About the OCBCC
The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC) was founded in 1981 to advocate for universally accessible, quality, non-profit regulated child care in the province of Ontario.
Our membership includes representatives from education, health care, labour, child-welfare, injury prevention, rural, First Nations, Francophone, social policy, anti- poverty, professional, student and women’s organizations. We serve community based child care programs, local child care coalitions and coordinate the activities of eight Child Care Action Networks (CCANs) across the province.
The Coalition is a public awareness organization and a non-partisan political action group, we work to bring the benefits of early childhood education and care to the attention of the public, and policy makers. The work of the OCBCC covers a wide range of activities, including:
- Monitoring provincial child care policy and legislation.
- Lobbying for changes and improvements.
- Developing policy alternatives for government consideration to improve the quality, accessibility and management of child care services.
- Developing books, manuals, fact sheets and news bulletins on child care policy and operations for use by child care programs, early childhood education training programs, parents and the general public.
- Conducting public information campaigns through written material, videos, public service announcements, public speaking and by working with the media.
- Conducting and commissioning research.
- Providing a variety of services to assist community based child care programs.
- Participating in an array of advisory committees, task forces, community planning bodies and child care development associations.
What We Want for Child Care in Ontario
We are committed to bringing about an Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) system that is not-for-profit and publicly funded, universally accessible, and high quality. Central to our goal is:
- The concept of a single comprehensive system replacing the present fragmented collection of policies and services.
- These policies and services would simultaneously provide healthy development opportunities for children and supports for parent to work, study and parent-effectively.
- These services would be non-compulsory but available to all children to the extent their parents wish to use them and regardless of their parents’ employment status.
The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care recognizes the contribution of public policy in the areas of employment, health care and protection, education, housing, the environment etc., to the optimum development of children. We also recognize that the real problem for Canadian families is that this country is a long way from supporting any family adequately.
For more abour the OCBCC, see our Annual report 2007 [pdf, 16pp, 90KB].
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Child Care Action Networks
Child Care Action Networks (CCANs) are advocating for better child care across Ontario. They are working hard to make sure that child care in every town in Ontario is as good as it can be. The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC) supports and coordinates CCANs in their work to:
- Share information and advocacy success and strategies both within and across communities.
- Facilitate the development of a greater understanding of the issues affecting child care.
- Enable local community members to articulate their views on early childhood development and care services.
- Monitor and evaluate the status of child care services in Ontario through information-sharing and dissemination.
- Facilitate concerted analysis and response to new policy and government funding initiatives.
- Encourage and support local action to encourage local and provincial governments to preserve quality child care services in Ontario.
- Strengthen the child care community’s ability to respond and advocate for child care.
- Assist regional representatives in organizing local discussions and advocacy.
- Provide a forum for networking and working together to effect policy change.
Together the CCANs and the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care are one strong voice for child care! Contact us for more information.
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Annual Reports
- OCBCC Annual Report 2007. April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007. [pdf, 16pp, 90KB]
- OCBCC Annual Report 2006. April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006. [pdf, 17pp, 104KB]
- OCBCC Annual Report 2005. July 2005. [pdf, 16pp, 112KB]
- OCBCCAnnual Report 2004. [pdf 16pp, 114KB]