A group of moms frustrated by the lack of child care in the Centre Wellington community have taken it upon themselves to create some.
“We are truly a grassroots organization – a few moms in the CW community, frustrated with the lack of quality care for our children who found each other and decided to do something about it,” wrote Holly Sullivan in an email to EloraFergusToday.
Sullivan is part of the board of directors for Centre Wellington Child Care Co-op, along with Jocelyn Alves, Pauline Frazer, Erin Lind and Brittany McFatridge.
“We are all moms with young kids who struggled to find child care,” Sullivan said.
The path to create some is not short, but the group is in the process of securing a lease for a location in Fergus, and hopes to eventually be able to open a second location in the same town.
“We’ve been working on this project for over a year,” said Sullivan, adding the organization is now registered as a non-profit co-operative corporation, and is “making huge strides” toward opening its first location.
That location will offer 16 full-time licensed spaces, but applications for part-time spaces will also be accepted, “so long as we can match the needs of two families to fill the equivalent of a full-time space,” she said.
Sullivan did not provide a specific timeline for opening up, but encouraged people to follow the co-op’s social media account to get updates.
In a March 18 Facebook post, the organization said it was looking for an architect to create a site plan for its first location.
“It’s a fairly small project and we’d love to work with someone local,” the post said.
Sullivan said the post generated a response from several architects, and the co-op hopes to have plans drawn up soon.
The plans are part of the process of applying for a licence through the Ministry of Education, which also requires a submission of policies and procedures for the child care centre, she said.
Following a vision that includes providing access to high-quality, safe, affordable child care in the community, the co-op will aim to include families in creating the child care they want.
“Each family whose child attends our child care centre is a member of the co-op with voting rights as well as the responsibility to contribute their time and skills to keep the centre running,” said Sullivan. “We are really trying to create not just a safe daycare for our children, but a supportive community for their families.”
The co-op’s first location has been approved by the County of Wellington, the service manager for child care in Guelph and the county, for the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system, Sullivan said.
The system, often referred to as $10-a-day child care, will allow the centre to offer reduced fees, as well as providing access to operational grants, and start-up grants.
But Sullivan said the co-op is also fundraising to help cover start-up costs.
People can support the centre through purchases on Mabel’s Labels, a popular company that provides name labels for clothing and school supplies.
The county’s director of children’s early years division Mandy Koroniak said the new child care centre will increase child care access rates in the township only slightly.
“In Centre Wellington, the current access rate for full-time licensed, centre-based child care for children from birth to age four is 15.1 per cent,” Koroniak said in an email.
With the 16-space centre that has been approved under the CWELCC system, the access rate would increase to 16.3%, she said, noting the numbers are based on population data from the 2021 census.
Sullivan has no doubt that the need is there.
“We absolutely anticipate filling our spaces and having a wait list right away,” she said.
