Expression of Interest to Operate a Child Care Centre

The City of Toronto, in partnership with Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board, is seeking an agency to deliver licensed child care programs at the new Canoe Landing community hub.

The intention for this Expression of Interest is to identify and confirm a qualified, licensed, not-for-profit or public child care provider to operate the autonomous child care centre and third party before/after school program for students attending Jean Lumb Public School and Bishop Macdonell Catholic Elementary School. Therefore, applications are encouraged from not-for-profit or public child care agencies with a Service Agreement in good standing with the City of Toronto for child care fee subsidy and current experience in the successful operation of an infant, toddler, preschool and before/after school program with one or both school boards.

Site Location

Behind the south building at the new multi-stakeholder hub located at the corner of Brunel Court & Fort York Boulevard, in the Railway Lands in downtown Toronto, sits a 7261 square foot, 52 space child care centre and 3321 square foot child care playground currently under construction.

Canoe Landing Child Care Centre will service the larger built up community surrounding the hub that consists of the City-run Canoe Landing Community Recreation Centre, and two elementary schools – Jean Lumb Public School & Bishop Macdonell Catholic Elementary School. The site is built into two separate buildings with a connecting bridge that straddles the east/west view corridor from the second floor of each building.

The north building houses the school gym, the community recreation centre, the custom designed City-run preschool drop-in playroom. The space will be assigned as a place of refuge during utility outages as there is an emergency generator on site. The community centre includes a double gymnasium with a mezzanine running track, several multi-purpose rooms, dance and fitness spaces, a large indoor playspace, a pre-school room, meeting rooms, a teaching kitchen, an administrative area, ancillary spaces and an active roof with a basketball court, running track, outdoor seating area and a roof garden.

Child care drop-off and pick-up is located under the north building with a short walk at grade to arrive at the front entrance of the child care centre.

Child Care Centre Details

Operating Capacity

The centre will have space for 52 children:

• 10 infants
• 10 toddlers
• 32 preschool aged

Entry and Main Lobby

As an autonomous portion of the south building, the child care centre has a separate entrance. Immediately inside the centre, parents will be welcomed by a Parent Resource Area on the left and the Centre Supervisor’s office on the right. The centre will also accommodate parent strollers near the front entrance in a designated storage area.

Kitchen and Laundry Room

The open kitchen will provide a central hub for the child care and the ability to program special food related activities with the children from the corridor side. Inside, the kitchen is designed to handle a separate stand-up fridge & a freezer unit; a residential stove and range hood; microwave; triple sink and hand wash sink. The commercial dishwasher will be installed central to the kitchen as a large island that will store the required trolleys underneath.

Next to the kitchen is the laundry room that is designed to receive a washer/dryer stacked unit plus room for a second dryer to dry children’s snowsuits.  A double sink and a folding counter is also provided.

Infant Playroom

• Playroom has a separate infant vestibule with cubbies and an undressing table.
• Servery includes an adult height handwashing sink, triple sink for toy washing, a child height sink, full sized fridge, microwave and ample storage.
• Washroom is outfitted with a change table and an infant height toilet and sink.
• The sleep room has ample room for 10 cots and a rocking chair with upper cabinet storage.
• Triple strollers are located directly across the hall from the entrance to the infant playroom.

Toddler Playroom

• Playroom has cubbies located in the main corridor.
• Servery includes three adult height sinks, one will be used as the dedicated handwash sink, a child height island with a child height sink and space for a bar fridge and microwave.
• Large double door storage area will store 10 cots.
• Benches line the exterior window.

Preschool Playrooms

• Playrooms are located with vestibules and views of the child care playground.
• Cubbies are located in the main corridor.
• Each room has a servery that includes an adult height sink, room for a bar fridge and microwave, and a child height island with a sink.
• Between the two preschool rooms is a shared vestibule, a shared toy washing room, a large storage room and washroom with four adult sized toilets, four child height sink and a change bench with sink and storage.
• Benches line the window walls and within the shared vestibule.

Corridors

The wide common corridor can be also used for gross motor activities during inclement weather. At the south end of the corridor is the second exit that flows into the school corridor to the school’s west entrance. This door will be outfitted with security features and will allow before/after school program staff to enter directly into the school for their dedicated program requirements.

Ancillary Spaces

The other ancillary spaces within the child care centre are a janitor’s room, a barrier-free washroom for parent use, a storage room/hub space that will store the child care communication equipment. The storage room/hub space has a door that opens directly into the school in case there is a need to store before/after school programming trolleys.

Playgrounds

All child care playgrounds are located immediately outside of the exterior playroom doors.  Each playground is uniquely designed to meet the age group’s interests. The infant playground has log curbs for climbing and spaces to settle to have one-on-one experiences. There are active play panels along the fence and ball drops from the staging. The toddler playground features a trike trail, vertical drumming area, places to plant flowers or vegetables, a unique water play feature and rubberized berms to climb on. The preschool playground has a trike trail, water play spouts, planting areas, stepping posts, seating and a trampoline.

Each playground has:

• A variety of surfaces from wood decking, sod, concrete paving, rubberized mulch, rubberized play surfacing and flagstones
• Shade from a shade sail in the preschool playground and pre-selected trees
• Sand play and water play features
• Perimeter fencing with lockable gates at each playground to exit into the school playground
• Wood posts, metal fencing and movable planter boxes between playgrounds to support barriers

The Canoe Landing Child Care Centre is anticipated to open between November 2019 – January 2020.

Before/After School Program Details

The Before/After School program will support the child care needs of students from both Jean Lumb Public School and Bishop Macdonell Catholic School and will operate in shared space classrooms.

The schools will have a capacity to serve 1,100 students from Kindergarten to Grade 8. These schools will operate in a state-of-the-art facility with 32 classrooms; eight kindergarten classrooms; arts, science and music rooms; three resource rooms; a meeting room and a shared gymnasium and outdoor play area. The design of these schools has incorporated green initiatives such as a green roof, solar panels and LED lighting.

The Before/After School program is anticipated to operate on school instructional days and on P.A. days, Winter Break, March Break and during the summer. The successful agency must be prepared to adjust program capacity to meet the community needs.

The Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board third party Before/After School Program is scheduled to open in September 2019.

Lease

The successful proponent will be required to enter into three separate lease agreements.

Not-for-profit or public (colleges & universities) child care operators with a current service agreement for fee subsidy are eligible to apply.

The City of Toronto, Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board is looking for operators that are committed to providing integrated services to families through collaboration with school boards and other learning and care services in the community ensuring accessibility to local needs.

Compliance with the following items is required.

1. Applicant holds a current Service Agreement for the provision of fee subsidy.
2. Applicant meets the requirements of a Not-for-profit Agency or public institution
3. Applicant meets or exceeds the Assessment for Quality Improvement (AQI) for each site operated by the applicant over the last two year period.
4. Applicant’s service agreement has been in good standing for a minimum of the last two years.
5. Applicant currently meets Financial Management and Administration Criteria as set out in the Child Care Operating Standards.
6. Experience in the successful operation of an infant, toddler, preschool and before/after school program with one or both school boards

Applications must have been received no later than 3 p.m. on March 4, 2019.

All Expression of Interest applications will be screened and evaluated by City staff, Toronto District School Board staff as well as Toronto Catholic District School Board staff and interviews will be conducted by a Review Panel comprised of a minimum of three members.

Application Evaluation

The EOI applications will be scored as follows:

• Stage 1: The EOI application will be screened on a pass or fail basis. A pass indicates that all fields have been completed and all mandatory requirements and documents have been included. If a field is not applicable to your agency, a brief explanation should be provided. A fail indicates that some fields and/or mandatory documents are incomplete or missing.
• Stage 2: This evaluation includes a review of your agency’s alignment with TCS Service Plan and includes a review of AQI results over the past two years, a review of age group specific program plans, TCS Business Cycle requirements including Financial Management and Administration Criteria, Community Collaboration, School Board linkages, Letters of Reference.
  • Stage 2 also includes a full review of the agency’s financial viability. This review will include a review of Business Cycle activities, Compliance with TCS Financial Management Criteria, review of Auditor’s Report, Start-up Cost plan, Budget submission, Salaries and Public Fees and Current Cash Flow Statement.
• Stage 3:  Applicants at this stage will be invited to an interview with the Review Panel.  The interview will include a set of predetermined questions and the opportunity for the Applicant to make a presentation. Interview questions will include a demonstrated knowledge of the community where site is located.  Applicants are required to supply their own presentation equipment and materials.
  • The City, Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board reserves the right to limit the number of interviews to top-scoring applicants as determined by the City, regardless of the number of applicants who qualify at this stage. The City, Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board also reserves the right to augment the short list at any time.

Decision

The applicant’s Expression of Interest that best meets the requirements of the City, in the absolute discretion of the City, in consultation with the Review Panel, will be designated as the preferred agency.

No obligation will arise until an agreement, based on the accepted Expression of Interest application, has been authorized and executed by the appropriate City authority.

After receipt of Expression of Interest applications and at any time prior to the execution of an agreement, the City may request clarification on any items related to the Expression of Interest and conduct negotiations with the preferred agency. The City, at its sole discretion, may adjust the evaluation score or ranking of an applicant as an outcome of the clarification process.

Notes

Where the school board is involved, the process will be adapted to include other procedures related to the school boards selection process.

Expression of Interest evaluation results shall be the absolute property of the City. The City does not disclose Expression of Interest evaluation results, before, during or after he evaluation process. However, applicants must be aware that such information may become public as a result of the need for transparency and accountability in decisions made by the City.

If the City does not receive an adequate number of satisfactory proposals, we reserve the right to negotiate with any Operator deemed suitable, where necessary.

Service Agreement for Fee Subsidy

The Toronto Child Care Service Plan sets out priorities for Toronto’s child care system. This includes setting geographic and age equity targets that ensure funding for child care fee subsidy is equitably distributed.

There is a waiting list for fee subsidy and eligible applicants will have to access fee subsidy on a first come first served basis, subject to ward and age equity targets. However, new child care operators may be prioritized for placement for the first six months of operation or until they achieve full enrolment, whichever occurs first.

Clients already receiving fee subsidy are able to transfer to a new centre if there is a physical vacancy. Families not requiring a fee subsidy are able to enrol their children in child care with a licensed physical vacancy and pay full fee.

Families may contact 311 or 416-338-8888 for more information on how to apply.

Scoring