Why Community Partnerships are so important?
For many families, early childhood settings often provide their first contact with a wider community beyond the home. Licensed Childcare Centres act as an important point of connection for families with other organizations and services in the local community. These connections are essential to two of the core foundations of belonging and well-being that How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years is based around.
By creating strong relationships with the local community, educators arm themselves with invaluable information and resources. By drawing on community knowledge and expertise, educators are able to provide children with learning experiences that are meaningful and relevant to their lives by understanding the children and families of their Centre.
“Opportunities to engage with people, places, and the natural world in the local environment help children, families, educators, and communities build connections, learn and discover, and make contributions to the world around them” (HDLH).
One of the Children’s Village of Ottawa-Carleton’s primary beliefs is that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ and that children grow up as a part of a community. Each one of our community partners represents a piece to the puzzle. We all fit together to create an agency that provides Licensed Home Childcare, Licensed Centre-based Childcare, Summer Camps and Resource programs that offer quality child care and support to communities in the City of Ottawa and it’s suburbs. Children blossom in an environment of mutually supportive and caring relationships. It is important for children to feel part of a wider community that encompasses beyond the learning environment. As children develop, links to the outside world help them find their place, to learn how society works, and to distinguish and comprehend the shared values that reinforce our society.
Our Community Partners
- Children’s Inclusion Support Services
- City of Ottawa
- Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa
- Confederation Court Community House
- Debra Dynes Family House
- First Words
- Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre
- Ministry of Education
- Nepean Housing Corporation
- Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
- Ottawa Catholic School Board
- Ottawa Food Bank
- Ottawa Public Health
- Ottawa Public Library
- Quantum Lifecycle Partners
- Russell Heights Community House
- Somerset West Community Health Centre
Reference:
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2014). How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years. Toronto.