The Tri-Cities Early Childhood Development Committee supports the community’s capacity to ensure the availability and accessibility of Early Childhood Development services for children (prenatal to age 6) and their families in the Tri-Cities area.

• We believe that every child in our community should have access to the opportunities necessary to develop to his or her full potential.
• We recognize that children are individuals with unique strengths, learning styles and life experiences.
• We believe that children’s development can be enhanced through enriching the foundation of experiences in the early stages.
• We believe that families are the most important people in a child’s life and that they provide a child’s first, and most significant learning environment.
• We respect the strengths of families and believe that communities can work in partnership with families to enhance opportunities for early childhood development.
• We value the diversity (race, gender, ethnicity, culture, health concerns, age, and learning challenges) of our community and respect different approaches to early childhood development.
• We believe families have a leading role to play to inform the development of plans that promote healthy children, families and communities.
• We are committed to recognizing and acknowledging the elements that are working well for young children and their families in our community.
• We are committed to developing initiatives that build on existing community assets and respond to identified community needs.
• We are committed to the development of a range of initiatives, designed to enhance early child development, that are inclusive of children with diverse needs and abilities.
• We are committed to making decisions that are collaborative, evidence-based, and community-driven.
• We are committed to a process that is open, accountable and inclusive.
• Every effort will be made, throughout the process, to develop and implement initiatives that are sustainable.

In 2019 the Tri-Cities Early Childhood Development Committee and Middle Childhood Matters Committee accomplished the following:

• Updated Tri-Cities Children’s Accord, including the Tri-Cities Children’s Charter, signed on May 10, 2018.Will be re-affirmed in April and May 2019.
• Continued distribution of Child Development Wheels - these are being distributed at the 20+ events that the ECD Committee attends annually and through community agencies
• Completed the distribution of the 2018 Tri-Cities Community Map, in partnership with the Tri-Cities Literacy Committee. 
• Hosted the 9^th Annual Champions for Young Children Awards of Excellence on May 10, 2018
• Continued participation in the planning and delivery of the annual “Tri-Cities Healthy Kids Fair”; monthly Family, Play and Learn Events at Coquitlam Centre ; and Ready, Set, Learn events
• Maintenance of Tri-Cities ECD Website (www.tricitiesecd.ca); social media presence on Twitter @tricitiesecd
• Co-hosted the annual Child Care Appreciation event on  May 16, 2018
• Planned and delivered professional development events for ECD Practitioners: A Family’s Journey with a Child on the Autism Spectrum in October; Creating Inclusive Spaces Through a SOGI Lens in January 2019: and our annual Family Drop-In Programs Pro-D Day, which was held in February 2019.
• Collaboration with the Middle Childhood Matters Committee on the official launch of the Tri-Cities Children’s Charter on April 18, 2018.
• Continued work on the “Screen Smart” Initiative with Middle Childhood and other Community partners
• Supported the advisory committee for the “Tri-Cities Early Years Centre”. The Centre’s funding ended on March 31, 2019.
• Worked with the Tri-Cities Healthy Living Working Group to continue promoting the Live 5-2-1-0 message to the Tri-Cities.
• With the goal of promoting family friendly businesses, we have continued our Family Friendly Business Working Group, with several of our business partners, and placed book boxes in several local businesses.
• Hosted Annual Research Day with Middle Childhood Matters in November of 2018.
• Created a 2018 Tri-Cities Report on Children and Families.
• Participated in the Child Care Task Force initiated by School District 43.
• Worked on the amalgamation of the early and middle childhood websites, creating a new website – www.tckm.ca (Tri-Cities Kids Matter)
• Worked with the Healthier Community Partnership to recommend that the cities all refer to the Children’s Charter on their websites

Our Mission is to bring together stakeholders with a concern for children aged 6 to 12 and their families within the Tri-Cities to:

• Enhance cooperation, planning and community capacity to support children
• Promote community awareness of the relevant research and practices
• Increase understanding of the factors contributing to healthy children

Our Vision is to see Tri-Cities children aged 6-12 develop strong core values, social/emotional competency and approaches to healthy living so that they can succeed in their teen years and beyond.

• Staying child-centred
• Being family-focused
• Honouring accessibility (e.g. cost, geography, diversity)
• Empowering community
• Ensuring inclusion
• Engaging collaboration
• Building upon community strengths
• Responding to community needs
• Creating connectivity / sense of belonging