Building Early Learning Places Program

The Building Early Learning Places Program aims to help not-for-profit providers in the early childhood education and care sector create more spaces for children aged 0 to 6 for communities with the greatest immediate need.

The program’s overarching objectives are to:

• Support the accessibility and affordability of ECEC, by assisting not-for-profit community preschools and long day care centres to deliver additional ECEC places through capital works.
• Increase the number of ECEC places through these capital works projects, leading to accessible, inclusive, and culturally safe environments that attract enrolments from children with disability, children with additional needs, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and culturally and linguistically diverse children.
• Generate insights, evidence and lessons learned to guide future capital initiatives that may be delivered by the Fund Board in the years to come.

Who can apply

To be eligible for funding, applicants must meet each of the following criteria:

• be registered or incorporated in Australia
• be a not-for-profit organisation/association or local government entity operating on a cost recovery basis
• be an approved early childhood education and care provider operating at least one existing and open approved service under the Children (Education and Care Services) National Law (NSW) and the Education and Care Services National Regulations (2011)
• intend to deliver ECEC places for a priority group as identified in these program guidelines:
  • deliver eligible ECEC places in an identified undersupplied area (excluding on public school sites and non-government school sites); OR
  • for Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, deliver eligible and culturally supportive ECEC places anywhere in NSW (excluding on public schools and non-government school sites)

• hold, or intend to hold service approval for the capital works site under the Children (Education and Care Services) National Law (NSW) to:
• operate, or intend to operate, as a centre-based service with a ‘Nature of Care’ service type of preschool, or
• operate, or intend to operate, as a centre-based service with a ‘Nature of Care’ service type of long day care.