Stony Mountain’s new childcare facility is almost ready to open its doors to eager youngsters and their families.
The provincial government provided a capital funding grant to develop new child-care spaces, included the new prefabricated 74-space childcare centre that will be located on the former curling club property.
The new facility will be the third location for Stony Mountain Child Care Center, which currently operates an infant and preschool program near the school as well as a junior kindergarten and school-age program in the curling club space.
Co-director Jennifer Joel said construction of the new facility began in October with foundation work.
“The build started Nov. 20, and within three days it was standing,” she said. “The children from our existing program enjoyed watching the process.”
Sewer and water work began recently, and Joel said it looks like they’re completing the finishing touches inside.
“They are estimating April 29 as the completion date. Once the building is complete, there are many inspections that have to be completed before we can start to open our doors,” she said.
“South Interlake Planning first has to give their approval and then all the licensing requirements from the Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care Program have to be met.”
Once it’s fully operational, the new facility will add 20 new infant spaces and 54 pre-school spaces.
“This new centre allows us to provide the families in our community better access to quality child care,” Joel said.
“It will create more job opportunities as well. Families, when looking to move to a community, check the availability of child care.”
Stony Mountain Child Care Center will need to hire more qualified early learning educators to launch the program.
“Staffing will determine when and how many spaces we will open. There is a shortage of qualified early childhood educators (ECEs) in Manitoba and across Canada. It can take 18 months to two years to complete the training needed to be-come qualified,” Joel said.
“We have always encouraged our team to continue with their education. We currently have three in school working towards their ECE 2 and several more working on their ECE 3.”
Through the provincial government initiative, the RM of Rockwood needs to hold ownership of the facility and provide 15 years at zero-rent lease.
“We are grateful that the Rockwood municipality has given us the opportunity to operate this expansion project in Stony Mountain,” Joel said.
“They have committed to early learning and recognize the importance it has in our community. “
Anyone who would like to apply to work at the new childcare centre can send their resumé to smccc@hotmail.ca. Families can add their name to Stony Mountain Child Care Center’s existing waitlist by emailing to the centre.
Fundraising efforts are also underway, Joel added.
“We are hosting an online 50/50 Building Brighter Futures raffle to help us purchase the needed equipment to open the new program. Manitoba Early Learning and Care Program does provide us with some funding to purchase materials but not enough to fully equip the program,” she said.
“We also are running a Glenlea Greenhouse spring online fundraiser as well.”
For more information about Stony Mountain Child Care Center, including its fundraisers, visit stonymountainchildcare.ca or check out the organization’s Facebook page.
