Riverdale Community Daycare needs your help
- Details
- Published on Thursday, September 14, 2017
By Kaitlyn Senkbeil
Co-Chairperson
The board of directors for Riverdale Community Daycare Inc. (RCDI) would like to ask the public’s assistance in contacting our local government to advocate for our daycare.
The previous NDP government had given approval for our project to take on its beginning stages; however, we received disappointing news from the current conservative government on May 3, 2017. As previously announced in September 2016, funding for the daycare was being put on hold until the project was reviewed by a newly-appointed Treasury Board. A decision was made by that board to indefinitely defer the funding for our planned 32-spot licensed daycare facility that would be located in Rivers Collegiate Institute. We received this notification on May 3 and since then, have been working with local government and advocating (ourselves) for the continued need for our daycare facility. Attached is a letter sent to Scott Fielding, minister of families, by RCDI regarding our general progression.
My name is Tanya Beaulé and I am one of the co-chairpersons of Riverdale Community Daycare Inc. Funding for a 32-spot licensed daycare facility based out of Rivers Collegiate Institute (RCI) was approved through the previous provincial NDP government. Last September the planning process had been completed and all tenders had been submitted. The successful tender had been unofficially chosen, even though the contract had not yet been officially offered.
There are three empty classrooms ready for construction to begin at RCI. Countless hours have been worked on this project by representatives from Public School Finance Board, Rolling River School Division, Department of Families, LM Architectural Group and RCDI. Everything was on track to have our desperately-needed licensed daycare centre ready for early spring of 2017. There was finally going to be an end to the long-standing daycare crisis in our community.
We were extremely disappointed when we found out the newly-appointed Conservative government formed a Treasury Board that had to review and approve all outstanding government projects and our daycare funding would be under review. We were told this process could take up to three months, which would put our open date closer to the summer. We patiently waited months for news that our project could be resumed. The total length of time it took for us to receive a response was almost eight months! The lowest tender kept agreeing to extend the quote while this process took place, with associated fees increasing every time an extension was granted. When we finally did receive a response, we were devastated by the news. The funding that had previously been granted for our licensed daycare centre was being deferred indefinitely.
The purpose of this letter is to further advocate for the desperately-needed funding the community of Rivers needs to open up our planned 32-spot licensed daycare centre. We know Rivers is not included in the 759 new daycare spots that will be developed as part of the 2017 provincial budget. In fact, with exception of the spots being funded in Morden and Thompson, all other spots of the 759 are either in Winnipeg or within a 30-kilometre radius of Winnipeg. There are no spots being funded in the Westman area. However, with the recent announcement from the federal government that $15 million will be provided to our province for new daycare spots, we really encourage you to include the 32 spots that were to be funded for RCDI in these new daycare spots.
As stated above, the planning for our centre is done and the rooms are ready for construction to begin immediately. We are a lot further ahead than many communities in our province that need daycare. We have begun work on our daycare manuals and policies. We have been fundraising for several years for equipment and furniture. We have already purchased equipment using approximately $13,000 of grant money and also have additional grant money that must be spent by September 2017. We have grant applications that have been submitted and have since been declined, due to the unknown status of our daycare. Once we receive funding approval, we will be eligible for these grants again, but in the interim, no one wants to provide finances to an organization that does not know what their future holds.
Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read my letter and to reconsider funding for RCDI. As stated above, I really hope that RCDI will be considered in light of the new funding that has become available through the federal government.
Tanya Beaulé, co-chairperson
Riverdale Community Daycare. Inc
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To help our cause even further, we are now pleading with the community members of Rivers to contact our local MLA Greg Nesbitt, Minister of Families Scott Fielding or your chosen political party representative. Nesbitt can be reached at 204-759-3313 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Fielding can be reached at 204-889-0540 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . We need to come together as a community to fight for the needs of our children and families.
