The Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) was selected as the 2015 winner of the first Carol Matusicky Distinguished Service to Families Award, presented by the BC Council for Families.
Dr. Paul Kershaw with the award, accepted on behalf of HELP, with nominator Joseph Dunn of Success By 6 BC. Credit: HELP
HELP is a collaborative, interdisciplinary research network based at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia that brings together many scientific viewpoints to address complex child development issues to help children and families thrive. Using their Early Development Instrument (EDI) questionnaire and their Middle Development Instrument (MDI), HELP has collected information on the state of children’s development in BC’s schools.
Joel Kaplan, Executive Director of the BC Council for Families stated that HELP was chosen for their leadership in making child development research accessible and meaningful for planning at the provincial, regional and neighbourhood level.
“The research illustrates how different early environments and experiences contribute to social inequalities in children’s development by school age, and to their life chances,” says Joseph Dunn of Success By 6 BC, a provincial early years partnership, who nominated HELP.
Joel Kaplan, Executive Director of the BC Council for Families stated that HELP was chosen for their leadership in making child development research accessible and meaningful for planning at the provincial, regional and neighbourhood level.
The award is presented to an organization, collaboration, program or individual family services professional that provides exemplary preventative family life education and support programs in BC. It was established in 1987, and was renamed the Carol Matusicky Distinguished Service to Families Award in 2014 to honour the Council’s late Executive Director. Carol served the agency with distinction for 23 years, from 1984 to 2007 advocating for families and children across the province.