KIDS NEW WEST RELEASES NEW CHILD DEVELOPMENT SNAPSHOT
New Westminster, BC – The Kids New West Child Development Committee has released a brochure detailing a snapshot of child development issues, and the issues that families in New Westminster face.
The committee promotes child and family-friendly policies, resources, and opportunities for families in New Westminster. The committee works to ensure that the community has the capacity to support healthy child development and has representation from numerous agencies and organizations including the City of New Westminster, Fraser Health, School District No. 40, Ministry of Children and Family Development, and other valuable non-profit partners. They focus on two age groups: early childhood, which encompasses children from birth to age six, and middle childhood, which includes children aged six to twelve.
Kids New West Child Development Committee also operates the Kids New West website, a resource connecting families to other families, resources, and events in the New Westminster.
The Child Development Snapshot brochure was developed to ensure that all municipal election candidates had access to current information and to better understand the issues families and children face on our community. All municipal election candidates have been supplied a copy for their information. It has been carefully developed using census information and numerous research sources, including data collected by the City and the committee’s partner organizations.
Brochure highlights:
- A snapshot of families in New Westminster and the issues they face, such as poverty, housing and childcare affordability and / or availability
- Data from the Heart-Mind Index from the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education, which provides a snapshot of emotional well being in New Westminster children
- Two important measurements (the Early Development Instrument and the Middle Development Instrument) that gauge vulnerability and how well children are thriving in our City as determined by the Human Early Learning Partnership research network based at UBC on an ongoing basis.
For further reading and the complete brochure, visit: www.kidsnewwest.ca/2014-brochure-links
Media Contact:
Ramona Manzer, Chair, Kids New West Child Development Committee
604-777-5120
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