SACDA BLOG
2020 is our year! In only 2 years, the Lights On Afterschool Alberta movement has expanded immensely moving from a few programs in Calgary to a province-wide event!
This year we have monuments lighting up across Alberta! The Calgary Tower in Calgary, the High Level Bridge in Edmonton, the Saamis Tepee in Medicine Hat and the Town Hall in Lethbridge.
School-age care providers across the province will have the opportunity to participate and host events, showing communities why afterschool programs are so important!
Interested in hosting an event or getting your municipality or organization involved? Check out our LOASA page HERE!
You voted for child care, let’s make it happen
Canadians have voted for parties that support providing affordable child care to all.
We want Prime Minister Trudeau to take immediate action on the pledges made by the Liberals, NDP and Green Party. As the Liberal government chooses its cabinet and gives its ministers their mandates, we have a chance to help steer the course of the Trudeau government. They can choose to make this mandate about meeting the child care needs of all.
We’re asking you to write the party leaders now to help them make this choice.
Visit childcareforall.ca and send an email to all federal party leaders urging them to work together to meet the child care needs of all.
A Citywide Strategy for All Children
Can you imagine a Calgary where all kids are supported to reach their fullest potential?
We know the early years have a huge impact on the rest of children’s lives. We want to support children from the prenatal period up to age 8. Overall, our hope is simple. We want a citywide strategy that ensures children are valued, healthy and thriving. With a citywide strategy, Calgary’s children will be able to say:
· I have a healthy body, mind, and spirit
· My family and community make me feel safe and stable
· I am ready to succeed in school and other life settings
We’ve made our best first draft of what this citywide strategy could look like, but know that a plan like this is strongest when it reflects the knowledge, needs, and experiences of the people it aims to support!
So… parents, caregivers, and adults that care about kids… we need YOU! Please take just a few minutes to fill out our survey and tell us about what you feel supports children’s development in Calgary, what hinders or barriers it, and what you feel needs to change! You can fill out the survey at https://forms.gle/zw6Zvf8do19dGE996 or have a digital copy sent to you directly by message research@2000days.ca
Thank you for your input into building a city where all children are valued, healthy and thriving!
Coalitions Collaborating for Impact (CCI) consists of parents, community members, organizations and professionals who are all working together to better the lives of young children and their families. We work hard to support five important developmental areas for children based on the Early Development Instrument. We are always looking for interested parties to join our coalitions.
If you are passionate about children and their future, and would like more information about your closest early childhood coalition visit http://ecdcoalitions.org/ecca-map/
SACDA is looking to expand its membership and grow our community across Alberta. We are looking for communities of school-age care providers, owners, directors, and supporters from every municipality across the province to create chapers or branches of the SACDA organization.
Together we can increase awarness, build a strong, recognized community and focus on improving the quality, affordability and accessability of school-age programs for families across Alberta.
Please contact us if you have an interested group and we can help you set up your chapter or branch today!
The Growth of For-Profit Child Care in Canada
Dec 14, 2018
https://allforchildcare.ca/2018/12/14/the-growth-of-for-profit-child-care-in-canada/
Rapid growth since 2006
For-profit child care—large corporate-type, regional chain and single-owner operations—has grown rapidly in Canada since 2006.
Before 2004, the share of total spaces operated as for-profit entities had been dropping steadily, down to 20 per cent of total spaces by 2004.
After 2006, however, funding for public child care and expansion of spaces stagnated, and the for-profit child care sector across Canada ballooned, increasing its “market share” by 10 per cent. It represented 30 per cent of regulated spaces in 2016.
Provincial/territorial differences
Provinces/territories show substantial differences in the prevalence of for-profit child care, from almost no for-profit provision to almost 80 per cent of full day spaces operating on a for-profit basis.
There are also differences in how for-profit child care is treated for funding purposes. Saskatchewan is the sole province providing no public funds to for-profit child care, and there is almost none in the province. In most other jurisdictions, funding in the form of fee subsidies, operational and sometimes capital funds is available to both the for-profit and non-profit sectors.
In the last decade, there have been substantial differences in expansion rates of for-profit child care among provinces/territories with several showing much or most of their expansion in the for-profit sector, and others showing very little.
Quebec and Manitoba
Quebec and Manitoba both treat the two sectors differently. In Quebec, many garderies (for-profit centres) receive Quebec’s considerable operational funding but somewhat less than non-profits, while Manitoba does not give its operational “unit funding” to for-profits. Quebec has, however, encouraged expansion of unfunded for-profit centres by reimbursing parent-users using a tax credit to cover up to 90% of their child care cost, depending on income. Since this tax credit became available, for-profit child care has grown to represent more than 50 per cent of centre-based child care for 0-4 year olds.
Ontario
Historically, funding for capital and start-up was unavailable to for-profit child care in Ontario, although other funds were available. In recent years, a number of restrictions on funding to for-profits had been set by the Ontario government. However, in 2018, the new Ontario Conservative government removed a number of these restrictions. Many Ontario municipalities (16 of 47 in 2018), which play a significant role in child care, have placed their own restrictions on public funding to for-profits.
“Big-box” child care on the rise
Historically, Canada has had very little corporately-owned or corporate-type child care, compared to other countries with marketized child care, such as Australia, the UK, the US and the Netherlands. Today, however, chains are on the rise in Canada and several large corporate-type child care operators have taken hold.
BrightPath, Busy Bees and Kids and Company
Stock market-traded Bright Path (formerly Edleun) operates 84 centres in Alberta, Ontario and BC. In July 2017, Bright Path was sold to the UK’s biggest child care chain, Busy Bees. Kids & Company, a private (non-stock market-traded) firm, will operate 100 Canadian centres in six provinces and nine US centres in 2019.
Large corporate operators buy small operators and are backed by private investment funds
As in the other market-child care countries, it is not uncommon for large corporate-type operators to buy up small existing regional chains as a means of expansion. As well, “big-box” child care is typically backed by hefty private investment funds that allow rapid expansion. This has been the pattern in other countries and appears to be the case in Canada as well, demonstrated in the last few years by substantial private investment in the two biggest “big-box” firms.
BrightPath Early Learning and Child Care
Edleun Group Inc, Canada’s first publicly-traded child care became BrightPath in 2013
Edleun had begun as 123 Busy Beavers, developed and operated by Australia’s ABC Learning as its Canadian arm
Major venture capital firms and major banks have been investors throughout
Stated goal: 10% of Canadian child care
In 2019, there are 84 BrightPath centres in Ontario (42), BC (9)and Alberta (33); Edleun began with 11 centres in 2010 when it became a publicly-traded firm
BrightPath was sold to the UK’s Busy Bees (majority owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund) in July 2017
In 2017, Singapore-based Temasek bought a substantial share of Busy Bees
Kids and Company
Private Toronto-based company founded 2002
Business model based on “corporate clients” (employers) paying membership fees to facilitate fee-paying parent-employees access to child care
Financially backed by private investors
Advertises full-time, part-time, flexible, backup, enrichment, kindergarten, emergency, drop-in, before& after school, camp, Montessori, specialized art, fitness and literacy curricula, webcams, elder care, nanny placement, birthday party services, babysitting referrals, parenting programs, haircuts and “100s of products and toys” in online shop
Advertises 95 centres, 5 slated to open in early 2019, and 9 in the US
BUDGET Statement for the Minisrty of Child Services
On October 24, 2019, the Honourable Travis Toews, Minister of Treasury Board and Finance introduced Budget 2019.
This budget delivers on our mandate of creating jobs and growing the economy. It protects front-line services and supports for the most vulnerable. It charts a path back to balance through targeted reductions and thoughtful reallocations. It delivers on key promises and was developed through extensive consultation.
Budget 2019 provides $1.6 billion for Children’s Services, an increase of $94 million compared to 2018-19. The expenditure is expected to grow by 15 per cent by 2022-23, compared to 2018-19. This increase aligns with government’s commitment to protect vulnerable Albertans while living within our means.
Funding has increased in areas to ensure safety and well-being for the populations we serve.
Based on voted operating expense, we have increased the Child Intervention budget by $68.5 million and increased funding for Child Care by $15.9 million to address caseload growth. Early Intervention Services for Children and Youth also received an increase of $.75 million to ensure at-risk children, youth and families are able to access services and supports before a crisis occurs, preventing the need for more costly interventions later on. The ministry is aligning our programs and services in this area with the Well-Being and Resiliency Framework to reflect evidence-based practice and a trauma-informed approach to care.
We are working to increase transparency in the way we display the Children’s Services Budget, and for the first time, Policy, Innovation and Indigenous Connections is represented in our budget as a division. Funding for this division decreased by $1.7 million as we re-focused investment on frontline services.
In keeping with our commitment to ensure services and supports are there for those most in need, the government is consolidating the Alberta Child Benefit and the Alberta Family Employment Tax Credit to focus spending on families with greatest need. The new benefit will increase the amount received by low-income families with little or no employment, and will slightly reduce benefits for families with some employment income. It will save money in administration costs and streamline processes.
Our budget charts a path back to balance through targeted reductions and thoughtful reallocations. Each of these changes was made after thorough review and careful consideration of benefits and potential impacts — with our promise in mind — to make sure services and supports are there for those who need them most. It allowed us the opportunity to take feedback from ministry staff and valued community partners on things that weren’t as effective as they could be -- or that no longer reflected the needs of clients across the province. We continue to welcome feedback from partners and invite them to share their valuable insights as we move forward.
Through Budget 2019, we will realize savings in a couple of key areas and lay the groundwork for changes beginning in April 2020. As we move forward, we will be consolidating prevention and early intervention services to align with the Well Being and Resiliency Framework, to improve consistency in expectations, deliverables, service delivery approaches and outcomes across the province.
We made decisions related to non-statutory program delivery and will be terminating or renegotiating some contracts and grants in this area. We will also be eliminating kin child care and stay-at-home subsidies effective January 1, 2020.
Thank you for the work you do — every single day — to keep Alberta’s children and youth safe and provide services and supports that help build stronger, healthier families and communities. I am grateful to have met a number of you over the summer and look forward to ongoing and open conversations across our great province.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Schulz
Minister
MLA Calgary-Shaw
