The Manitoba government is investing more than $22 million in new and reallocated funds to improve sustainability and create child care spaces for more than 1,400 children and give parents and caregivers more child care options to meet their needs.
Families Minister Heather Stefanson says child care is critical to Manitoba’s economic recovery and growth, and its important Manitoba families have access to quality child care during this unprecedented time, “We are investing millions of dollars to ensure that parents have access to child care when they need it the most – so they know their children are safely cared for as they return to work and adjust to the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
As part of Manitoba’s plan to expand choice in child care, the province is investing up to $8.5 million in new programs to create child care services for hundreds of children, meet the needs of under-served families, particularly those working non-standard hours, and support the longer-term sustainability of child care providers. These programs include:
– up to $4 million for workplaces to offer on-site child care services for their employees, expected to create up to 800 new spaces through a $5,000-per-space start-up grant;
– up to $1.5 million in grants to home-based child care providers, to enhance their child care spaces, support financial stability and help ensure new spaces, to a maximum of $50,000 per provider;
– up to $2 million for licensed child care providers to establish satellite locations, which will help support their ongoing operations and physical distancing requirements as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response;
– up to $750,000 for community organizations to develop more diverse child care options to meet the needs of their families, which could reflect different cultures, languages and accessibility needs; and
– up to $250,000 to help ensure child care providers participating in these programs can find and retain families to fill available spaces, through a comprehensive marketing plan.
More information on the new grant programs is available below. Applications will be posted and begin being accepted on Sept. 1.
The province is also following through on a commitment set out in Budget 2020 by allocating an additional $9.5 million into the new Child Care Sustainability Trust, which will launch in March 2021. The trust will support a variety of innovative projects at child care facilities including programming and infrastructure improvements, equipment, and professional development and learning opportunities for staff, with the goal of enhancing inclusive and accessible services.
In addition, the province is committing $4.7 million in new funding to expand the Child Care Centre Development Tax Credit, in order to support the creation of employer-based child care centres for up to 682 children. This is in addition to the over $2-million investment made when the tax credit launched in 2018. Since that time, support has been allocated to four businesses in Winnipeg, Selkirk and Altona to establish child care centres for 260 children.
The province first announced $18 million for a temporary child care services grant as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response so licensed child care providers who were unable to work at their regular child care facilities could provide care in home-based settings. To date, 20 child care providers have accessed the grant and created more than 130 spaces to meet the needs of parents and caregivers.
