The families of more than 100 Penticton children will rest easy knowing they’ve secured a much-coveted childcare spot in the years ahead, and more are expected to come.
The Edmonton Avenue Childcare centre officially opened on Friday in Penticton. OneSky Community Resources will operate the centre and will provide 116 licensed infant-toddler and school-aged spaces. Spaces at the centre however filled up fast as it is almost at capacity.
“When I think about the importance of child care right now, people need to participate in the workforce and without child care, it does make it challenging when you have little kids,” said OneSky executive director Tanya Behardien.
“I recognize the importance of it, especially before school age, so I really commend all of our partners for their efforts in trying to meet the needs of the community.”
Penticton mom Shelby Alexander was quick to put her name on all the local child-care waitlists early on in her pregnancy.
It took over a year before Alexander finally received a call that she had secured one of the over-100 spots at the new facility.
“My husband and I are both full-time, working professionals and like many young families, we were very aware of the childcare crisis across the province,” said Alexander.
“I laughed and I cried, and I kept telling people, I felt like I was winning the lottery because it was just so incredible to get into such a beautiful centre and have it so close to home and knowing that I could go back to work full time.”
The centre is a part of the City of Penticton’s goal of creating 722 spaces by 2030.
According to the city, it is on track to have met 60 per cent of the targeted spaces by 2024, which includes the introduction of after-school care by School District 67.
“I want to start off by thanking the parents of the children that came to city council years ago, all that time ago and told us about their struggles for child care,” said Penticton Mayor Julius Bloomfield.
“It really spurred the council into action at that time and we formed and initiated a Penticton child care plan.”
The province funded 77 spaces by providing $1.95 million in capital spending and the remaining spaces came from a $1 million contribution from the Union of BC Municipalities.
“The Penticton Child Care Action Plan set out clear targets that we need to ensure child care needs are being met in our community, and today’s announcements are another step towards meeting our goals,” said Bloomfield in the press release.
“A key part of the plan is creating partnerships that help create needed spaces and we’re seeing that in action.”
The city also announced on Friday a new partnership with YMCA of the Southern Interior for the expansion of the Community Centre that will add 80 more childcare spaces in Penticton.
This includes 12 spaces for children under 3 years old, 44 spaces for children 3 years old to kindergarten age and 24 spaces for school-aged children.
Funding for the Power Street Child Care project is being supported with a $2.2-million provincial grant.
“Opening new centres means that families get to go back to work, means that women can get back to work. And It not only means excellent care for our children, it means so much to our economy and so much to women in the workforce,” said YMCA Community Programs manager Shelley Hunt.
“We’re excited to be a part of something like that and grateful to be here.”
Meanwhile, the new 7,500-square-foot, stand-alone child-care centre on Edmonton Avenue offers outdoor play areas, six child-care rooms, kitchen equipment, office spaces, and storage rooms.
“They do arts and crafts and sensory experiences, and they play in the sand and in the water all day,” said Alexander.
“I just feel so grateful to have a place where we can feel confident in leaving our children and a place that we can really trust and to have such a phenomenal staff that really care for our children as if they were their own.”
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