New program aims to fund quick daycare expansion in Nova Scotia

No one needs to tell Mehrad Mohammadkhani how much demand there is for child care in Nova Scotia.

Mohammadkhani, the operator of It Takes AVillage Child Care Centre in Halifax, has the wait-list to prove it.

"There are over 700 people on our wait-list," he told reporters on Wednesday.

It's why Mohammadkhani and his team celebrated the news that they are the first child-care centre approved for the provincial government's new minor infrastructure program. The program provides funding to licensed non-profit centres that can quickly renovate or expand to add spaces. It's part of theCanada-Nova Scotia early learning and child-care agreement.

It Takes AVillage is planning to open a new location in Hammonds Plains in August with space for 78 children. Spots will first beoffered to people already on the centre's wait-list. Mohammadkhani said they will hire at least 12 moreearly childhood educators for the new site.

A need for more spaces

The cost of construction and renovations should be covered by the $275,000 they're receiving from the province, he said.

Education Minister Becky Druhan told reporters that program applications for areas that are historically underserved or are experiencing population booms are getting priority for approval.

"We know that the Hammonds Plains area is an area that is in need of child care, both for the community and surrounding community," she told reporters.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill welcomed the news, but said there needs to be much more.

Lobbying Ottawa

He said the lack of available child-care spaces affects the province's ability to attract and retain residents. Churchill said the government's goal of doubling the population by 2060 will not work unless the necessary services are in place to accommodate that kind of growth.

One step Druhan is taking to try to increase the numberof spaces in the province is lobbying the federal government to allow financial support for expansion to also be extended to licensed private child-care centres.

Druhan has written to her federal counterpart, Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds, and she said conversations continue about what might be possible.

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