UpStart Focuses on Recreation in Critical Hours and Early Childhood Education and Care

On November 30, Casey Boodt, Interim Director of Upstart, met with the Council of Champions to refine the direction of UpStart’s work and the structure of the organization moving forward.  The following is an interview with Casey that outlines the changes taking place:

You’ve refined UpStart’s work.  Can you explain how and why? 

In the past, UpStart’s work was usually described or presented from an activities point of view. What that resulted in was a long list of things that UpStart was pursuing which, while serving as an adequate description of the work that was undertaken, did not always provide an answer to the question of “why?” or the question of “so what?”

When working at the collaborative level, being able to answer these questions is critical to keeping everyone engaged and on track. It also makes it possible to reflect on how these activities are related to our overall objectives and goals, and assess the extent to which we are making progress.

To make sense of Upstart’s previous and recent work, all of the organization’s activities were examined from the perspective of the issue being addressed and the outcomes that were anticipated. This analysis revealed that UpStart has achieved considerable momentum and achievement in two broad areas:

• Critical hours and after school recreation; and,
• Laying the groundwork for an Early Childhood Development (ECD) or Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) agenda at the provincial level.

We also found that UpStart’s collaborative groups have the capacity to focus on achievable issues and have the ability to work in new and exciting ways. Moving forward, Upstart will:

• Focus on activities that will yield short-term outcomes linked to our long-term goals;
• Mobilize key partners and community members to maximize impact starting with Critical Hours and an ECD/ECEC Agenda;
• Generate information to support policy change when the opportunity arises;
• Shift to being a co-convenor with other key partners around issues related to children and youth; and,
• Ensure UpStart’s branding reflects our issues to generate interest and involvement.

Has the organization’s vision and mission changed? 

UpStart’s vision of “A Calgary community committed to children and youth achieving their potential” remains in place for the time being. I say for the time being because UpStart has not identified a clear youth issue that it can champion and we’re still defining what we mean by “A Calgary community”.

UpStart’s mission on the other hand has become more refined and focused on making life better for kids through innovative policy, systems and practice change.

In practical terms, this means UpStart will focus on co-convening around the systems and practice issues that stand in the way of children and youth achieving their potential.

What will success look like for UpStart?  

In the past, UpStart measured its success by referring to the nature and extent of its collaborative networks and the achievements arising out of those efforts. Moving forward, we’ll know we are being successful not only by those measures, but also by tracking outcomes.

For example, UpStart will know it is successful when there are more opportunities for children to participate in recreation and other types of programs at schools in their communities.  

Other indicators of success will be the number of changes implemented by school districts to facilitate this programming and the identification of sources of sustainable funding for critical hours programming.

What impact does this have on UpStart’s Task Forces? 

UpStart will co-convene with other key stakeholders and mobilize those who have a direct impact on systems and practice change. In practical terms, this means that over time, various groups of people will work together to address specific issues, create strategies, and implement solutions. These solutions will either directly change systems and practice or generate information that can be used to influence policy makers when the timing is most appropriate.

What kind of commitment do you need from volunteers? 

As always, UpStart’s continuing success depends on the commitment and involvement of the wide array of volunteers who work in areas that affect the developmental path of children. UpStart will continue to recruit volunteers and individuals of influence from across all sectors to ensure that children and youth are successful in achieving their full potential.

Final thoughts?

The analysis we’ve done over the past few months positions us to focus in on areas where we can create positive change. There is a readiness in our community to make headway on these issues, and it’s exciting to move into the New Year with a clear sense of purpose and a new way of working.  We’d like to acknowledge the tremendous contribution made by our volunteers in 2009 and we look forward to a productive year in 2010.