Understanding the Early Years

By funding local not-for-profit organizations, Understanding the Early Years (UEY) helps communities to gather quality, early childhood development information on

• how their young children are developing;
• family and community factors that influence children's development; and
• the availability of local resources to support young children and their families.

Parents, teachers, decision-makers, and others interested in the well-being of children in each community can then work together to address issues identified by this information.

UEY is a national initiative that enables members of communities to better understand the needs of their young children and families so that they can strengthen or design local programs and services to meet those needs.

A major objective of UEY is to enhance the capacity of communities to use quality local information to mobilize the community, and to make informed and collective decisions on concrete actions that enhance children's lives by building on the strengths of local approaches to support young children and their families.

Information

• Documents and Reports
• Understanding the Early Years - Terms 

Projects

• UEY Communities
  • Phase I UEY Communities (2005-2008)

UEY Community Research Reports

• Pilot Projects
• An Update of Early Childhood Development Results in Four Canadian Communities - July 2005