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"That noise tells me there's learning going on in a number of ways all around us as we speak," Shirley Bond, MLA for Prince George-Mount Robson, told more than 50 people gathered for a ceremony to open the expanded facility providing 88 new preschool child care spaces. Pointing out the long-term significance of the learning centre, Bond said one in four children arriving at school "are not developmentally ready." "The implications of that on them finishing high school are much less," said Bond, who is education minister. The upstairs portion of the 6,000-square -foot facility houses the Child Care Resource and Referral Centre which serves eight municipal communities and 12 aboriginal communities within the region. The centre provides parents and child care providers with child care information and referrals as well as resources such as a lending toy library, training, access and assistance with the B.C. Child Care Subsidy Program. The YMCA has operated CCRR since the early 1990s, and earlier this year had some anxious moments when $454 million of federal funding for child care was pulled back when the Conservatives came to power. It all happened at the time a decision had been made to move the Prince George CCRR centre into the Y's new childcare addition. Officials thought they may be left holding the bag, but the provincial government filled the funding gap and plans went ahead. Linda Reid, B.C. Minister of State for Child Care, said the province is now allocating $9 annually for child care resource and referral centres. Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley praised the YMCA for its 250 volunteers that contribute 15,000 hours per year, and its philosophy of never turning a child away due to inability to pay. In 2006, the Prince George YMCA served 3,000 children aged three months to 12 years in pre school and after school care of which 32 per cent were subsidized. The $1.2 million centre was built with funds totalling $500,000 from the province and $700,000 from the YMCA whose partners include the City of Prince George (land lease), Success by Six ($10,000), Rotary clubs ($6,000), and Terasen employees foundation ($5,000).
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