Compass Early Learning and Care

Published purpose

Throughout this 31-month project, Compass Early Learning and Care (CELC) will scale “Building Bright Futures in the Early Childcare Workforce” to enhance women’s economic security and prosperity by supporting viable career paths for equity deserving individuals, newcomers and low-income women, and 2SLGBTQI+ communities working as educators in centre-based childcare, through systemic change. It will scale the project intersectionally through engagement with key stakeholders who collaborate with equity deserving groups, such as newcomer and low-income women, and 2SLGBTQI+ in communities. Specifically, it will address barriers that inhibit low-income and newcomer women, nonbinary, and trans people from engaging in full and meaningful labour market participation as educators. To do so, the project will (1) develop hiring and onboarding practices of centre-based childcare educators through policies and organizational diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (DEI), (2) engage working groups and partners, including municipalities and childcare communities, and DEI committees located in Durham and Peterborough, to gather information about the intersectionality of the scaled-up population; (3) develop resources to identify barriers to education and employment of the scaled group of equity deserving educators and incorporate intersectionality; (4) review existing CELC policies, procedures and practices to scale the previously developed practices from the closed project on assessing assumptions and create an equitable one and (5) develop sustainability plan to remove barriers and increase stability for educators. With the Supplemental funds and extension provided in early 2026, Compass Early Learning & Care will build equity-deserving leadership and regional capacity to advocate for systemic change within the sector by addressing barriers such as migration, in-classroom experience, and misalignment between Federal, Provincial, regulatory policies, through the development and launch of an advocacy toolkit, a sector network, and coordinated advocacy activities. Through this, they will further advance Gender Equality.