Anyone with a child attending child care or preschool knows how valuable care providers can be in helping young children learn and grow. Starting today, you can nominate an outstanding child-care provider for an award of excellence.

Nominations for the 2014 Child Care Awards of Excellence are now open. The awards recognize the exceptional contributions made by early childhood educators, licensed family child-care providers, organizations and local governments throughout B.C.

Nominations are being accepted in the following categories:

• Provincial (four awards, including at least one person or facility in a rural or remote community and at least one Aboriginal individual or facility).
• Innovation (two awards).
• Local Government (three awards).
• Leadership (seven awards).

Nominations must be post-marked no later than April 15, 2014. Winners will be announced during Child Care Month in May. For more information on nominations for the 2014 B.C. Child Care Awards of Excellence, visit: www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/childcare/awards/index.htm

Completed nomination packages can be emailed to EarlyYears@gov.bc.ca, faxed to the attention of the Child Care Awards of Excellence at 250 356-0399, or mailed to:

Child Care Awards of Excellence
Ministry of Children and Family Development
Policy and Provincial Services
PO Box 9778 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, B.C. V8W 9S5

Quick Facts:

• The Ministry of Children and Family Development will invest $292 million on child care in 2014-15, a 38% increase since 2000-01.
• Approximately 104,000 licensed child-care spaces are funded in communities around the province.
• Through the B.C. Early Years Strategy, the ministry is investing $32 million over the next two years to create up to 2,000 new licensed child-care spaces throughout the province, with the goal of opening up to 13,000 new spaces over the next eight years.
• The focus will be on supporting the creation of new spaces in underserved areas of the province and on school grounds, where children can smoothly transition from early years programs, to the classroom, to after-school care.
• The ministry will also develop an online child-care registry and waitlist system to offer better information about child-care spaces readily available to parents.
• To make child care more affordable for families, government is introducing the BC Early Childhood Tax Benefit starting in 2015. The benefit will provide $146 million annually to approximately 180,000 families with children under the age of six years (up to $660 a year per child).

Media Contact:

Sheldon Johnson
Media Relations Manager
Ministry of Children and Family Development
250 356-1639