Government funding up in the air: Sunshine Coast Success By 6 co-ordinator Sarah Pond is still waiting for some answers from the provincial government on program funding.
Sunshine Coast Reporter
Jenny Wagler
APRIL 2, 2010

The Coast’s early childhood development program, Success By 6, is regrouping after the provincial government announced March 18 that it will phase out funding of the program by March 2011.

But the government softened its position this week, saying it would work towards a “meaningful, long-term and sustainable model” for the program….

Success By 6, which funds children’s programming in the key developmental years before age six, was launched in 2003 as a partnership between credit unions, the United Way and the provincial government through the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The government has been funding half the program.

The Coast’s Success By 6 program was launched last year through a partnership of the Sunshine Coast Early Childhood Development Planning Table, Success By 6 B.C. and the United Way/Lower Mainland. Pond said Success By 6 has provided nearly $100,000 to fund local programs and activities for children and their families.

In its March 18 announcement, the provincial government said it would cut Success By 6 funding by half to $2.5 million from $5 million this year and phase out funding completely by March 31, 2011….

 “These programs will be very challenged to find new ways to survive,” Pond said.

Reacting to the government’s shift this week, Pond noted that there’s no news to indicate that government funding will be reinstated In the short term, … Pond said the Coast’s Success By 6 program… — it’s also waiting on this year’s funding disbursement.

“Usually our money comes to the community now, for April 1,” she said. “And [the government has] said something about a timeline, perhaps sometime between now and the fall, but we don’t know how much or when, so all those programs [slated to receive Success By 6 funding], starting today, will start to feel the impact.”