Forty-Seven Early Learning Professionals, programs, volunteers, and students received recognition Tuesday evening at the 25th Annual Niagara Early Learning and Child Care Awards of Excellence celebration, which took place at Club Roma in St. Catharines, with event host Aiko Iwashita of Niagara's Move 105.7. The event was coordinated by the Early Childhood Community Development Centre (ECCDC), a longstanding charitable organization.
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The Early Childhood Community Development Centre (ECCDC) was delighted to host Mary Gordon, internationally respected author, founder, and president of the acclaimed Roots of Empathy program on October 24th, alongside partners from the Niagara Catholic District School Board (Niagara Catholic) and the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN). The professional collaboration took place at the ECCDC Conference Centre in Thorold and was a unique learning opportunity for Child and Youth Workers, Mental Health Leads, and administration from both boards to explore a variety of topics to support them in their important roles, offer opportunities to develop new strategies, and time to foster relationships with peers.
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Community van increases access to valuable resources.
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The Early Childhood Community Development (ECCDC) is grateful to be the recipient of a four-year financial commitment of close to $50,000 from the Kiwanis Clubs of Niagara. The sponsorship will increase the ECCDC's ability to support Niagara's early learning programs in having greater access to pedagogical materials, classroom equipment, and organizational supports through the availability of a community outreach van.
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More than 170 Early Learning Programs received fully subsidized training and a treasure basket kit between April 5 2022 and June 30 2022 at the Early Childhood Community Development Centre (ECCDC). The project was coordinated by the ECCDC, in close partnership with the Kiwanis Clubs of Niagara, including: The Stamford Kiwanis Club, Welland Kiwanis Club, and St. Catharines Kiwanis Club. This project was made possible by more than $20,000 donated by the Kiwanis Clubs of Niagara.
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In 2021, the Early Childhood Community Development Centre (ECCDC), a charitable organization based in Thorold, received a $68,600 Resilient Communities Fund grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). This grant project, which concluded this spring, has allowed ECCDC to improve the affordability and accessibility of online training, resources, and supports for early childhood educators in Niagara and across Ontario.

"Im very pleased that the Early Childhood Community Development Centre was successful in obtaining this grant," said Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch. "Early Childhood Educators are integral to the growth of healthy families in our community. It's important that those educators are able to keep up with the latest information to augment their skills. This grant ensured that could happen, despite the unique challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic."
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The Early Childhood Community Development (ECCDC) is grateful to be the recipient of a four-year financial commitment of close to $50,000 from the Kiwanis Clubs of Niagara. The sponsorship will increase the ECCDC's ability to support Niagara's early learning programs in having greater access to pedagogical materials, classroom equipment, and organizational supports through the availability of a community outreach van.

The community outreach van will be utilized to deliver resources from the ECCDC's Resource Lending Library, located in Thorold, to over 170 licensed child care programs throughout the Niagara Region.
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The Early Childhood Community Development Centre (ECCDC) and Niagara College (NC) have received close to $2 million in funding through the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development to design and deliver an accelerated Early Childhood Education diploma program for educators currently employed within Niagara's early learning programs.

The Skills Development funding will enable 100 educators currently working within licensed child care programs and EarlyON programs to participate in a year-long program through NC, while maintaining their current employment.
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