Building blocks for accessible and affordable child care

For 20 years, PoCo Dots Child Care Centre has provided pre- and after-school care to Port Coquitlam children, including children with special needs. In 2009, PoCo Dots’ partner school closed, which caused the daycare centre’s enrolment to drop—along with its provincial government grant. At the same time, its monthly lease doubled. PoCo Dots needed help to stay afloat, and Vancity provided a $10,000 line of credit along with $6,000 for missed lease payments. The Vancity Community Foundation, which in 2000 had loaned PoCo Dots $121,000 to purchase a portable building, now collaborated with them on a two-year strategic plan for cash flow management, budgets and human resource management. As a result, 34 affordable daycare spaces have remained open in a lower-income neighbourhood that has few child care spaces available.