More than 1,200 of us give our littlest neighbours a safe place to grow. We teach. We nourish. We provide world-leading care while Toronto’s parents are at work. And as the cost of living forces people to take on multiple jobs, more families than ever are relying on that care. We know it’s worth investing in.
Toronto Early Learning & Child Care Services (TELCCS) operates 47 centres across the city.
Our members provide dedicated support for children with special needs enrolled in licensed childcare centres.
We work with diverse communities to develop childcare programs tailored to unique priorities and demographics .
17,000 households are currently waiting for childcare subsidies.
Early Childhood Educators like Nazanin do countless jobs each day. They’re protectors, nutritionists, counselors, emergency responders, and mentors that set the newest generations up for success. But without livable wages, many face a struggle to care for their own families.
The demand for long-term care is rapidly outpacing the City’s capacity to deliver it, and our members are desperately trying to keep up. Despite that, we’re bringing our best to care for neighbours living independently and in long-term care homes, each dealing with unique challenges from chronic illness to the need for palliative care.
Delivered more than 150,000 hours of homemaker and nursing services to low-income seniors, helping them live independently in their own homes.
Prepared more than 1,100 meals per week for Meals on Wheels to deliver to vulnerable people across the community.
Provided 14,000+ client days of care for seniors who are frail or socially isolated through Adult Day Programs.
Marcia
Personal Support Worker
You would want the same thing for you and your family, so you go to work with a willing heart, a learning heart, and you treat people with respect, with dignity, with love. But when you are so short-staffed, you have to work two jobs, sometimes three at once, to deliver just the minimum.
As a PSW, Marcia’s job is to help residents feel at home. She needs to build close relationships with each resident in her care, fostering a connection that lets her respond to their unique challenges. But when workers like her are stretched beyond their limit, those relationships can suffer.
Despite the fact that our senior population is already underserved and expected to grow, Toronto Seniors Services and Long-Term Care have been short staffed for years. Now there are over 400 vacant jobs. In many homes, a single worker can be responsible for dozens of residents overnight.
Across both child care and long-term care, our members are expected to provide high standards of care despite serious physical and mental workplace challenges. Now City Hall is denying the mental and physical health support systems that ensure workers can perform their duties to the fullest. But we know that care is worth it.
416 977-9546
Keeping Toronto at its best is what gets us up every morning. The work is worth it. And so are we.