Chestermere - Southeast Rocky View

Chestermere - Southeast Rocky View Formative Five

M&M candy jars illustrate community EDI results.

​​​​The Formative Five coalition wanted to present the community’s EDI results to potential funders in a simple, creative way. To visually represent the number of children who were struggling, coalition members filled up glass jars with M&Ms, choosing a different coloured candy for each area of development.  They pasted pie charts and local and provincial EDI data numbers on the sides of the jars. The coalition was successful in securing funding from the Poverty Reduction Strategy initiative ($2,250) and the United Way ($5,000). It plans on taking its M&M jars to community events and presentations to illustrate how young children in the community are doing.

Community at a glance

Strengths

• The coalition has strong representation from agencies across the region. Free child care is provided at meetings to encourage parents to participate.
• Coalition members were early enthusiasts and initiated contact with ECMap. Children are regarded as a high priority and members are ready to work on issues and use information to make progress.
• Service providers, who often compete for funding and clients, are networking and sharing resources and ideas. This includes preschool  teachers and day care providers.

Challenges

• Tool kits for parents:  350-500 tool kits on the five areas of development measured by the EDI are being created  for parents of children aged 3-5. The tool kits will provide practical suggestions and tips on how to promote physical health and well-being, social and emotional development and language skills and critical thinking through play. (United Way funding.)
• Professional development: Four, three-hour training sessions will be provided to preschool teachers and day care providers on meeting the emotional, social and behavioral needs of young children. Training will be offered through Hull Services, a Calgary non-profit agency that provides mental health and behavioral services for children and families. (United Way funding.) 
  Child poverty focus groups: Three focus groups were organized as part of the Government of Alberta’s community conversations to reduce child poverty.  The groups addressed three topics:  preschool teachers’ needs, community members’ needs around early childhood development, and poverty and its effects on children. Participants included staff from the Parent Link Centre and Chestermere Food Bank, child care providers, preschool teachers, business owners and community members.
• Community events:  The coalition connected with parents by participating in ‘Energizer Nights’ in Chestermere. These events enable parents to see what programs and services are available for families and sign their children up for activities. Piggy-backing on existing community events helps the coalition to reach out more broadly into the community.   
• National Child Day celebration:  A ‘Community Playdate’ was organized at the Chestermere Recreation Centre in November 2013. Activity centres for the five ‘EDI’ areas of development were set up around the gym.  Children collected stickers in passports after participating in each of the activity centres.  There was also a play area and booths set up various service providers and agencies. 
• Member involvement: Members who are not able to attend meetings are kept in the loop through e-mail as “associate members.” They can still provide support and expertise to the coalition when they can.
• Reaching decision makers:  Key community influencers and leaders in government, education, health care and other sectors received the EDI results first to get them on board and ready to answer questions from the community.