Families hold the most critical role in nurturing healthy development; however early learning opportunities can complement family life and support both families and young children during these formative years.

The early years, from birth to school entry, set the foundation for development, growth and learning. These early years are an essential opportunity to nurture and support the healthy social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development of young children.

We are supporting inclusive child care and participation by providing funding for licensed programs to support the diverse needs of children, including those from equity-seeking families and children who have specific developmental needs with the Supporting Child Inclusion and Participation (SCIP) Funding Program.

SCIP provides yearly proposal funding to:

• Create and/or enhance community unlicensed play-based early learning opportunities
• Hire staff to support children who could not otherwise safely attend programming
• Hire a consultant to help staff increase their skills and knowledge to better to support children in programs

Emerging needs funding to:

• Hire staff to support children who could not otherwise safely attend programming

Inclusion funding for licensed early learning and child care centres to:

• Purchase resources to support child participation
• Provide staff training to support child participation

Small community sustainability funding to:

• Ensure the sustainability of licensed centre-based early learning and child care programs in any small NWT community

Learn more about inclusive learning.