Documenting Healthy Early Childhood Assets in Greater Victoria
PLAY, through the Understanding the Early Years Project, is currently documenting assets in our region that support healthy early childhood development. To date, we have created a DRAFT inventory of over 1,000 assets.
We are encouraging PLAY members to review the DRAFT inventory that covers the region you work in and to provide us with feedback on how to best improve on the content, accuracy and utility of the information. Note that child care information is not included in these drafts, but is currently being collected.
| Database Name | Jurisdictional Coverage | Documents |
|---|---|---|
| All jurisdictions in BC's Capital | [XLS 538KB] | |
| Database for Western Communities and Sooke | Sooke, Metchosin, Langford, Highlands, Colwood and Port Renfrew, as well as the Pacheedaht First Nation, T'Sou-ke First Nation and Scia'new Bay First Nation) | [XLS 105KB] |
| Database for Esquimalt and View Royal | Esquimalt and View Royal, as well as the Songhees First Nation and the Esquimalt First Nation | [XLS 73KB] |
| Database for the City of Victoria | City of Victoria only | [XLS 73KB] |
| Database for the District of Oak Bay | District of Oak Bay only | [XLS 45KB] |
| Database for the District of Saanich | District of Saanich only | [XLS 145KB] |
| Database for the Peninsula | Central Saanich, North Saanich, and Sidney, as well as the Tsawout First Nation, Tsartlip First Nation, the Pauquachin First Nation and Tseycum First Nation | [XLS 73KB] |
| Database for the Southern Gulf Islands | Salt Spring Island, Galiano Island, Pender Island, Saturna Island and Mayne Island | [XLS 50KB] |
Last Updated January 2008
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Child Care & Early Learning Information
Child care is a vital support to our social and economic well being in our region. It is also a complex area to begin to document and collect data on. For this reason, we are collecting information on child care separately from the rest of our assets in our inventory.
The UEY project has two consultants (as of February 2007) working to provide direction to the project as to what data should be gathered and how it could be used to create a picture of child care in our region. They are building on the base line information provided by PLAY's "A Picture of Childcare in the Greater Victoria Region" prepared by Enid Eliot in January 2006. Since that time, a great deal has changed in our community and we hope to document that change to support meaningful dialogue, decision making and planning for affordable, accessible and quality day care and early learning opportunities for families and children in the region.
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Background on the Inventory
The Inventory was begun in late summer of 2006. In its current state, it is an MS Excel database of assets, programs and services, found within the Capital Region that, directly or indirectly, support the healthy development of children aged 0 to 6.
In September 2006, a forum was held with 25 participants to discuss what constituted a healthy early childhood asset, what the inventory could be used for and by whom. The DRAFT databases on this site have been updated with information taken from those discussions.
- View Forum Notes - [PDF 137KB]
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Framework
The inventory is organized using a Framework. This was adapted by the UEY project from a framework used in an early childhood asset assessment in Chautauqua County, New York (Patricia Smith. 2001. Community Early Childhood Asset Assessment and Analysis for Chautauqua County. Refer to Chautauqua County Success by Six Website:
http://www.ccsb6.org/publications.asp).
| Category | Description | Sub-Categories |
|---|---|---|
| CHILD DEVELOPMENT | Programs and services which focus on the social, emotional, physical and developmental growth of infants and young children. They are typically run without direct parental involvement. | Childcare |
| Preschool | ||
| Kindergarten | ||
| Literacy Programs | ||
| Recreational Programs | ||
| Other | ||
| HEALTH AND SAFETY | Programs designed to promote child development and well-being through prevention, screening, evaluation and treatment. | Pre/Post-Natal |
| Pediatric Care | ||
| Safety | ||
| Other | ||
| FAMILY SUPPORT | Programs, services, and resources designed to support healthy family development. They are typically run with direct parent involvement, and may, or may not be specific to young children. | Family Resources |
| Parenting | ||
| Support Groups | ||
| Counseling | ||
| Emergency Services | ||
| Playgroups/Drop-in | ||
| Other | ||
| NEIGHBOURHOOD SUPPORTS | Assets that are related to neighbourhood and community that are important to young children but are also important to the general public. | Parks and Playgrounds |
| Housing | ||
| Social Gatherings/ Celebrations | ||
| Community Organizations & Projects | ||
| Transportation | ||
| Bursaries and Financial Supports | ||
| Municipal Initiatives | ||
| INFORMATION AND REFERRAL | Resources that focus on sharing and disseminating information to the public. | Child Development |
| Health and Safety | ||
| Family Support | ||
| Neighbourhood Suppports | ||
| Municipal and Regional Government |
To Find out more about how the information in this inventory will be used, check out the Understanding the Early Years project webpage!
Notes of Appreciation: Thanks to Jonathan Ball for all his work on the inventory! A big thanks to all the PLAY members who continue to support the work of PLAY and UEY.
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This project was developed with funding from Human Resources and Social Development Canada under the Understanding the Early Years Initiative.
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