Three child care centers in Kelowna will soon become part of the provincial $10-a-day child care program which will introduce more than 150 new spaces.
In a news release issued on Tuesday, the province explains that the program reduces the average cost of child care from $1,000 a month to about $200 a month.
“Quality child care is a necessity for families. Ten-dollar-a-day child care spaces will help ease financial burdens that families are experiencing,” stated Kirstie Blanleil, director of operations, BGC Okanagan.
The locations that will soon be offering the program include:
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BGCO Cameron Park Early Learning Center – 28 spaces
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BGCO Martin Avenue Community Center – 64 spaces
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Dilworth Mountain YMCA Child Care – 79 spaces
These locations are in addition to the 28 spaces introduced in March at the YMCA Child Care Center at Kelowna Secondary School.
In April, two BGC Okanagan Club locations in Rutland and West Kelowna were also chosen to join the program. This introduced 32 child care spaces.
“We doubled the number of $10-a-day spaces earlier this year and will be nearly doubling yet again by the end of 2022, with 1,373 spaces added this month alone,” said Katrina Chen, BC’s minister of state for child care.
The Province is aiming to have 12,500 child care spaces opened by December 2022. The program is funded through the 2021-2025 Canada-British Columbia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.
The agreement is also helping families with the cost of child care at centers that are not part of the program through child care fee reductions of up to $550 more per month, per child.
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