One of the first jobs for newly-elected councils and the school board after Oct. 20 may be to look at ways of increasing the number of daycare spaces in the Tri-Cities.
At least that’s the hope of the board of education, which sent a letter this week to the the cities and villages asking them to join a child care task force and apply for a grant to assist in planning for new child care spaces.
The letter notes that a $25,000 per municipality/village grant is available through the Union of BC Municipalities and the Ministry of Children and Families to assist in such an initiative.
“We wanted to expedite this because there is grant money,” said board chair Kerri Palmer Isaak, who is an Anmore trustee and was recently acclaimed to the post.
She said the province has money available for creating new child care spaces, which could be a catalyst for reviewing child care needs in the Tri-Cities, Anmore and Belcarra and coming up with strategies to create more spaces.
The letter asks the cities and villages to appoint a councillor and staff rep to a child care task force that would establish a terms of reference and chart a specific course of action.
“We are hoping that this collaborative approach to finding solutions to the challenges of childcare spaces in our community will provide a lasting benefit to all the citizens we serve,” the letter states.
The Tri-Cities Early Childhood Development Committee is also being asked to join the task force.
