Childcare Needs Assessment

According to the latest data from the Province of Alberta, Lethbridge has 1,896 childcare spaces and 7,550 children aged 0-6, translating to a childcare coverage of about 25%. Experts from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives say a community needs at least 33% coverage to be considered as having adequate childcare coverage. This means that Lethbridge has a childcare gap of approximately 620 spaces.

Access to affordable and available childcare is one of several indicators of well-being in communities. With this in mind, the City of Lethbridge is interested in developing a deeper understanding of local childcare needs, as well as the challenges and opportunities in the community related to increasing the number of childcare spaces. To achieve this, the City will be completing public and stakeholder engagement, conducting market and comparator municipality analyses, and crafting a final needs assessment report. This report will be presented to Lethbridge City Council in June 2024 and will contain a list of recommendations for Council's consideration.

Key project updates, as well as the final Childcare Needs Assessment Report, will be posted to the project's Get Involved webpage. Those interested in keeping up with the project are encouraged to click the "subscribe" button on this page to receive project updates.