Growing Minds in Niverville opened its new facility at the high school on July 20. The soft opening was for a limited number of children due to the current situation with COVID-19.
The not-for-profit childcare facility has been operating in Niverville since its first location at the Heritage Centre in September 2008. At that time, it was licensed for 52 children, although they quickly expanded to include 127 spaces for infants and preschool-aged children. Upon launching a program for school-age children, Growing Minds opened a second location on Main Street.
“Based on the number of daily calls and emails we receive, as well as our extensive wait list, we recognized a great need in the community for additional space,” says Rhonda Kenning, executive director of Growing Minds. “The new high school location presented a great opportunity for us to expand the business and continue to provide quality care to the community.”
Across the three locations now operated by Growing Minds, they now host 82 spots at the Heritage Centre for children between three months and five years, 45 spots on Main Street for children six to twelve years old, and 74 spots at the Niverville High School for children between three months and five years.
Growing Minds says they have enjoyed an extremely supportive relationship with the Town of Niverville and all their spots are licensed under the provincial government. They are supported financially by the generosity of the community as well as funding provided by parent fees and allotments from the provincial government.
Provinces Proposes Eliminating Parent Fee Cap
While funding for childcare spaces has remained the same, the province recently revealed that they are considering changes to nursery school programming. These changes could include the cancellation of the enhanced nursery grant, a program which provides financial support to nursery programs and enables parent fees to be set at $5 per day. The province is also considering lifting the cap on parent fees to allow unlicensed childcare operators to raise their fees.
“We are keeping up with the current happenings in the childcare field,” says Kenning. “Although the elimination of nursery school funding does not impact us directly, the proposed changes to removing the cap on parent fees could have a devastating effect not only on families but on centres as well.”
Kenning explains that childcare centre are under pressure to increase their income in an effort to raise employee wages to more market-competitive levels. She says the environment being created by the province will certainly increase the competition between centres already impacted by a shortage of early childhood educators.
“Now more than ever, it is imperative that the Government of Manitoba recognize the importance of early childhood education and the important role it plays in supporting families and our economy,” she says. “A well-funded public system is of the utmost importance.”
But Kenning adds that now is actually a good time for families looking for infant or preschool age care to inquire about open spots. Although Growing Minds has always had a very long wait list, there may be openings for the high school location, since many families are not yet ready to return to their formal childcare arrangements due to COVID-19, creating openings.
“Families [may not be] ready to return to care, or their situations due to COVID simply do not permit them to commit to a space at this time,” says Kenning of the exceptional childcare situation in Manitoba.
