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Breaking the cycle of poverty is not an easy task. Ending generational poverty requires large-scale commitments to improve education, health, employment and more. Part of this commitment involves the installment of Early Childhood Hubs in two low-income neighborhoods, in Saint John, New Brunswick.

The two Early Childhood Hubs serve families with children under age 5, collaborating with service providers to provide high-quality learning environments and prepare young children (and their families) for the transition to school. The goal of the Early Childhood Hubs is to help every child succeed, from cradle to career.

Thanks to a recent funding contribution from the provincial government’s Social Innovation Fund, the YMCA of Greater Saint John has invited NB-IRDT to join the Early Childhood Hub project. Our early childhood and evaluation experts will be working together in the coming months to provide an evaluation framework and analysis of the project.

Evaluating the impact of these hubs is a key step in achieving this goal, as this will allow Saint John to demonstrate the value of investing differently – ultimately, toachieve better results, improve education outcomes and break the cycle of poverty.