The Southeast Saskatchewan Understanding the Early Years (UEY) Initiative is launching the 2010 Community Mapping Study, the result of a three-year study looking at children's readiness to start school. A regional forum, "Ensuring a Thriving Prairie Future" will be hosted on May 27 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at McKenna Hall.
The intent of the project is to identify children's readiness for school including their strengths and weaknesses, to identify gaps in services and to connect families, schools, community and government in order to create actions to address needs. Findings from the data will be shared, along with information on how other communities have addressed the issues identified in their research, with an action planning session to wrap up the event.
The 2010 Community Mapping Study of Southeast Saskatchewan presents data collected on programs and services for families and young children, local Census of Canada information, a social-risk index and a resource availability and accessibility score as well as the outcomes of children and families as measured by the Early Development Instrument and the Parent Interview and Direct Assessment of Children Survey.
The visual presentation of charts and maps assists in easily identifying strengths as well as gaps in services and provides evidence-based information for further community development around services and supports for families and young children. This information will be presented by the project's researcher, Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine of Saskatchewan Population Health Evaluation and Research Unit (SPHERU) of the University of Saskatchewan.
Brenda Ives, the Regional Intersectoral Committee (RIC) Coordinator for Northeast Saskatchewan and previous Northeast Understanding the Early Years Coordinator will speak to the work that has taken place in Northeast communities.
Ruth Barker, Community Coordinator for the UEY project, will share the findings of the report with the region.
"It is the Southeast Saskatchewan project's desire to increase the communities' knowledge of the importance of the early years, to assist in identifying the needs, and to support the community in developing community action plans to ensure that our children have the best possible start in life," said Barker.
