High Quality Child Care in Manitoba

August 27, 2014

PROVINCE ANNOUNCES CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY ON 40 HIGH-QUALITY, AFFORDABLE CHILD-CARE SPACES IN ST. ANDREWS AREA

Families in the St. Andrews area will have greater access to the affordable, licensed child care with the construction of a new 40-space centre near the local school, Housing and Community Development Minister Peter Bjornson, on behalf of Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross announced today.

“By increasing child care options, more parents in the region will be able to go out to work, attend school, support their families and thrive in their communities,” Minister Irvin-Ross said.  “We are funding more licensed child-care spaces in Manitoba because it’s a priority for families.”

The minister said the new spaces will be created with an investment of almost $2 million for a
stand-alone child-care centre, to be located next to St. Andrews School.  Construction is expected to be completed in mid-2015.

“The board of directors of St. Andrews Child Care is very excited to bring licensed child care to the St. Andrews area,” said Shelly Marques, director, St. Andrews Child Care Inc.  “The addition of 32 preschool and eight infant spaces will definitely have a positive impact on the community.  This will complement our Rivercrest location and allow us to continue serving families in the communities between Winnipeg and Selkirk.”

Provincial legislation now requires child-care centres to be included in schools when a new school is built or is undergoing major renovations.

The budget for child care in Manitoba is more than $152 million, which reflects growth of more than 184 per cent since 1999, the minister said.  There are more than 660 licensed centres across Manitoba, with almost half located in schools, and more than 400 licensed home-based child-care homes.

Manitoba maintains the second-lowest regulated child-care fees in Canada, the minister said.

The Manitoba government recently launched Family Choices 2014, a new five-year plan to create more high-quality child care for Manitoba families including:
investing in more than 5,000 new and newly funded spaces;

• continuing to build and expand at least 20 early learning and child-care centres in schools with $25 million in additional funding;
• supporting higher wages for early childhood educators through regular operating grant increases, including a two per cent increase for wages starting in January 2015;
• developing a special, new wage-enhancement grant specifically to support long-term early childhood educators working in centres;
• increasing supports for licensed, home-based child-care providers;
• improving the online registry and child-care website to make them more parent-friendly; and
• establishing a commission on early learning and child care to look at ways to redesign Manitoba’s system to better meet the needs of families and guide future plans.

More information about Manitoba’s plan to expand child care is available at: www.gov.mb.ca/fs/childcare/familychoices.

- 30 -

May 1, 2013

BUDGET 2013 INVESTS IN MORE CHILD CARE SPACES TO HELP MANITOBA FAMILIES: PREMIER

– – –
Up to 1,000 New Spaces Available This Year

Budget 2013 will give families better access to quality child care by opening up to 1,000 new spaces over the next year, Premier Greg Selinger announced today.
“Our government is focused on what matters most to Manitoba families and for growing families that includes better access to good quality child care,” said Selinger.  “More child care spaces will support parents while they are at work and help prepare young children to succeed at school, while also creating jobs for qualified early childhood educators across the province.”
Up to 1,000 spaces are expected to open over the next year in 26 new and expanded child-care centres across the province.  The premier noted this will complete the Manitoba government’s five‑year strategy to fund 6,500 more spaces and begin a new plan for an additional 2,000 child-care spaces.
The Manitoba government is also investing up to $5 million to build or expand child-care centres this year.  Building more child-care centres is part of the Manitoba Building and Renewal Plan, which will also help build the province’s critical infrastructure priorities such as flood protection, roads, schools and hospitals, said Selinger.
“While the global economic outlook remains uncertain, our government is investing in critical infrastructure projects like new child-care centres to help Manitoba’s economy continue to grow,” said Family Services and Labour Minister Jennifer Howard.  “With a growing population, Manitoba needs more child-care centres, as well as better roads, newer hospitals, more schools and protection against the threat of more frequent flooding.”
Budget 2013 also invests an additional $4 million to open new child-care spaces as well as provide a one per cent funding increase to existing child care centres.  The province is also taking steps to help recruit and retain more early childhood educators and improve the quality of child care for young children, said Howard.
“As a parent, it’s comforting to know that my children are being taken care of in a warm, nurturing environment by knowledgeable, caring staff,” said Nicole Dubois, board chair, Morrow Avenue Child Care Centre.  “I am glad this commitment will mean more families will have access to centres like this one all across the province.”

- 30 -

New Early Learning Model and Childcare Launched

Children and Youth Opportunities Minister Kevin Chief today officially launches a new model of early learning and child care at Lord Selkirk Park Early Learning and Child Care Centre (Manidoo Gi Miini Gonaan)

 

March 26, 2012

FIRST-IN-CANADA EARLY LEARNING MODEL ANNOUNCED FOR LORD SELKIRK PARK

– – –
Unique Approach will Complement 47 New Child-care Spaces: Chief

Families in the Lord Selkirk Park Housing Development will be the first in Canada to benefit from a proven model of early learning and child care that will include a curriculum that promotes literacy and language development, in addition to a family resource centre, Children and Youth Opportunities Minister Kevin Chief and Family Services and Labour Minister Jennifer Howard announced today.
“It’s never too early to reach out to children and their families to provide tools that ensure they are maximizing their learning opportunities in school and throughout life.  The Abecedarian model has shown extremely positive results in the communities that have implemented it from infancy to school entry,” said Chief, who chairs the Healthy Child Committee of Cabinet.  “We expect to see positive results that will last a lifetime as children in the program receive more individual contact and interactions with early childhood educators who tailor their teaching to the needs of each child.”
The Abecedarian approach has been described as “simple but deep” and focuses on making every interaction a learning or teaching opportunity through:

• learning games as part of daily activities,
• conversational reading, and
• incorporating learning and language into daily routines.

“We saw this as a chance to really work with the community and, through a great effort from everyone in Lord Selkirk Park and the many government departments involved in this project, we will achieve better results for children and families,” said Howard.  “We think we can make a difference in the lives of the people who live here and are excited about the opportunity for change.”
The original Abecedarian study began in 1972 in North Carolina.  Research has shown the children who received early learning using the Abcedarian model were more likely to have better reading and math skills, enjoy better health as adults and were less likely to smoke, use drugs or become pregnant as teenagers.  By age 30, the Abecedarian children were over four times more likely to be college graduates, more than twice as likely to be employed and 84 per cent less likely to receive social assistance.

The Abecedarian approach has been incorporated into the program of the Manidoo Gi Minni Gonaan enriched early childhood development centre, which was constructed at Lord Selkirk Park following a $3.1-million investment by the province.  The centre contains 47 new child-care spaces including 16 infant, 16 preschool and 15 school-age spaces.
Established in 2000 and legislated in 2007, the Healthy Child Committee of Cabinet includes the ministers of children and youth opportunities; Aboriginal and northern affairs; culture, heritage and tourism; education; family services and labour; health; healthy living, seniors and consumer affairs; housing and community development; immigration and multiculturalism; and justice.  The Healthy Child Manitoba strategy continues to focus on evidence-based prevention and early intervention from the prenatal period through the school years, in partnership with communities.

- 30 -

Guide to accessing convenient child-care centres

November 17, 2011

1,000 CHILDREN PLACED WITH CANADA'S FIRST ONLINE CHILD-CARE REGISTRY

FIVE MONTHS AFTER FULL IMPLEMENTATION: MACKINTOSH

– – –
New Web Map Feature to Help Parents Find Most Convenient Child-care Centres

Five months after Canada’s first online child-care registry was fully implemented across the province, more than 1,000 children have already been placed with the help of this convenient tool, Family Services and Consumer Affairs Minister Gord Mackintosh announced today.
Manitoba’s parent-friendly online registry is now also getting its first major upgrade since a pilot project was launched in Brandon a year ago, the minister said.  The website will now have a new map feature that allows parents to find child care along their commuting routes or near a convenient location.
“Manitoba families and child-care providers have proved the value of this innovative tool that helps parents easily find convenient licensed early learning and child care,” said Mackintosh.  “And now we have a new planning tool to help parents and further improve and refine our child-care growth strategy.”
Based on recommendations by families and child-care providers, the new online map feature makes it easy for parents to search for licensed child-care providers along a specific route or near a location of their choice.  The province has invested $231,000 in this significant upgrade, Mackintosh said.
As of today, there are about 8,000 total online registrations across the province, which represents about 5,000 children currently looking for child care and another 3,000 children registered for future spaces.  There are currently 29,811 licensed child-care spaces in Manitoba.
Since 1999, the province has funded 11,000 new spaces, half since April 2008 when it launched its five-year child-care strategy called Family Choices.  About 2,660 new licensed spaces are currently in various stages of development.
The government has committed to fund a further 2,900 child-care spaces, said the minister.  In total, 5,560 spaces are in development, have funding committed or are being planned for the next few years, he added.
The province will post registry statistics on its Internet site quarterly beginning Dec. 31.

The online registry can be found at www.manitoba.ca/onlinechildcareregistry (English) or www.manitoba.ca/registredesgarderies (French).

- 30 - 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ATTACHED