Funding Announced to Support Child Care Sector

The Provincial Government has provided $30,000 to the Early Childhood Educators Human Resource Council to assist in finalizing a human resource manual and providing training workshops for the child care sector.

“We are pleased to provide this important funding to the child care sector,” said the Honourable Charlene Johnson, Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services. “Our government values early childhood educators and is committed to providing support and resources to recruit and retain more of these qualified professionals in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

The funding will support the council to format, print and distribute the human resource manual as well as conduct training workshops. The workshops will be a pilot project in two regions of the province, with the regions to be determined in consultation with the Early Childhood Educators Human Resource Council. An evaluation of the pilot project will inform the 10-Year Early Learning and Child Care Strategy as it continues to be finalized.

“The completion and presentation of the human resource manual will contribute to the recruitment and retention of early childhood educators in regulated child care by supporting a positive workplace environment,” said Margaret Morgan, a member of the Early Childhood Educators Human Resource Council. “I would like to thank the Provincial Government for their generous contribution, as this project would not have been possible without its support.”

The Early Childhood Educators Human Resource Council is a volunteer, incorporated organization comprising representatives from key stakeholder groups within the early childhood sector. The council’s mandate is to increase recruitment to the child care workforce and to improve the retention of qualified early childhood educators in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Budget 2011 Standing Strong: For Prosperity. For Our Future. For Newfoundland and Labrador affirms the Provincial Government’s funding commitment to children, youth and families with an additional $9.2 million investment in the department, bringing the total investment to $33 million in just two years. The total budget for child care is $26.5 million.

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2011 07 29                                                                      10:40 a.m.