A Vancouver Island community that decided to tackle its childcare crunch with money is poised to see a real return its investment.
A rapid reduction in staffing forced the District of Tofinosa国际传媒檚 Community Childrensa国际传媒檚 Centre to slash its hours in the summer of 2021, leading to afternoon closures and fewer available spots.
With efforts to attract new employees falling flat, the district took the at North Island Collegesa国际传媒檚 10-month, Early Childhood Care and Education Certificate program as well as any housing costs associated with living in Port Alberni during the duration of that education.
The district recently announced that three applicants have been hired through the program and the Community Childrensa国际传媒檚 Centre is expected to sa国际传媒済radually reopensa国际传媒� with plans to return to full-time hours this year.
In an email to the Westerly News, the districtsa国际传媒檚 communications coordinator Sarah Gray confirmed that Tofino spent $8,700 of taxpayer funds on the education program, which covered one early childhood educator and two early childhood educator assistants.
Tofino Mayor Dan Law told the Westerly News that he believes the $8,700 cost was a bargain in terms of filling a vital need in the community.
sa国际传媒淔or the amount of money that this takes, itsa国际传媒檚 a very good deal to be honest,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淭his is fairly inexpensive for what we get.sa国际传媒�
He suggested the district was sa国际传媒渢aking a page out of the private sectorsa国际传媒檚 booksa国际传媒� when it offered to pay for training, adding the need was well recognized at the district office and the cause of significant public outcry.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 really staff and council recognizing the vital need for daycare and early childhood education and that the Childrensa国际传媒檚 Community Centre really was filling an essential role in the community,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淭heresa国际传媒檚 still going to be challenges ahead, but I know that staff and council are committed to meeting those challenges and getting the daycare back to full-time hours and meeting the community needs more and more.sa国际传媒�
He added Tofinosa国际传媒檚 current lack of housing adds to the difficulty of hiring staff throughout the community as well as the district office.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 still difficult to get housing in Tofino so, despite the training and the full time work, theresa国际传媒檚 still the difficulty of having a successful candidate secure housing. That is going to be the next challenge the district faces, how to address the essential service worker housing shortage,sa国际传媒� he said.
sa国际传媒淭his is across the province, but especially in towns like Ucluelet and Tofino where housing prices have gone incredibly high in an incredibly short period of time and really are outpacing any average workersa国际传媒檚 ability to pay. My feeling is that wesa国际传媒檙e going to see more and more districts like ours that are going to have to address housing in order to ensure that essential services like daycares and schools and hospitals are adequately staffed.sa国际传媒�
The provincial government funding includes $25 million for early childhood education bursaries and $11.6 million for recruitment and incentive programs.
sa国际传媒淔or too long, investments in early childhood education werensa国际传媒檛 a priority in B.C. and itsa国际传媒檚 led to a significant shortage of ECEs,sa国际传媒� said Early Childhood Educators of BC executive director Emily Gawlick through the announcement. sa国际传媒淲e welcome these supports and professional development opportunities by both levels of government to help build the strong ECE professional workforce needed to effectively provide families with quality, inclusive and culturally safe child care in B.C. We look forward to continued work with government on ensuring ECEs have the supports they need to succeed.sa国际传媒�
andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca
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