November 22, 2006 – Thanks to an agreement between the Government of Quebec and the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation (FLAC), 37,000 children who attend a family-type daycare in a disadvantaged neighborhood will now be better prepared for their entry into school.
Lasting at least three years, the agreement1 provides for the injection of $ 12.6 million, of which $ 3.6 million comes from the FLAC2, a Quebec foundation that works to prevent poverty and disease among children and their parents.
These sums will be invested in the training of managers of family day care centers located in deprived neighborhoods. They will also allow them to call on specialists: speech therapists, psychoeducators, psychologists, nutritionists, etc. This will help identify language, learning or behavior problems in preschool children at an early stage.
“This initiative will allow children living in vulnerable families to have an equal chance with others to succeed in the school system and in their lives”, underlined the president of the FLAC, André Chagnon, during the announcement of the agreement.
The FLAC will thus make use of its expertise in this area. Among other things, it has already carried out a pilot project in around thirty early childhood centers, located in disadvantaged areas, with a view to providing support to staff and children.
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
1. To access the press release: http://communiques.gouv.qc.ca [consulté le 22 novembre 2006].
2. PasseportSanté.net is a subsidiary of the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation.
