The Windows of Opportunity Coalition established in 1997, is a unique broad based coalition of over 55 community and public, child, youth and family serving agencies in Vancouver, that is committed to a universal, comprehensive, “prevention oriented” approach to supporting healthy child, youth and family development. The Coalition believes that investing in the early years and supporting youth through transitions are windows of opportunity. Cost-benefit studies show it costs us 5-10 times more to ignore the common root causes of most social problems than to prevent or intervene early with effective services.
Vision
Vancouver is a City where all children and youth are valued, respected and nurtured, loved and given the opportunity to develop to their full potential as creative, competent, caring and responsible adults.
Mission Statement
To foster a collective sense of responsibility by all citizens of Vancouver to:
Increase School Readiness
Promote Healthy ECD/Learning
Promote Healthy Newborns
Support Families
Working together as a collective voice
Windows of Opportunity is committed to building Vancouver as a safe and caring city where:
- All children, youth and families have the right to the economic, physical, food, clothing, housing, social, educational, recreational, health and cultural resources they need to fully develop and engage as healthy citizens.
- Children, youth and families, particularly those who are vulnerable, have full access to an integrated and comprehensive continuum of prevention and early identification services.
The Windows Coalition:
- Facilitates networking, information –sharing, professional development and partnership opportunities
- Encourages joint advocacy for and collaborative responses to emerging trends and issues
- Supports strategies to strengthen city-wide assets, communication mechanisms, collective planning and intersectoral coordination
- Participates in research and projects to further best practices in prevention and early identification programs