Goderich Getting 88 New Child Care Spaces

by Bob Montgomery

Huron County's Manager of Ontario Works and Children's Services had some good news for county council last week.

Cheryl Patience announced that a for-profit agency with centres in several locations throughout Ontario is interested in starting up in Goderich, and potentially in other communities in Huron County. Patience says EYEs Child Care has twenty five locations in Ontario, the closest being in Ilderton, and they hope to have 88 new spaces opened up in Goderich by the end of this year. The county is issuing 300-thousand dollars in start-up funding to help with the initial costs.

Patience says they had to commit to a targeted growth plan with the Ministry of Education to create new child care spaces. “Goderich was one of the targeted areas, as well as Clinton and Exeter, and then some of our under-serviced regions, such as Hullett and Howick, so they have been referencing our targeted growth areas and are going to start off with Goderich as their first location and see where it goes from there.” She adds, she believes they’re interested in some fairly rapid growth in Ontario, based on their business model.

Patience says the Federal and Provincial government issued money to the county to flow out to interested providers so they can get their licences and create those new spaces. That money has been approved by the county and once the licensing has been completed and the buildings are ready, they'll complete the servicing agreement, hopefully before the end of the year.