Finding childcare is notoriously hard in B.C., especially in Victoria.
The province is working with the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) to administer nearly $17 million throughout the province with the aim to create 1,370 new licensed child-care spaces.
This announcement comes from the Minister of Children and Family Development’s Katrine Conroy, who said in a press release:
“We’re really excited to partner with UBCM on this initiative, and we know they have incredible expertise and really good relationships with municipalities right across the province, and it’ll help us create those child care spaces that are really needed.”
Municipal and regional grants
Municipal and regional governments can apply for up to $1 million to fund child-care space projects, and individual communities can apply for grants up to $25,000.
For the municipal and regional grants, priority will be given to projects that focus on infant and toddler child-care spaces.
Additional consideration will also be given to projects for various conditions, such as projects that:
- provide care outside of regular hours,
- are provided by not-for-profits or public bodies, or
- benefit underserved communities like low-income families, First Nations communities, and other minority language and cultural groups.
There is a total of $13.7 million available for these municipal and regional grants.
Grants for individual communities
For individual communities, the potential $25,000 grants are contingent on a thorough application.
Applications must include reports on needs assessment, inventory, and a plan outlining the use of the grant and goals for the child-care space. The total budget available for these grants is $3 million.
The deadline for both programs is January 18, 2019. The recipients are expected to be announced sometime in the spring.
