The YMCA has been chosen as the not-for-profit operator of the province’s new pre-Kindergarten pilot program.

Last month, the government announced that the program would be established at more than 30 locations across the province.

YMCA-NL was chosen following a request for proposals issued last month. Preference was given to organizations that demonstrated the ability to run multiple locations, and the YMCA indicated the interest and ability to run them all.

Details on the registration process will be issued as sites are ready to open, but Education Minister Tom Osborne says the organization will handle all the logistics.

He says government has started the process of reaching out to former early childhood educators to see if they’re interested in coming back to the sector, adding the province will pass along the names of anyone interested in doing so.

The first locations will open in the fall of this year, or the winter of 2023 for children scheduled to start Kindergarten in September of next year.

The pilot locations are the first in the pre-Kindergarten early learning program created through the federal-provincial Early Learning Action Plan.