Since 1981, YWCA BC has owned and operated child care and early learning centres. Over the years, child care has grown into one of our advocacy pillars as we know increasing access to quality, affordable child care has lasting impact for families.
Today, we are witnessing something unprecedented in the child care landscape: intentional, long-term housing with licensed child care spaces attached. With this thoughtful advancement, we are excited to open our first child care centre in 30 years at YWCA Cindy Beedie Place, one of our newest housing communities in Burnaby.
This new child care centre will serve 37 new families with priority placement offered to families living at YWCA Cindy Beedie Place, bringing YWCA BC’s total licensed spaces to 134. Of the 134 spaces, 84 spaces are designated as infant toddler.
Timeline for our child care programs:
- Granny Y’s (1981; closed 1995)
- Emma's Early Learning and Child Care Centre (1983)
- Crabtree Corner Early Learning and Child Care Centre (1984)
- Citygate Early Learning and Child Care Centre (1995)
- Leslie Diamond Early Learning and Child Care Centre (1996)
- YWCA Child Care at Cindy Beedie Place (2026)
We have been licensed and have applied for the provincial Child Care Operating Funding, Early Childhood Educator Wage Enhancement and Child Care Fee Reduction, all of which will help us cover some operational costs and reduce family fees. Once we have been approved, we will start the registration process. We hope to be operational in early June, and more details will be available at ywcabc.org.
We are grateful to Cindy Beedie, who inspired and envisioned this project seven years ago, and to the Rock’n the Park attendees who generously donated to this project. We also recognize the contributions of BC Housing’s Women’s Transition Housing Fund, ChildCareBC’s New Spaces Fund, City of Burnaby and an anonymous donor. We are thankful to NSDA Architects and VanMar Contractors Inc. who made this 58,893 square foot residential space and 4,873 square foot child care space a reality!
For information on how you can support our free, drop-in child care centre at YWCA Crabtree Corner on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, please contact Josh Hardwick at 604 895 5823 or jhardwick@ywcabc.org.
