Our child care programs, summer camp, and forest school are child-centered and inquiry based.
Our incredible educators are the heart and soul of Upper Canada Child Care (UCCC). We are grateful every day for their unwavering dedication, passion, and hard work.
Since UCCC’s beginnings in 1983, when our founders, Josie and John Harlow, strove to support professionals in the childcare industry and inspire respect for their important role in early childhood development, we’ve known the importance of our work and the worth of our employees. But it is not enough for us to know it; we need the support of our larger society.
Last month on October 17th, our industry recognized Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day. This year’s theme was “Worth More”. It couldn’t be a truer statement.
In a recent issue of Connections newsletter for families, we featured some “e-actions” from the Worth More campaign, where families could send an electronic letter to their MP, MPP, as well as Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s Minister of Education, and Karina Gould, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, as calls to expand access to childcare and ensure decent work and pay for ECEs and childcare workers. The campaign also has an e-action for educators.
Aiming to make the childcare system in Ontario stronger, with “better pay, better quality, better access”, Worth More is a campaign by a coalition of childcare workers, Early Childhood Educators, operators, researchers, advocates, and community members, in partnership with Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario (AECEO), Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), CUPE Local 2484, and CUPE Ontario.
Though we officially celebrate Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day once a year, advocacy actions can be done any time. If you’ve already signed, then we thank you!
If you haven’t already done so, and you believe like we do that the professionals who make up the childcare industry are worth more, please consider taking the following e-actions.
Families fortunate to have a childcare space: click here.
Families awaiting affordable childcare: click here.
Educators: click here.
Upper Canada Child Care is grateful to all our supporters who value early childhood education, and we are hopeful that these numbers will only continue to grow, because childcare workers and early childhood educators are indeed worth more.