With $ 10-a-day childcare on the horizon, more early childhood educators are needed in the city and across the province.
To encourage more people to consider a job in the field, the Children's Services Department has launched a regional marketing campaign.
"We're really looking to have E.C.Es seen as a valued career. We want them to see that sense of pride and we want others to see how important this role is," said Dawn Bosco, manager of children's services with the City of Windsor.
It's estimated there is an immediate need for 8,500 early childhood educators in the province and that need will grow to 15,000 by 2026.
"We've been reducing fees in childcare and it has created an influx of children attending. So every single centre can attest that they need more staff, and they will as we continue for the expansion," said Bosco.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said adequate childcare spaces are needed for further economic development in the city.
"The jobs that we're creating here in the City of Windsor, that we're out actively beating the drum to see investment come, those people who are going to work in those factories, those people who are going to support all of the work that's happening need to know that their kids are taken care of," said Dilkens.
The marketing campaign is funded by the Ministry of Education through the Canada-Ontario early Childhood Workforce Agreement.
