Yesterday the Ministry of Education announced the Support for Families program that provides one-time financial support for families to purchase educational materials during the current school and childcare closures.  Under this new program, parents are eligible for a one-time per child payment of:

• $200 for children aged 0-12, or
• $250 for children and youth with special needs aged 0-21.

All children within the identified age brackets are eligible for the program. This includes:

• Children enrolled in public school
• Children enrolled in private school (includes on reserve First Nation schools)
• Children attending child care
• Children who are homeschooled
• Children who are not enrolled in school or attending child care

All parents who are residents of Ontario are eligible for funding, including parents of First Nation children attending schools on reserve.

Please use this link and you will see further down a button that takes you to the correct page for families that are applying for the first time. Parents/guardians that had applied for the Support for Parents program during the school strike days are automatically eligible for the Support for Families program and do not have to apply again.

Link to apply can be found here – https://www.ontario.ca/page/get-support-families.

The Ministry is currently working to add all First Nations schools to the drop down list of schools. Families with children in schools on reserve can still apply. If your child’s school does not appear in the drop down menu, parents/guardians should select “My child is not enrolled in either public or private school” and then select the most relevant option from the drop down list.