City of Kimberley child care action plan
The demand for licensed child care spaces in British Columbia exceeds the existing supply, resulting in significant shortages across the province. To address this need, the Province is supporting local governments in the planning and building of licensed child care spaces that will best meet the needs of local families in their communities.
As part of this effort, the City of Kimberley partnered with Be the Change Group to assess Kimberley’s child care needs and develop a child care action plan that would ensure that families have access to the child care services that they need.
Our assessment included a background review, policy scan, and community engagement. We engaged a total of 319 participants, including, but not limited to, community members, City officials, First Nations partners, parents, child care providers, child care facilities, and other key stakeholders, through key informant interviews, surveys, a community forum, and round tables with families and child care providers respectively.
The child care action plan represents the collective voices of Kimberley, ensuring that the community informed the plan to address Kimberley’s child care needs and planning activities.
With the needs assessed and a plan in place, the City of Kimberley can apply to the Community Child Care Space Creation Program which provides additional funding to local governments to create new licensed child care spaces within their own facilities for children aged 0-5, with a focus on spaces for infants and toddlers.
Sector
Services
Impact
319
Community members engaged
First
Child care action plan for the city of Kimberley
The result
The child care action plan identified factors impacting access to child care in Kimberley, challenges to child care provision in the community, and clear actions that can be taken by the City and key actors within child care and the community to support meaningful change regarding child care in Kimberley.
The Result
In addition to providing the child care action plan in designed, accessible, and easy-to-navigate print and digital formats, including a final report and summary infographic, we presented our findings in-person to Kimberley City Council at a public council meeting. Our project team also met and spoke with the media regarding the plan and recommendations.