Invited officials, fellow childcare centre directors, and co-partner agencies gathered at the new location of the Northwest Child Development Centre (679 Hall St. West) to officially cut the ribbon for the new facility on Mar. 10.
The centre has nearly doubled it's childcare availability with the expansion, moving from a 39-space facility to a 79-space facility, and increased it's staff from nine members to 22.
Crystal Kober-McCubbing, director at the centre, was thrilled to finally welcome delegates to see the new facility, which she and her staff moved into back in November after extensive renovations to make the building suit their needs.
“If you had seen our old centre, [everyone here] is ecstatic. We have triple the square-footage, double the space, twice the kids and staff, and amazing natural light,” said Kober-McCubbing. “I'm just excited to showcase all we've done. It was a lot of work.”
In March of last year, the provincial government announced it would be providing funding for more childcare spaces across the province, in communities that exhibit a need. The Northwest Child Development Centre received $282,000 from the Ministry of Education to assist with their expansion.
Using that funding, the centre was able to move into a building that is triple the size of their previous space. The new facility offers more space to accommodate more children’s needs, including a larger play area, kitchen, bathrooms, offices, library, and more storage.
”A tremendous amount of work has gone into the planning and building of this space and its certainly something to be proud of,” said MLA Greg Lawrence, Moose Jaw-Wakamow. “It's a great facility for the families here in our fine city of Moose Jaw.”
Kober-McCubbing is grateful to have been the recipient of provincial funding, as the centre was in need of updating.
“There is a huge need in Moose Jaw for childcare,” said Kober-McCubbing. “I feel that we were blessed to get this one-time shot from the government, [where] they had a little bit of money that they wanted to put back into the community and we were the lucky ducks who got it.”
All 75 childcare spots at the Northwest Child Development Centre have already been filled, which Kober-McCubbing is happy to see, as the centre had previously always had a waitlist.
