GUELPH – An effort by the County of Wellington to increase the number of licensed day care providers in Guelph and the county seems to have paid off.
“At this time, the number of providers has increased in Erin, Guelph/Eramosa, and in Guelph,” county director of children’s early years Mandy Koroniak told members of the joint social services and land ambulance committee.
Koroniak was at the committee’s Nov. 13 meeting to present the results of a marketing campaign that aimed to recruit more home-based child care providers to Wellington Home Child Care, the county’s licensed home child care agency.
Families whose children attend licensed home day cares are able to benefit from child care fee subsidies and reduced parent fees under the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) System.
Increasing the number of home child care providers in the county can also mean “increased access to licensed child care in communities that may have less access to centre-based child care, such as in rural communities,” stated Koroniak’s report.
Koroniak told the committee the number of active home child care providers registered with Wellington Home Child Care in Guelph and Wellington County had dropped significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, decreasing from 45 in March 2020 to just 27 in December 2022.
In an effort to reverse this trend, a marketing campaign was launched.
“The campaign ran from July 1 to Aug. 31, 2024, and it included a range of marketing methods, from radio and social media to mall kiosks, bus shelters and newspaper ads,” Koroniak said.
According to the report, the children’s early years budget included $20,000 in 2024 for the recruitment campaign.
The campaign “led to a surge of inquiries, growing from eight … in 2023 to 38 inquiries in 2024 for the same period,” the report stated.
“The campaign is expected to lead to an increase of 18 homes, potentially increasing access to licensed child care for up to 108 children, as each provider may care for up to 6 children,” said Koroniak.
She added the total number of active licensed home day cares is expected to be as high as 54 by the end of this year.
A chart included in the report reveals the greatest gains have been in Guelph, where the number of providers increased from 25 to 32 between April and October of this year.
Centre Wellington actually saw a decrease, from seven to six; and Guelph/Eramosa now has two, rather than just one.
Erin’s increase may also be considered significant, as the town went from having no licensed home child care providers to having two.
Mapleton and Puslinch townships still had none as of October, and Minto and Wellington North each had one.
County councillor Campbell Cork stood up to thank county staff for the marketing campaign.
“I think that paid off, and we’re well served by that,” Cork said.
City councillor Dominique O’Rourke also spoke positively about the results of the campaign.
“I have a communications background, and that’s a spectacular return on investment for $20,000,” she said.
“Really well done.”
She said it was not just a good return on investment from a communications perspective, but also has positive impacts for families, allowing more of them to access the “deeply subsidized” daily rates.
