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 Let's pull together for our neighbourhood's babies
and toddlers |
Centraide's role in promoting
1, 2, 3 GO!
What is it?
1, 2, 3 GO! is a project to mobilize a whole community to create a favourable environment for the development of its young kids. The project can take place in your neighbourhood, and involve you, your neighbours, your local community agencies, institutions, merchants, etc.
Giving children a good start in life
Every child deserves to get off to a good start in life. It is intolerable that the chances of success of many children should be compromised at the outset simply because they are growing up in difficult social and economic circumstances. If our society wants to chart a secure future for itself, it must take great care of its most precious resource: its young kids.
This fundamental conviction is what prompts citizens from every part of the community to organize and work together in order to create a favourable environment for the development of young kids.
1, 2, 3 GO! is a way of making a difference. It is not an agency which provides services.
1, 2, 3 GO! is a banner under which all the members of a community pool their ideas, their dreams and their resources in order to form an alliance with parents and create a stimulating, nurturing and caring environment for their young children.
Each 1, 2, 3 GO! neighbourhood develops its own activities according to its circumstances
If a neighbourhood is dominated by apartment buildings, there may be a lack of safe play areas for young kids. In that case, 1, 2, 3 GO! will work with tenants, landlords and the municipality to create a park.
In another neighbourhood, a large proportion of children may be significantly behind in their cognitive development. 1, 2, 3 GO! will work with the local school, public library and day-care facilities, and obtain the support of the neighbourhood’s merchants, in order to develop language stimulation and early reading programs.
In yet another neighbourhood, many parents may be unable to afford to buy toys for their kids. 1, 2, 3 GO! will work with the local municipality, "caisse populaire", fire station, primary schools and employment centre to establish a toys and games library, which the parents will then manage themselves.
The activities of 1, 2, 3 GO! are as varied as the needs of the neighbourhoods in which the project has been established.
Where does Centraide come in?
Centraide promoted the first generation of 1, 2, 3 GO! initiatives because this project was in line with our priority of helping communities to act. This undertaking was an initial experiment in community mobilization, and the valuable lessons we learned from it will help us to implement the strategies we developed on the basis of our Strategic Study of Social Issues.
It all began in six neighbourhoods…
1, 2, 3 GO! was launched in 1995 in six Greater Montreal neighbourhoods, which had a large number of very underprivileged children:
- Laval
- Longueuil West
- Côte-des-Neiges
- Montréal-Nord
- St-Rémi-de-Napierville
- St-Michel
Five years later, each 1,2,3 GO! neighbourhood has developed activities and organized its environment so as to better meet the needs of its young kids.
- 1, 2, 3 GO! has reached more than 3,000 children and their parents.
- Children have access to new resources and to a wider range of stimulating and creative activities. They are developing in a safer and more caring environment. The neighbourhoods are more concerned about them.
- Parents are better informed and receive more consistent support. They make greater use of available services and resources. They have become full-fledged partners who, more and more, have input into services and are involved in the life of the community.
- Leaders from all parts of the communities helped to influence the general public and to turn the well-being and development of young children into a major priority for the neighbourhood’s citizens and decision-makers.
- Partnership, the key element in the strategy of 1, 2, 3 GO!, strengthened and developed in the targeted communities. Parents, citizens, community workers and decision-makers adopted a common vision and perfected the art of working together while doing things differently.
- Knowledge and experience have been acquired. Unique know-how has been developed. Others can now benefit from what we have learned.
A research team is monitoring and guiding the progress of the initiative.
The 1, 2, 3 GO! Centre
Centraide is continuing to back the project and, in collaboration with numerous partners, has established the 1, 2, 3 GO! Centre, which supports communities that wish to mobilize in order to promote the development of their children.
The Centre works in close cooperation with Centraide, which contributes to the funding of existing as well as future neighbourhood initiatives. 1,2,3 GO! is acquiring considerable expertise in mobilizing local communities. We are confident that this expertise will help other communities that wish to mobilize in order to create a favourable environment for the development of their young kids.
The parents, the children, the neighbourhoods, the whys and wherefores... Find out more about 1, 2, 3 GO! in the pamphlet "When the World Revolves Around Young Kids".
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