Our History
ECELC
The Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Care builds on existing capacities and provides leadership in managing, planning and supporting the development of a system of high-quality early learning and care services in Edmonton, with an emphasis on meeting the needs of low-income and vulnerable families.
The first official meeting of the Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Care (ECELC) was held on March 7, 2019, but the Council’s genesis story begins a few years earlier. In 2014, Edmonton’s mayor, Don Iveson, created the Mayor’s Task Force for the Elimination of Poverty in Edmonton. The Task Force evolved into a city-wide initiative, EndPovertyEdmonton, with the goal of ending poverty in the city within a generation. EndPovertyEdmonton identified six “game changers” critical for eliminating poverty: racism; livable incomes; affordable housing; accessible and affordable transit; mental health and addictions; and high-quality affordable child care.
In 2016, City Council approved a set of EndPovertyEdmonton “road map actions” that included creating a committee to work on designing and implementing an integrated system of early learning and care. Shortly thereafter, the Early Learning and Care Steering Committee (ELCSC) was convened to take the steps necessary for implementing this action. The ELCSC included members from the City of Edmonton, EndPovertyEdmonton, school boards, and provincial ministries, as well as others with expertise in early learning and care. The Steering Committee reviewed evidence about the importance of high-quality early learning and care and about the current state of early learning and care in Edmonton. It then outlined a vision, mission, and principles that could be used in the design and implementation of an integrated system of early learning and care.
The ELCSC concluded that the first and most critical step toward developing an integrated system of early learning and care was to establish capacity for management and planning within the city. Improved management and planning would enable Edmonton to identify its distinctive needs, to improve learning and care environments for Edmonton’s youngest citizens, to support the families of young children, and to change the conditions that perpetuate poverty.
The ELCSC recommended that a new body be formed with the mandate and means to pursue the work that needed to be undertaken. On October 31, 2018, the City of Edmonton’s Community and Public Services Committee accepted the plan, proposed by City Administration, that the City of Edmonton and EndPovertyEdmonton would identify and invite partners to create a new entity, the Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Care.
The new Council comprised 18 members, with representation from the provincial Ministry of Children’s Services, three Edmonton school boards, the City of Edmonton, EndPovertyEdmonton, the Muttart Foundation, Edmonton Early Years Coalitions, the United Way of the Alberta Capital Region, the Edmonton Community Foundation, the YMCA of Northern Alberta, the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta, MacEwan University, and others from the early learning and care field. The mandate of the Council was and continues to be to develop a system of high-quality early learning and care services in Edmonton, with an emphasis on meeting the needs of low-income and vulnerable families.