Our organization was founded in 1932 by a group of women, led by Hazel Macaulay, to provide care for preschool-age children from low-income families. Since then, we’ve grown from the original “Cradleship Creche” into one of the most robust child care and community programming agencies in all of Toronto.
Key dates in our history
1932
Cradleship Creche is established in the Township of York by Hazel Macaulay and a group of women to provide care for preschool children whose mothers needed to work because of financial difficulties.
1945
The Cradleship Creche is admitted as a member agency of the Red Feather, now the United Way of Greater Toronto.
1955
The board and membership raise funds to erect the building at 48 Regent Street to accommodate the day nursery. This was the first purpose-built day nursery in Canada.
1970
Supervised home-based child care begins in the City of York.
1971
Project Positive Parenting is implemented to provide parents with an opportunity to develop and enhance their parenting skills, and to facilitate the development of self-help groups.
1986
The Day Care Consultation Program begins to help child care centres deliver programs to children with extra support needs.
1998
A speech and language consultant is added to the Macaulay staff through a Toronto-wide preschool speech and language initiative. Resource consultation is added to Macaulay’s service offering for children and families.
2004
The After School Program is introduced with new funding from United Way. This program continues to grow with funding from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, as well as private foundations and corporate gifts.
2011
Macaulay opens its first Before and After School Program for children attending full-day kindergarten.
2017
Macaulay is approved as an anchor agency of the United Way of Greater Toronto, replacing our previous membership status.
2020
Macaulay responds to the Covid-19 pandemic with increased health and safety measures, virtual service delivery and emergency child care to protect the health and safety of our staff and community, minimize service disruption and ensure families continued to receive essential support.
Present
With services spanning childcare to parent advocacy to community services, we now serve more than 12,000 children and parents a year. Built on an established history of supporting children and families in Toronto, Macaulay prides itself as providing the highest quality of care with experts in the fields of early childhood education and child development.