SURREY – Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society has received $500,000 from the provincial government to create 75 child care spaces in their new state-of-the-art long term care home PICS Diversity Village that will be built in Cloverdale soon. MLA Stephanie Cadieux, MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale has announced that PICS is one of six Surrey organizations to receive funding from the Provincial Government. As part of Child-Care Month in British Columbia the government is investing $1.22 million under the B.C. Early Years Strategy to create 280 new licensed child-care spaces at these facilities for families in Surrey. Thanking the provincial government, PICS CEO Charan Gill said, “I am extremely pleased to note that this grant will give the much needed boost to the social-infrastructure needs of families in Surrey’s fastest growing communities in the province. We have been advocating for affordable childcare spaces for a long time and we are very happy that the government is listening,” he said. Welcoming this grant Devinder Chattha, Director of Language Studies, Settlement & Social Programs said, “Every month hundreds of new families move to Cloverdale, which until now was underserved as far as affordable and quality child care is concerned and therefore creating 75 additional spaces here at PICS brand new facility will certainly be a boon to families in the area.” “We thank MLA Cadieux for choosing PICS to offer quality and affordable child care in the area,” she said. MLA Stephanie Cadieux said, “There are more than 300 babies born in Surrey every month. That coupled with approximately 800 people moving into our community every 30 days makes Surrey the fastest growing city in B.C”, said Surrey Cloverdale MLA Stephanie Cadieux. “Access to quality licensed child care is fundamental to what helps make Surrey a desired community to call home for many.” PICS has already acquired two acres of land for PICS Diversity Village, a 140 bed culturally appropriate complex care home for seniors in Cloverdale. PICS has widespread support from all levels of government, especially the provincial government. “This funding is a strong indicator that with the rapidly changing demographics, the provincial government realizes the importance of developing social-infrastructure projects. We hope that the government continues to support PICS as we surge towards building PICS Diversity Village, the next big infrastructure project in Cloverdale,” said Mr. Gill. For more information or interviews please call Shruti Prakash-J