and child care in the province."
Highlights: More spaces for infants and pre-schoolers - $3.6 million; More access for children who are most vulnerable - $2.5 million; More supports for children with unique needs - $1.5 million; More support for parents who work non-standard hours - $1.5 million; More supports for the acadian and francophone community - $180,000; More supports for newcomer families - $72,000; Training for early childhood educators - $215,000; Monitoring access and quality - $882,000.
"The agreement allocates $10.5 million, over three years, to Prince Edward Island for early learning and child care investments. The Island's funding focus will be on early learning and child care access for vulnerable children such as infants, pre-schoolers, children whose parents work seasonally or non-standard hours, and under-served populations including Newcomer families and Acadian and French speaking communities. Funding will also be directed towards professional training for early learning and care educators with the aim of improving the quality and richness of experiences for children."
Excerpt: "The New Child Care Act includes: Replacing the former Child Care Services Act effective today (July 31); Improving safety and security standards for the well-being of our children at their most vulnerable stages; Clarifying and strengthening licensing exemptions; Removing the cap on the number of spaces per child care centre; Enhancing qualification expectations by requiring entry-level certification to become trainee certification, requiring early childhood educators to upgrade to a post-secondary one-year Early Childhood Education Certificate within a five-year period; Enhancing qualifications for administrators of infant-only family homes to include the requirement of a Level I certification with an infant classification; Ensuring child care providers have a secure building policy and enhanced physical space requirements to increase quality of care; and Committing to a mandatory five-year legislative review with public consultation to allow the opportunity for feedback."
Excerpt: Excerpt: "Forty-three locations across the province have been selected to offer pre-primary programming to four-year-olds this fall. 鈥淔or the first time, Nova Scotia families will have access to a free pre-primary program for four-year-olds,鈥 said Zach Churchill, Minister, Education and Early Childhood Development. 鈥淭his investment will support the futures of our youngest Nova Scotians and save their families thousands of dollars in child care costs.鈥
Excerpt: "CHANCES in partnership with the Margaret and Wallace McCain Foundation embarked on a research effort to profile the impact of expanding access to a range of high quality integrated services for children and their families, with a particular focus on those who were identified as being vulnerable. The initial focus was the expansion and integration of early education and family support services, while further efforts focused on enhancing access, quality and accountability."