The 47 page report was released just prior to the weekend and covers a broad range of themes when it comes to the status of child care in the community.
The project was compiled by Watson Projects, working in collaboration with the City of Prince Rupert, Kate Toye, Liliana Dragowska Planning and Engagement and Cherie Enns Consulting.
The Draft program came together following interviews and feedback with a number of participants including parents, children, child care providers, city staff, elected officials and other stakeholders.
The City introduced the Draft Study through the Civic website and social media platforms.
As part of its findings, the Draft Study listed five areas where there are gaps in community Child Care, included on the list were:
Centre-based child care for infants & toddlers.
Flexible child care programs to accommodate those working shifts & non-traditional work hours.
Child care hubs where child care is co-located with schools, family service organizations, multi- family residential housing or recreation programming.
Awareness of child care programs & affordability benefits.
Recognition of barriers to space creation, most significantly staff shortages.
At the current time there are 32 programs of all types in place in the city, providing for 395 spaces in the community for all age groupings.
Toward support in child care space creation, the participants in the project offered four areas where the City of Prince Rupert could take action.
Strengthen Child Care Policy. Establishing formal child care space policies within the City’s Official Community Plan will guide the City and community in realizing opportunities to address local child care needs within the context of future growth and development decisions. Strong City policy also helps support community programs and funding applications.
Remove Regulatory Barriers & Create Incentives: Enable the creation of new child care spaces in the community by establishing land-use regulations that permit child care spaces in all commercial and public zones. Revitalization tax exemptions are used to create incentives for the development of new child care spaces.
Support Space Creation: The City can provide valuable support and resources to community partners in developing additional child care spaces in the community, including leveraging available funding to create child care space for lease in/on a City-owned facility or property.
Communications, Partnerships & Advocacy: Work in partnership with local organizations to promote access to child care resources and information, advocate to higher levels of government, and encourage continued dialogue in the community to ensure local child care needs stay at the forefront of the community growth conversation.
Looking towards future child care needs and based on data projections from BC stats, the report has determined that Prince Rupert requires an additional 49 licensed child care spaces to meet current local demand and to achieve a 25 percent access rate for children 0 to 12 years old.
The Draft Report also makes notes of recent projections locally for increased economic growth and employment opportunities, suggesting that the need for Child care in the future will shift according to the change in population that could come from those employment additions.
And while local government does not have a legislative role when it comes to child care. The document did take a look at the areas of policies and regulations as well as to were participants believe the City of Prince Rupert should become involved in the access to Daycare discussion
Among the roles where the pre draft participants suggested the City should concentrate on were:
Build community awareness by communicating where parents can go to access child care.
Inventory and assess the empty buildings in the community for suitability for new spaces. Review zoning regulations to encourage child care in all areas of the city and work on bylaws to encourage child care space creation
Consider policy development that promotes space creation for child care needs and reflects the unique people, community and cultures in Prince Rupert
Use City-owned buildings to, directly and indirectly, create space for child care and programs
Review bus service and routes for ease of access to child care spaces
Partner organizations such as Coast Mountain College to advocate for ECE programming
Look at our streets and neighbourhood safety, particularly where child cares spaces exist.
The document also provides for a range of data, graphs, background information and also examines some of the success stories in creating child care spaces that are found in other communities in Northern British Columbia
You can explore the full scope of the document here
To provide for some early feedback you can complete a 3 question poll that is hosted by the Rupert Talks community engagement portal.
The themes of the three questions include:
Do you think the plan accurately reflects Prince Rupert’s child care needs & space requirements?
Are there actions that you / your organization can take to assist with meeting Prince Rupert’s space creation targets?
Do you have other thoughts on the draft plan?
Later this month the City will be hosting a Child Care Action Plan Open House, set to take place on Thursday, February 20th from 6 to 9 PM at the Lester Centre.
Those who take in the presentation will hear more about the draft plan, learn of some of the success stories from other communities and take part in the discussion on future goals for Prince Rupert.
Those in attendance will have an opportunity to be entered in a draw for a $500 RESP from Northern Savings Credit Union.
For more notes of interest from initiatives out of City Hall see our archive page here.
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