Families and children in Vancouver are benefiting from more licensed child care spaces, providing more options in the downtown core.

"We are excited that families who are living or working in Vancouver will get to benefit from this new child care centre for years to come,” said Rohini Arora, parliamentary secretary for child care. “These seats are an important addition for the working and single parents, and especially women in this community, who need access to high-quality child care. It represents another strong step forward to build more child care sites in partnership with communities and the federal government, and another step to make access to affordable, quality child care a core service for all British Columbians”

First Baptist Church of Vancouver received more than $464,000 through the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund to create 37 child care spaces. This fund is jointly supported by provincial investments and federal funding under the 2021-22 to 2030-31 Canada-British Columbia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.

“We are delighted to partner with Wind and Tide, a child care provider with over 35 years experience, to provide families with a child care that enables individuals in their early formative years to learn and thrive,” said Suzannah Nacho, pastor, First Baptist Church. “With sandboxes and storytime amid the rooftops of downtown, this space was specifically created to care for the physical, emotional and social needs of children because we believe nurturing our children and families will allow our whole community to flourish.”

The centre is part of a larger restoration and seismic upgrade of the church. The new licensed child care spaces will include 12 spaces for children younger than 36 months and 25 spaces for children 30 months to school age.

“Our beautiful city of Vancouver has expressed a consistent need for affordable child care in the downtown area and we are honoured and overjoyed to be a small part of meeting that need,” said Drew Melton, lead pastor, First Baptist Church. “It is a privilege to be part of the West End community in downtown Vancouver and to continue serving the community through providing fun and welcoming child care in partnership with Wind and Tide.”

Since 2018, ChildCareBC’s accelerated space-creation programs have helped fund the creation of more than 40,900 new licensed child care spaces in B.C., with more than 24,900 of these operational. Funding the creation of new child care spaces is part of the Province’s ChildCareBC plan to build access to affordable, quality and inclusive child care as a core service for families.

Learn More:

For more information about the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, visit:
https://gov.bc.ca/childcare/newspacesfund

For more information about how B.C. is delivering quality and affordable child care to more families in the province, visit: https://gov.bc.ca/childcare

For more information about ChildCareBC, visit: https://gov.bc.ca/childcare