On December 1, The YMCA of Northern BC took over at the Tumbler Ridge Children’s Centre Society (TRCCS).
The same day, they announced that the site is approved for $10-a-day daycare.
The $10-a-day plan came into effect last year as part of the Federal Government’s promise to invest $3.2 billion into childcare in BC over the next five years.
This should, according to the BC Government, reduce the fees parents are paying by an average of half.
According to Lynette Mikalishen, Director of Child Care Services for the YMCA of Northern BC, she is “super excited” to be taking over the centre. “It will now be called the YMCA Care and Learning Center in Tumbler Ridge,” says Mikalishen. “It will have a new name, but there is a lot of history with the board members and people with their children and all of those types of things. That have kept the centre alive and well for a long time. So, you know, that’s a credit to all of those people that were doing that for many years off the side of their desks, and we’re hoping to keep some of that in place. I think it takes a village you know. We have partnerships in places like Vanderhoof. It was everybody working together that that makes those places possible and I don’t want people to think ‘okay, the Y is here, they’ll fix everything.’ The Y is here as a part of your community and we need to work together to create programs and services that meet the unique needs of Tumbler Ridge.”
In early summer, Mikalishen began working in consultation with the TRCCS Board to identify possible solutions to child care challenges faced by the community. In August, the YMCA supported the Society with their application to the $10/day child care program, which was approved in November.
She says the introduction of $10-a-day daycare in Tumbler Ridge will be very helpful for local parents. “The most families will pay for childcare is $10 a day, or $200 a month,” she says. “Some people will pay zero because they would be entitled to the affordable childcare benefit. To me is the number one good news story is the significance of $10 a day for families. I’ve been passionate for a while about it, but I can tell you that with the current cost of living and inflation, I’m more excited than ever to be able to announce that it’s life changing for families.”
She’s also pleased with the strong staff the centre has already. “What made this makes sense for us is, first and foremost, the current staff and the current board members and all the support that they’ve given to us, as well as knowing the needs in Tumbler Ridge. I’ve been really appreciative of them coming forward and saying, ‘Hey, Lynette, would you come out, because Tumbler is having a really tough time,’ and that’s really what started it.”
The plan is to make the space even better. “Moving forward, we have 25 spaces that are currently available for ages three to five and 16 preschool spaces to begin with. We are working in partnership with the school district to see potentially around other new spaces and of course school aged care and all those other things but this is the first big step and we are excited to be taking that step with the current staff.”
Over the coming months, the centre will be adding in the YMCA’s national curriculum. “We think that they’ll be super excited about most stuff. There are training opportunities, so they can grown their professional knowledge and fill their cups. It’s really tough to be a care provider. You’re constantly caring for those little people and their families. And so I look forward to being able to support and give back to the people that are doing that great work as well.”
As they are able to bring on new staff, Mikalishen is hoping that one of the big changes will be more staff and smaller groups of children. “We are certainly looking to recruit qualified educators or people who are interested in pursuing their Early Childhood Education. I think you will see the YMCA working hard to attract people to Early Care and Learning so that we can expand spaces for the community. If you imagine a class of 25, sitting at a circle or during a story or playing together, the volume of that noise is crazy. The plan is to have a class of eight playing outside, a class of eight inside and another eight, say, bowling in the hallway. The philosophy about small groups is so important, because it allows the educators to build stronger relationships with children. So I think you’ll see that over the coming months for sure.”
As well, the plan is to bring in some new equipment. “Some of the pieces of equipment have aged out. Covid has been hard on things in childcare especially, with all the cleaning and bleach and everything else, and we hope to bring in new pieces as well. We want to create a home-like environment for the staff and students.
Another change will be around documentation. “We believe in capturing children’s interests. If you are a parent coming into the center, within the first few months, you would start to see documentation around your child’s interests, and how we program for that. We base all of our programming on our observations of children and just trying to help them learn through what they’re truly interested in and then, you know, really scaffold and extend those interests into higher levels of learning.”
One of the things the TRCCS has been working on for the last few years is getting a new, larger space, something the YMCA has been doing around the north. “We have partnered on new spaces in two locations in Fort St. John, in three locations in Prince George, as well as in Vanderhoof. We partnered with somebody else for space in Fort St. James, and are currently building 12 Infant Toddler spaces in Chetwynd in partnership with Northern Lights with the same grant. We are excited to bring that knowledge and expertise to the table. School District 59 is our partner and we are working on that together. So for sure that will be happening in the background. But I think what’s really important is there’s the immediate pieces and there’s the long term pieces and then how do we work to bridge those? It would be terrible for me to come in and promise the moon, then not be able to reach that, but that’s certainly our goal. I know that when we went into Chetwynd, it was very much the same situation. We had been approached by the parent childcare society and they had asked if we would be interested. They felt they had done their very best, but that we could better in terms of supporting their educators in their learning. We started in Chetwynd in 2019, and despite Covid and everything else that’s happened this last spring it was announced that we were receiving the funding in partnership with Northern Lights for those spaces. My hope is it will be the same in Tumbler and those funding opportunities will continue to grow and be available. Both the federal and the provincial government appear to be truly committed to a universal childcare system, and I’m committed to ensuring every child and family in the north that wants childcare has childcare of their choice.”
What about the current board? “We’d love to have parents involved,” says Mikalishen, “but we also know that parents are busy people. So really what happens to the board beyond the next year or so, once we really take root and they feel they’ve done what they can to ensure a smooth process…well, that will really be up to them. I think it will depend on the community. How many people are wanting to stay involved. I personally love the idea of having a parent advisory council, having family members involved. Childcare is not really just about the children. It is about working with families as partners, but I can’t really speak on behalf of the board.”
Amanda Wamsteeker, chair of the board says the current plan is to dissolve the board once everything is up and running. “Following the smooth transfer of licensing and programming to the YMCA and the establishment of the YMCA Tumbler Ridge Care and Learning Centre, the TRCCS Board will no longer be a necessary entity to continue to provide services for childcare and early childhood education in Tumbler Ridge,” she says. “The TRCCS Board will continue working closely, for however long needed, with the YMCA to ensure Tumbler Ridge children continue to be set up for success. Once everything has been transferred to the YMCA Tumbler Ridge Care and Learning Centre, the TRCCS Board intends to dissolve.”
She says the board has spent a long time keeping the centre going. “The TRCCS Board has been fundraising and supporting the successful operation of early childhood education and licensed childcare for almost three decades,” she says. “Countless volunteer hours have been dedicated, resulting in this success. TRCCS is a small community-based non-profit organization, requiring continued fundraising to ensure they could provide the best educational toys and games, professional development for staff, replacement of end-of-life equipment, etc., along with the operating costs to run and maintain a quality Childcare Facility for the children and families of Tumbler Ridge.”
But while the board will dissolve, that does not mean there is no room for parents to be involved. “It is critical to emphasize that the need to continue to volunteer and contribute to the YMCA Tumbler Ridge Care and Learning Centre remains as important as when this amazing community supported the TRCCS for multiple decades. Parents and community members are strongly encouraged to continue to volunteer their time and resources to continue to provide for our Tumbler Ridge children. We, the current TRCCS volunteer board of directors, are still active members of the Tumbler Ridge volunteer community, and looking forward to continuing our volunteer work and advocacy for the highest level of education and childcare our town’s children can receive, alongside many other boards and volunteer organizations we sit on. While the TRCCS won’t be a registered entity after the YMCA is fully up and running, our members past and present are still in the community working hard to continue to make Tumbler Ridge the amazing place it is to live, and raise our families. We would like to extend a thank you, to the staff, board, volunteers, and donors past and present, who without you, none of those 27 years would have been possible.”
The largest fundraising event for the TRCCS, the annual Small Business Christmas Party, happens this Saturday.
Mikalishen says the YMCA of Northern BC is in the process to join forces with the YMCA of Greater Vancouver, and the YMCA in Kamloops to become a province-wide organization. “This will help us leverage strengths,” she says. “When you’re a really tiny small organization, you don’t have expertise. You don’t have HR. With a larger organization, funds can be shared, and you can hire across a broader area. This becomes more cost effective. I think that’s one of our strengths. We’re even part of a national federation. The YMCA has the people who develop and do the research on best practice in childcare. We get to tap into what they create, into staff training to help our staff get better together. People are better together and that is true of the YMCA as well. Giving those other people resources is so refreshing. And I think that’s a piece of the professional development that the YMCA will bring to Tumbler Ridge: that they’ll be connecting with people from all over Canada.
Still, space is limited in Tumbler Ridge, and Mikalishen says parents will have to visit the YMCA website to be put on the waiting list (nbc.ymca.ca, under childcare). “I want to encourage families to start to use those systems. It just makes the whole process fair and transparent, and allows us to best meet people’s needs.”
Amanda Wamsteeker and Erin Pichurski sit on the TRCCS Board, and released a joint statement.
“The TRCCS has been supporting the Tumbler Ridge community for their child care and early childhood learning needs for over 27 years,” says the letter. “Without the dedication and time of the TRCCS Board and parent volunteers, and donations from Tumbler’s supportive local businesses, industry partners, grant writers, and the DTR, over the decades, operations would not have been possible. We are proud of what we have accomplished as a non-profit, parent-volunteer driven board, operating a safe, caring, licensed facility for several generations of Tumbler Ridge’s families. As the community has evolved and additional challenges have emerged, the TRCCS has been grateful the YMCA has offered to step in and is bringing expertise and experience to our community to ensure that Tumbler Ridge continues to have safe and licensed child care and early learning education. We leave our children in the safe, caring, and capable hands of the YMCA and look forward to what the future holds for child care in our community.
The TRCCS Board would like to thank all of our staff and volunteers past and present for their dedication to providing quality child care to the families of Tumbler Ridge.”
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.