Child Care Licensees
Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement
Contact Us
For any questions or if you need additional information
Email [email protected]
CWELCC 2025 Goals
- Implement the new cost-based funding formula.
- Enhance the directed growth application process to accelerate the creation of new affordable child care spaces to meet the needs of the community.
- Increase child care access rates, which are currently below the provincial target of 37%, through a city-wide directed growth application process.
- Create 339 new community-based child care spaces in 2025 with 302 approved for 2026, totaling 641 brand new affordable spaces by 2026.
- Strengthen equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging within the affordable child care system.
- Develop additional strategies to grow attract, retain and sustain a high-quality workforce.
Applications Open January 7
Child Care Directed Growth Application
Apply for new affordable child care spaces through our Directed Growth Application. These new spaces:
- enable growth for new child care licensees
- expand current child care programs with existing licensees
- include start-up grants
Directed Growth Applications open January 7, 2025 at 8:30 am.
Review the Child Care Directed Growth Application tab below
The CWELCC plan is designed to provide high-quality, affordable, accessible and inclusive licensed child care programs to support Ontario’s children, families, employers, early years professionals and the child care sector. This plan aligns with the priorities for the Early Years System in Hamilton - affordability, accessibility, inclusion and quality.
All growth in CWELCC, both centre based and licensed home child care, will be approved through the City's directed growth application process. Licensees looking to open a new child care site can open outside of the CWELCC system and do not need to complete a Directed Growth Application.
The Ministry of Education is responsible for licensing and compliance. All new licence requests and licence revisions are completed on the Child Care Licensing System. For more resources review Start a child care program.
Participating licensees in the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care system in Hamilton are listed here: Financial Support for Child Care.
2025 Goals
- Implement the new cost-based funding formula.
- Enhance the directed growth application process to accelerate the creation of new affordable child care spaces to meet the needs of the community.
- Increase child care access rates, which are currently below the provincial target of 37%, through a city-wide directed growth application process.
- Create 339 new community-based child care spaces in 2025 with 302 approved for 2026, totaling 641 brand new affordable spaces by 2026.
- Strengthen equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging within the affordable child care system.
- Develop additional strategies to grow attract, retain and sustain a high-quality workforce.
2024 Accomplishments
- Hamilton’s Early Years System reaffirmed its commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, by signing off on the City’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB) Policy.
- Launched the OurHamilton Inclusion Policy, which included a webinar with 216 registered participants and workshops attended by 130 child care and EarlyON staff to support early years providers in creating or updating their inclusion policies.
- Completed cost-based funding formula information sessions for centre-based licensees and licensed home child care agencies.
- Continued engaging with Hamilton’s Early Years System and families to inform expansion of child care spaces.
- Created 265 new community-based child care spaces, prioritizing Wards with child care access rates less than 37%.
- Showcased stories of local early childhood educators to highlight and market the value of the profession in the labour market.
- Implemented Ontario’s Ministry of Education Child Care Workforce Strategy, introducing local strategies to grow, attract, retain and sustain a high-quality workforce. This included implementing two professional development days for more than 2,000 early years professionals.
2023 Accomplishments
- Reduced child care fees by 52.75%, saving Hamilton families an estimated $9,100 on child care per child in 2023.
- Expanded funding agreements with six licensed child care licensees to increase access to child care across Hamilton.
- Developed an Access and Inclusion Framework to direct growth in Hamilton’s licensed child care system to best serve the needs of the community.
- Engaged 331 families through 10 community-based service providers to gain a better understanding of child care needs and barriers to access, to inform child care expansion plans.
- Met the Ontario Ministry of Education’s community-based child care space target of creating 381 new child care spaces across the community.
- Implemented an Early Childhood Educator Workforce Grant pilot to support more than 450 Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) with the cost of child care, resulting in improving retention and reducing barriers to employment. ECEs reported improved family well-being and reduced household debt as a result.
- Implemented an affordability grant pilot to reduce the cost of before and after school child care to $15/day for children aged 6-12 years transitioning out of the CWELCC age window.
- Launched the new fee subsidy client portal which has streamlined communication, enhanced document security, improved efficiency and enabled better case management.
- Launched an Early Childhood Educator marketing campaign focusing on the important role they play in the community and in supporting child development. This resulted in more than 8,000 views and comments on the City’s social media channels.
- Partnered with Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development and 43 other Service System Managers across the province to implement the “Knowing Our Numbers Survey” to learn more about the early years workforce. These results will help inform future workforce strategies to grow, attract, retain and sustain a high-quality workforce in Hamilton.
- Implemented two successful professional development days for more than 2,000 early years professionals.
- Increased the number of special needs children who received child care service support.
Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement
Guidelines, Framework & Application Resources
Child Care Directed Growth Applications will open on January 7 at 8:30 am.
As a part of the community-based spaces allocated to the City of Hamilton by Ontario’s Ministry of Education, applications for directed growth child care spaces are scheduled to open on January 7.
The City of Hamilton is reviewing applications for community-based spaces for both 2025 and 2026. While city-wide applications are welcome, wards with access rates less than 37% will be prioritized to meet Ministry targets.
2024 Child Care Access Rates by Ward
| List of Wards by Priority | 2024 Year End Access rates |
|---|---|
| Ward 1 Chedoke-Cootes | 43% |
| Ward 2 Downtown | 45% |
| Ward 3 Hamilton Centre | 30% |
| Ward 4 East Lower Hamilton | 19% |
| Ward 5 Redhill | 26% |
| Ward 6 East Mountain | 11% |
| Ward 7 Central Mountain | 22% |
| Ward 8 West-Central Mountain | 42% |
| Ward 9 Upper Stoney Creek | 32% |
| Ward 10 Lower Stoney Creek | 50% |
| Ward 11 Glanbrook | 25% |
| Ward 12 Ancaster - Flamborough West | 36% |
| Ward 13 Dundas | 27% |
| Ward 14 Far West Mountain | 61% |
| Ward 15 Flamborough East - Waterdown | 51% |
NEW: Supporting documents required in 2025
For new site locations, submit one of the following:
- Letter of Intent to Lease (LOI)* or “Offer to Lease”
- Lease Agreement
- Proof of Property Ownership
*Ensure the LOI is non-binding unless you're prepared to operate outside of CWELCC. In a lease scenario, the LOI or agreement should outline any landlord-provided improvements or allowances for renovations.
For Start-up Grant funding, please provide:
- Materials and furnishing estimate - submit as one compiled document
- Contractor quotes for renovations/retrofits - submit as one compiled document
NOTE: Expressing interest or applying does not guarantee participation or enrollment in the CWELCC plan.
Directed Growth Application details and evaluation considerations
Applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. The application window will remain open until all the community-based spaces have been approved for both 2025 and 2026 allocated spaces.
Evaluation timeline
Depending on the interest and quantity of applications, evaluations will begin in February 2025 and will continue on an ongoing basis until all child care community-based spaces have been approved. Each applicant will be notified via email of their evaluation date, the evaluation outcome will take 4-6 weeks.
Space approvals will include childcare spaces for both the 2025 and 2026 program years.
Evaluation criteria
Applications will be assessed using the following criteria:
- Ward Location: City-wide applications are welcome but wards with access rates less than 37% will be prioritized.
- Physical Location: considerations are made for safe access, outdoor play space potential and parking availability.
- Application alignment with the City of Hamilton’s CWELCC Access & Inclusion Framework.
- Ministry auspice ratios: Maintain an 80/20 ratio of “Not for Profit” to “For Profit” child care spaces.
- Financial Viability: Demonstrate long-term sustainability using the budget template.
- Financial viability includes the ability to:
- Cover operational costs and debts.
- Maintain growth and adapt to challenges.
- Meet customer expectations.
- Financial viability includes the ability to:
Meeting the above criteria will increase your application scoring and is based on the evaluation in the City of Hamilton’s CWELCC Access & Inclusion Framework.
Applications will be accepted until all community-based spaces have been approved. Each applicant will be notified via email of their evaluation date, the evaluation outcome will take 4-6 weeks.
Review reference materials before applying
Review Child Care
Licensee Resources
Visit Child Care Licensee Resources for all forms, guides, and tools for Licensees operating in the City of Hamilton.
cwelcc
Frequently Asked Questions
for families to provide high-quality child care. Additionally, you will have access to fee subsidy supports, the City of Hamilton's early years quality program, special needs resourcing staff support and professional learning support for educators through Affiliated Services for Children and Youth (ASCY). Licensees serving children aged 0-5 who do not participate in CWELCC are not eligible for these supports.
Parents will benefit from reduced daily child care fees until their child reaches the age of five.
Effective January 1, 2025, Ontario’s Ministry of Education has capped daily child care to $22/day. The goal is to reduce fees further to an average of $12/day by March 2026.
Yes, you can. Licensees who choose not to participate in CWELCC may operate under the existing provincial licensing and regulatory framework. Prospective licensees can apply for a licence through the Child Care Licensing System and indicate “No” to CWELCC participation. They do not need to complete a Directed Growth Application but will not receive CWELCC-related supports or funding.
Yes. Any growth within the CWELCC system for children aged 0-5 requires a Directed Growth Application. A licence request will only be approved if the Directed Growth Application is completed, submitted, and approved for community-based child care spaces. Participation in CWELCC is not guaranteed.
Applicants submitting a Directed Growth Application will have an opportunity to apply for a start-up grant. Eligibility is limited to successful applicants of the Directed Growth Application process. Licensees are ineligible if they are school-based, choose to operate outside of CWELCC, or are already operational and wish to enroll an existing program into CWELCC. For detailed eligibility criteria, refer to the City of Hamilton Access and Inclusion Framework
No. The City of Hamilton does not provide funding agreements for fee subsidy, general operating expenses or system priority funding. Licensees serving children 0-5 who are not participating in CWELCC are not eligible for these supports.
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