Stronger Together: How Early Years Leaders are Innovating Together

At SVP Vancouver, we know that when leaders connect, possibilities multiply. That’s why our work is about more than writing cheques—it’s about intentionally creating the conditions for collaboration that lead to stronger programs and better outcomes for children and families.

The Early Years Innovation Fund is one example. By supporting a cohort of organizations serving children aged 0–6, a critical window in child development, we helped strengthen programming that directly reached 12,434 children across more than 81,000 program touchpoints in just one year. Just as importantly, we brought leaders together who were facing similar challenges and delivering complementary programs. Through events, coaching, networking, and peer-to-peer connections, we created a community where organizations could problem-solve and innovate side by side, rather than in isolation.

Those connections are strengthening programs in concrete ways. New Westminster Family Place (NWFP) partnered with Learn. Develop. Succeed. (LDS), gaining staff training to better support neurodiverse children, while NWFP opened doors for LDS to connect with other early years organizations. Richmond Family Place now refers families to BabyGoRound, ensuring parents have both prenatal education and essential baby gear. Leaders like NWFP’s Dana Osiowy and Dual Credit Enhancement Program (DCEP)’s Monique Belanger are exchanging ideas on strength-based approaches, helping each other adapt practices that strengthen how their programs support children and families.

Collaboration doesn’t stop at the edges of our network. When SVP helps leaders test new approaches and strengthen their leadership, they carry those innovations outward into the wider community. With SVP’s support, NWFP launched its “Bringing Family Place to the Streets” strength-based model—and is now extending that approach through training and partnerships with Victoria Family Place, New West Parks & Rec, and local libraries. 

For children and families, this means exponential growth in access to programs shaped by a strength-based methodology—approaches that are more effective and transformative. Strength-based practice is backed by decades of research showing that when programs are designed to build on families’ strengths, rather than focus only on their challenges, we see better outcomes for children. 

The impact is visible: last year, NWFP welcomed 20,000 participants—a 25% increase from the year before, achieved without additional staffing.

At SVP, we go beyond the grant; we invest in the connections and capacity that turn good work into lasting change. Stronger leaders are working together, stronger approaches are spreading, and children are benefitting every step of the way.

Want to learn more about how SVP is continuing to support the Early Years? Reach out to Helen.