CATCH Coalition Survey on Early Childhood Development

NEWS RELEASE

Central Okanagan residents want to help kids… and think they need help!

Kelowna, BC – Overwhelmingly, residents of the Central Okanagan approve using their tax dollars to support early childhood development and learning initiatives. While the overall findings of a recent telephone survey were not surprising to Menno Salverda, manager of the CATCH Coalition based in the Central Okanagan, the level of support definitely was.
“The survey showed that 89 percent of the respondents were in favour of government support for young children,” he said. “That was a surprise, but certainly not the only one, or the biggest!”
The recent telephone survey of 250 Central Okanagan residents revealed some startling information about the attitudes of residents about children living in their community.
“For example, as well as supporting the use of their taxes for children’s initiatives, 79 percent also believe that the community should provide some support to parents and their children,” he said. “I think this shows that, at least in the Central Okanagan, people recognize that children really are our future, that parenting can be a challenging role, and that the community has an obligation to step in and help out.”
While there was a huge level of support for children overall, there were also concerns about how children are perceived in the community.
“Respondents were asked to choose two words to describe children these days, and the first word mentioned by 57 percent was negative. They used words like difficult, unruly, undisciplined and troubled. The second word mentioned by 62 percent was also negative and 60 percent used negative descriptors for both of their choices.”
Salverda also noted another surprising finding. “We were surprised that 77 percent don’t know about the research that links the early years with how the child turns out in their teen and adult years,” he said. “I guess that those of us involved in early childhood development, whether in the medical, educational or care giving professions, are very aware of the research that clearly indicates these linkages and we assume everyone knows about them.”

He explained, “We see the consequences of a difficult childhood all the time, so we were completely surprised that so many didn’t know about it. I guess it is such a basic and important connection to the safety and health of our communities that we simply assume that everyone sees it.”
The Community Action Toward Children’s Health (CATCH) coalition is made up of most Central Okanagan organizations and individuals who either are directly involved in children’s health and welfare issues or are interested partners, such as provincial and local governments, educators, non-profit organizations, businesses and health professionals.
The survey of 250 respondents was conducted by Discovery Research as part of the group’s work in improving the lives of children in the Central Okanagan. The survey results are accurate within ±6.2 percent 19 times out of 20.
A summary of the survey is available on the CATCH website under the “What’s New” heading.

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For more information:
Menno Salverda
(250) 763-5100, ext. 222