Ottawa looking to improve two city-run childcare centres after report finds shortfalls

Two childcare centres are on the City of Ottawa's radar for needing some improvements in order to meet council’s mandate for Municipal Child Care Centres.

The Centre éducatif Pinocchio (“Pinocchio) in New Edinburgh/Rockcliffe Park and Foster Farm Child Care Centre near Pinecrest are the two centres that the city will focus on in an effort to bring both centres up to snuff, the community and protective service committee will hear Thursday.

A review from the city found that Pinocchio — one of two Francophone centres — did not meet council’s mandate because it was not serving families who face various barriers and systemic challenges, as well as providing the availability of other community providers in the service area.

In order to meet council’s mandate, a centre had to score a minimum of 70 per cent, and Pinocchio was the only centre to score below the minimum at 34 per cent.

City analysis looked at how 10 of its centres serve families who face various barriers and systemic challenges, and community child care capacity in priority neighbourhoods.

Pinocchio is also a leased space which contributed to the operational challenges such as negotiating lease costs and landlord requirements.

Outside of the mandate analysis, however, one significant operational concern also needed to be addressed at the Foster Farm Child Care Centre — although, it did score 84 per cent in the analysis.

“While this centre does serve a high number of families in receipt of fee subsidies it has significant operational challenges with the physical space in a leased aging apartment building,” the report details.

It, too, is located in a leased space in an aging apartment building.

This means any retrofits that need to be done to meet current regulations will result in more investments. If this space were to undergo renovations in the future, it would most likely cost long service disruptions to the program, the reports says.

To ensures municipal child care centres continue to align to council’s mandate, staff recommend council approve the transition of Pinocchio's child care services and reinvest the funding to a high needs area based on the Child Care and Early Years Service System Plan 2019-2023, evidence based data, availability of land and space, budget and other data as applicable.

This, the report says, would align with the Thriving Communities priority area in Ottawa’s plan to invest in child care services to improve accessibility, affordability, quality and responsiveness of child care services across all city wards.

“The Municipal Child Care Centres offer access to high quality, affordable and responsive programming across the city, prioritizing families who require a fee subsidy,” the report says.

“Providing access to these families reduces poverty and gender inequalities and fosters a sense of belonging for families facing various barriers, such as new immigrants, sole support parents (80% women), families who are low income and children with special needs.”

To fix these issues, the report recommends that council direct staff to develop a business case and capital funding plan to facilitate the transition of Pinocchio to a high needs area and to address the operational challenges at Foster Farm.

To minimize the impacts on families and staff, service at both facilities will continue until the business care and funding plan is approved by council and the services “can be seamlessly transitioned,” which isn't expected to be completed until the end of 2022.

According to the report, 387 toddler and preschool spaces are made available at the 10 city-run centres located across the city.

This represents about three per cent of all licensed centre-based spaces for toddlers and preschoolers in Ottawa.

Once the report recommendations are approved by council, staff will start to assess opportunities and plan for items like a new locations in a high needs area, building/renovating, consulting with stakeholders, meeting licensing conditions, considering costs and capital funding and how to seamlessly transition services.