Kids and Community: A Parent Engagement Project
The SPC, through the support of Social Development Canada (Social Development Partnerships), completed a social inclusion project for families with children under 6. The project, called “Kids and Community”, built on previous work by the SPC and the Social Planning Network of Ontario to increase inclusion for all residents. Through the collaboration of four other social planning councils in Ontario, the goal of the project was to improve inclusion in opportunities for early learning and healthy development for all families with young children.
The project worked with low income families, Aboriginal families, families of diverse backgrounds, and families where a parent was Deaf or had a disability. As well, through community partners in Renfrew County, we explored social inclusion for families of young children in Renfrew county. The project was led by a Parent Advisory Group, and assisted by a group of organizational representatives. The project built parent-community partnerships and encouraged policy and program change.
Based on feedback from roughly 200 parents in 23 focus groups, the project partners developed an action plan to address the most important barriers to inclusion. See "Is Everybody Here: Inclusion and Exclusion of Families with Young Children in the Ottawa Area".
- Parents shared good examples of inclusion activities which could be implemented in schools and recreation services with limited costs. The information has been published in “Good Examples: A Resource Manual for Parents of Young Children”.
- The group put significant focus on the challenging issue of school fees. This led to the Provincial government including the issue of school fees in its' Poverty Reduction Strategy.
- The group held a very successful forum for multicultural parents on strategies to improve their young children’s transition to the school system. Over 80 participants shared what was working and what wasn’t.
The experience from this project was instrumental in the development of the "Families in Community" project, beginning January 2010.