Make Children First Kamloops

Background

What is Uunderstanding the Early Years?

Understanding the Early Years (UEY) is a national initiative that enables members of communities across Canada to better understand the needs of their young children and families so that they can determine the best programs and services to meet local needs.

The UEY initiative provides members of participating communities with quality information on the school readiness of their kindergarten children; family and community factors that influence children’s development; and the availability of local resources to support young children and their families. Parents, teachers, key decision-makers, and others interested in the well-being of children in each community can then work together to address the needs of children from birth to age six.

UEY aims to involve children from all backgrounds including Aboriginal children, children of new immigrants, children in official language minority communities and children in disadvantaged circumstances.

History of UEY

UEY began in 1999 as a pilot research initiative to enhance knowledge about community factors that influence the early development of children and to enhance the development of local action plans to address community needs. UEY became a national initiative in 2004 when the first group of 21 communities received funding in the fall of 2005. The second group of 15 communities, which included Kamloops, received their initial funding in the spring of 2007.

Objectives of UEY

Each local UEY project has two overall objectives: carrying out community-based research and enabling community members to use the research-generated information to improve decision-making on children’s issues. The community-based research can be further divided into gathering information and building knowledge.

The UEY Initiative does not deliver programs or services.

Benefits of UEY

For families and children:
- Helps decision-makers to better understand needs of children and their families
- Helps parents better understand how to enhance their children’s development

For communities:
- Helps members of communities to work together on behalf of families and children

For non-governmental organizations:
- Improves effectiveness of program and service delivery

For governments:
- Informs policy and program development related to early childhood development and community engagement

Kamloops UEY Project Objectives

1) Identify specific community needs, as well as emerging issues and trends in child development, to create a community based ECD Strategic Action Plan that will improve outcomes for children and families.

2) Enhance the community’s capacity to understand and interpret ECD research and make evidence-based program and policy decisions that support healthy early childhood development outcomes.

3) Strengthen community commitment and responsibility for child outcomes by broadening the diversity of the ECD coalition to include multiple sectors of the community.

4) Reduce early childhood vulnerabilities by creating and implementing a framework of education and awareness raising activities using common language and consistent context.

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Kamloops UEY Key Players

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