The provincial and federal governments are spending a joint total of $13.5 million to expand child-care spaces in Manitoba to address the child-care shortage, Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced on Tuesday.
“The Renovation Expansion Grant encourages facilities to invest in existing infrastructure and expand site capacity with additional infant or preschool spaces that will be sustainable for years to come,” said Ewasko.
The 2023-24 grant seeks expressions of interest and offers up to $2 million in capital grant funding, providing $30,000 per space, to expand physical space capacity in existing centres.
The program is expected to increase provincial spaces by up to 450, with support for expansion, administration and programming costs.
“By continuing to offer this grant, existing operators will be able to help more families access affordable child care, which supports our commitment to develop 23,000 affordable, accessible, high-quality and inclusive child-care spaces by 2026 under the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement,” Ewasko added.
There are more than 640 licensed non-profit child-care centres in Manitoba that are eligible to apply for the 2023-2024 grant, the minister noted.
The deadline to submit an expression of interest for the 2023-24 Renovation Expansion Grant is Sept. 15.
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