The government is investing $249,998 under the BC Early Years Strategy to create 12 new regular spaces for infants and toddlers and 41 new regular spaces for three- to five-year-old children at the Little Koala Montessori Childcare facility in Abbotsford.
“Little Koala Montessori Childcare started its business in 2008 caring for 10 children. Now it has centres in Richmond and Surrey serving 41 and 50 families respectively,” said Xiao Juan Ren, owner of Little Koala Montessori Childcare.
“The funding will help us tremendously in setting up our new facility in Abbotsford which allows us to provide quality service to the families in the area.”
In January 2015, the provincial government encouraged childcare providers to apply for the second round of major capital funding to create new licensed child-care spaces throughout B.C. These new spaces are part of the government’s commitment to support the creation of more than 2,000 new spaces by March 2016.
The provincial government is now in the process of working with childcare providers to sign project agreements that include the specific requirements that providers have identified for each site, such as the need to lease or buy property, obtain local zoning permits and hire contractors to renovate the sites. In the case of Little Koala Montessori Childcare, construction on the new child-care spaces is expected to begin in June and be completed in August 2015.