Parent support program Partners for Children has a new home

Whitehorse – Partners for Children (PFC) has a new home. Moving forward, the Network for Healthy Early Human Development (NHEHD) will host the program, instead of Yukon College.

NHEHD is a local non-profit organization dedicated to improving outcomes for children by providing workshops and resources to Yukoners who work with kids, personally or professionally.

“Under Yukon College, this has become a hugely successful program. It has created a real community for early childhood development in the Yukon,” said Tanja Westland, Vice-President of NHEHD. “It’s a great fit for us to take on because it fulfills our mandate and because we have partnered with PFC through the College in the past.”

PFC is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Since it began in 1994, PFC has offered 277 workshops in Whitehorse and surrounding communities to more than 5,000 Yukoners. Two hundred of those participants have laddered into the two-year Early Childhood Development diploma program at the College.

"Yukon College is proud of its long association with Partners for Children,” said Andrew Richardson, Dean, Applied Arts at Yukon College. “In 2015, a comprehensive review of College programs and services suggested that the vital role PFC plays in Yukon's child care community might be enhanced under a new host organization. In the NHEHD, we believe we’ve found that organization, and we are excited for them to start writing this new chapter.”

Longtime PFC coordinator Kate Swales will stay with the program. She will also continue working as an instructor of Early Learning and Child Care at the College.

“Under NHEHD, we will be able to expand in multiple directions and respond to smaller community initiatives,” said Swales. “We’re here to encourage positive early childhood development by using education and by moving outside the classroom.”

For more on upcoming Partners for Children programs: partnersforchildren.info