Child Care Support Program
The Trust’s Child Care Support Program supports the creation of new child care spaces in the Basin by providing equipment funding to facilities that are adding new spaces, along with initiatives to support Early Childhood Educator recruitment and retention.
Since 2017, the Trust’s Child Care Support Program helped:
- create 1,673 new child care spaces
- provide $7.2 million in funding for 465 projects to improve 3,600 child care spaces
- certify and train more than 320 Early Childhood Educators
- enhance the wages of an annual average of 360 Early Childhood Educators
- support five Basin-wide professional development conferences for Early Childhood Educators.
Child Care Grants
Child Care Grants support the purchase and installation of specialized child care equipment that contributes to the development of new child care spaces within existing or expanding facilities. The program does not fund capital construction or renovation costs.
Contact childcaresupport@ourtrust.org for details and how to apply.
Early Childhood Educator Wage Subsidy Program
The Early Childhood Educator Wage Subsidy Program helps strengthen the Early Childhood Educator (ECE) workforce by providing a $3 per hour wage subsidy to enhance the wages of eligible ECEs employed by licensed child care facilities in the Columbia Basin Trust region.
Click here to learn more.
Early Childhood Educator Training Wage Program
The Early Childhood Educator Training Wage Program helps strengthen the Early Childhood Educator (ECE) workforce by providing a training wage grant to ECE Assistants (ECEAs) and certified ECEs, employed by licensed child care facilities in the Basin, to support them to complete and/or upgrade their ECE qualifications.
Applications are open. Click here to learn more.
Other Support for Early Childhood Educators
- Non-profit childcare providers can access a range of resources to grow the capacity of their organizations through the Trust’s Non-Profit Advisors Program. Learn more at ourtrust.org/npa.
- For-profit child care providers can access advice tailored to their business needs to support growth and efficiency through the Basin Business Advisors Program. Learn more at ourtrust.org/bba.
- Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRRs) programs can share information to help child care providers access available funding programs, open a licensed child care facility, connect with licensing officials, and access professional development opportunities. CCRRs exist in communities across the Basin, including:
- CCRR West Kootenay (based in Nelson, satellite locations in New Denver and Nakusp)
- Revelstoke CCRR
- Kootenay-Columbia CCRR (based in Trail)
- Southeast Kootenay CCRR (based in Cranbrook)
- Rocky Mountain CCRR (based in Golden)
- The Early Childhood Educators of BC (ECEBC), in partnership with the Province of British Columbia provides a broad range of professional development opportunities, training and resources including the ECE Education Support Fund. To learn more visit www.ecebc.ca.
- The Kootenay Childcare Initiative is a two-year program dedicated to strengthening childcare services across the beautiful Kootenay region of British Columbia funded by the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program (REDIP). To learn more visit Kootenay Child Care Initiative | Community Enhancement Project.
- For a full listing of ChildCareBC programs, visit ChildCareBC programs – Province of British Columbia
