Better Beginnings, Better Futures: Theory, research, and knowledge transfer of acommunity-based initiative for children and families

Abstract

Better Beginnings, Better Futures is an early childhood initiative focused on promoting healthy developmentof children and families in economically disadvantaged communities. The Better Beginnings approach isecological and holistic, community-driven, integrated with existing community services and supports, anduniversally available to children aged 4-8 within communities in which it is offered. The Better Beginningsinitiative effectively illustrates the concept of wellness as fairness through its efforts to create more justsocial conditions and its connection to both procedural and distributive justice, the two principles offairness outlined by Prilleltensky (2012). Through the development of programs that support children,parents, families, and the community as a whole, Better Beginnings initiatives are able to promotechildren's development by building community capacity to create healthy and positive environments forchildren. This paper provides an overview of the Better Beginnings, Better Futures initiative from its outsetin 1990 to the present, with a view towards examining the ways in which knowledge generated from suchinitiatives can be transferred to other communities.