December 8, 2023
Excerpt: "More people are training for jobs as early childhood educators in the Lower Mainland and Greater Victoria area thanks to a government-funded Community and Employer Partnership project (CEP). As many as 40 people, most of them immigrant women, have the opportunity to learn new skills or start new careers, benefiting young children, families and communities. “We all want people to have meaningful work to build better lives,” said Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. “Through this training, people will get in-demand jobs, while local communities will be able to access more child care spaces.” The Province, in partnership with the federal government, is providing $1.2 million to YWCA Metro Vancouver to deliver its program, Discover, in three cohorts, training people to become early childhood educators. The second and third cohorts of the program are underway in Vancouver and Victoria, with 15 participants each. The first group completed the course in September 2023."