The Winnipeg Boldness Project

The Winnipeg Boldness Project is a new initiative that is aiming to work alongside the North End community to improve outcomes for young children in the Point Douglas area. It has been proven that children do some of their most important development in the first five years of their life. This means that if a child does not have the proper supports for development at this young age, they will likely struggle throughout their education, which ultimately could effect the entire outcome of their lives. Currently, about 50% of kids in the Point Douglas are doing really well in terms of early childhood development (ECD) and are starting school at a point where they’re ready to begin learning and take on the world. What The Winnipeg Boldness Project is aiming to do is raise that number, because we believe that every child should have the same access to opportunity. With the help of the community and its many important partnerships, The Winnipeg Boldness Project has three key deliverables to accomplish by March 2015: 1. Six-year ECD Intervention Strategy: The creation of a 6-year Early Childhood Development (ECD) intervention strategy for future implementation that will help kids aged 0 – 5 years develop the tools they need to succeed in life. 2. Strength-Based Narrative for the North End: The creation of a narrative for the North End of Winnipeg that accents the strengths of the community rather than focusing on the negatives, because we recognize that community pride both within and outside of the North End is a factor in the success of children. We’re proud of the North End and we want everyone to know about it! We’ll do this through story-telling, and other community driven mechanisms, paired with different forms of multimedia, such as still image, video, and social media. 3. Child-centred Model for Best Practices for Raising Children: Relying heavily on the deep community wisdom that already exists in the community, we want to document the things that help children and families lead healthy lives, from a North End perspective. With this knowledge we can then come up with a model that really captures the essence of how we work together as a community, and what we believe to be the best ways to raise children. Within these objectives, the activities of The Winnipeg Boldness Project can be best organized into 5 distinct yet interconnected categories, each one forming a single strand of what has come to be known as the Boldness Braid. In First Nations culture the braid is seen as a symbol of strength and unity, with multiple strands weaving around one another to form one solid and unified connection. Much like a braid, the singular sections of the Winnipeg Boldness Project each have their own purpose and goals, which overlap with one another and work together to become more effective and ultimately achieve a larger goal. The five strands of the braid are: 1. Community Action Research 2. Communications & Community Engagement 3. Evaluation Framework 4. Finance Model 5. Strategic Partnerships Through a community action research process, The Winnipeg Boldness Project is able to immerse itself in the deep pool of knowledge that already exists within the North End and distill from it a strategy that resonates among the community. The Winnipeg Boldness Project firmly believes that children are sacred; each one is a gift that should be placed at the centre of the community and surrounded with the supports he or she needs to develop and grow in a healthy way. By partnering with the community and tapping into the deep pool of knowledge that already exists within its residents, this is a scenario that can be achieved in the North End of Winnipeg.