A COMMUNITY INITIATIVE

THE FOOTHILLS CHILDREN’S WELLNESS NETWORK The FCWN was created to promote the importance of early childhood development. We are a collaborative network of people, communities, and early childhood services in the Foothills region; all working together to coordinate and maximize resources to support the growth and development of happy, healthy children.

it takes a village to raise a child

Theory coming to life through: COLLECTIVE IMPACT Theory coming to life through: Partnership Collaboration Action The structure of the Network is based on the Theoretical Framework of Collective Impact. The work of the whole network is greater than the sum of an individual agency / partner

U.S. NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL ON THE DEVELOPING CHILD WHAT WE KNOW… “The experiences children have early in life – and the environments in which they have them – shape their developing brain architecture and strongly affect whether they grow up to be healthy, productive members of society.” WORKING PAPER #10, U.S. NATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL ON THE DEVELOPING CHILD A COMMUNITY INITIATIVE

Translating Science A gap was evident in what Scientists knew from research and what most people believed about childhood development and how it relates to lifelong health.   The Core Story of Child Development To address this gap between science and public understanding, scientists from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and the Harvard Center on the Developing Child collaborated with strategic communications experts at the FrameWorks Institute to craft a scientific narrative called "The Core Story of Child Development."

Pre-school programs School Post school/ Job training 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 18 Return per $ Invested Rates of return graph This graph shows that every $1 invested in preschool programming yields a 800 per cent return. Every $1 invested in the school years yields a 200 per cent return and $1 invested in the post school years produces a 100 per cent return. Investing in young children yields huge economic returns and is the most cost effective human capital investment, as James Heckman, a Nobel Laureate in Economics — and many studies — have pointed out. Graph adapted from Founders’ Network (Carneiro, Heckman, Human Capital Policy, 2003) Heckman, J.J. (2006) The Economics of Investing in Early Childhood. Presentation given at The Niftey Conference, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 8 February 2006 Age A COMMUNITY INITIATIVE

We thank our sponsors for 2017! Alberta Health Services Calgary Rural Primary Care Network