Subsidized child care wait list to be eliminated with new provincial funds

Families in Waterloo region will have access to more child carethanks to $5.9 millionfrom the provincial government.

The region received the funding as part of the province's Child Care Expansion Plan. Over $2.2 million of the total amount came from the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.

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"Our service plan identifies the need to improve access to affordable, high quality early learning and child care for families over the next four years," said Barb Cardow, director of childrenservices for the region in a release.

"It is a priority parents shared with us and this funding will help us address that."

Last week, regional council approved where the funding will be distributed. The money will go towards:

• Helping hundreds of families by eliminating the wait list for subsidized child care.
• Adding three infant child care spaces to Elmira Children's Centre, which is the only licensed child care program in Woolwich that offersinfant spaces.
• Increasing access to child care for special needs children.
• Providing operational funding for new child care programs in four local schools by December 2018.
• Recruiting more licensed home child care providers.