Waterloo Region on track to create 4,000 funded childcare spaces by 2026 amid growing waitlist

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Waterloo Region is expecting to meet its target of creating more than 4,000 funded childcare spaces by the end of 2026, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The spaces are part of the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) plan, which aims to provide families with accessible, affordable and licensed childcare.

Since the program’s launch in 2022, 2,656 new CWELLC spaces have been created. An additional 1,480 spots are expected to be created by the end of 2026.

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The region has identified 13 priority neighbourhoods where access to affordable licensed childcare is very low or almost non-existent. They include:

• Alpine Laurentian Hills (Kitchener)
• Breslau-Rural Woolwich North East/St. Jacobs
• Chicopee/Idlewood/Stanley Park-Heritage Park/Rosemount (Kitchener)
• Dearborn Lexington Lincoln (Waterloo)
• Downtown Kitchener
• Forest Heights East/Highland South East/Forest Hill-Lakeside (Kitchener)
• Lakeshore (Waterloo)
• Northview (Cambridge)
• Preston/Blair (Cambridge)
• Rural Wilmot
• Wellesley Township
• Westmount-Cherry Hill/North Victoria Hills/Fairfield-Mt Hope-Huron Park (Kitchener)
• Westview-Victoria Highlands/South West Galt/West Glenview/East Glenview Southview (Cambridge)

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