Early Child Development Community Coalition

The Early Child Development Coalition brings together parents, early childhood educators, educators, health care professionals and other community organizations to plan and work collaboratively to support the healthy development of children aged 0-5 years. Research shows that experience-based brain development in the early years affects learning, behavior and health throughout the life course (The Early Years Study, 1999).

Early Child Development Coalitions bring together community partners for a variety of purposes, including:

Sharing community level Early Development Instrument (EDI) results
Mapping available community resources
Gaining access to resources (space, personnel, materials)
Integrating policies and services
Reducing duplication of services
Increasing the quality, accessibility and responsiveness of community services

Goals

To support early child development through parent child activities that build upon and enrich existing programs or introduce new programs to address identified gaps in services or resources for families of children 0-5.
To promote healthy outcomes for children and families through the priority activities of positive parenting, nutrition and physical health, learning and literacy, and community capacity building.
To engage community partners in a shared vision to support healthy children, families and communities.
To establish a working coalition of community stakeholders to share expertise, experience and resources and to identify and address community needs and priorities.
To share local level Early Development Instrument (EDI) results with coalition partners to help communities make informed decisions about how to support the development of their children.