City of York Council co-launches pioneering £1.5m programme to tackle childhood inequalities
The new collaboration - Fairer Start Local - will bring together specialist teams.
City of York Council is one of three local authorities in the north of England partnering with the charity Nesta to develop and deliver services that will help give all children a fairer start in life.
The new collaboration, Fairer Start Local, will bring together specialist teams from Nesta and the local authorities of Leeds, Stockport and York. They will work together to use evidence-based design, data science and behavioural insights to develop new ways of ensuring that all children aged 0-5 have a fair start in life.
In York, the programme will initially focus on engaging with communities, promoting free health reviews for two-year-olds and improving data to help identify areas and communities with the greatest needs. Projects will include extending a pilot programme to offer parents of two-year-old children pre-booked appointments for health reviews rather than waiting for them to book.
The ambition is to develop pioneering methods to support parents and children across the three local authorities, which each serve distinct and diverse populations. Some interventions will be highly area-specific, embedded in local social and cultural contexts, while others may be applicable across the partnership and in other cities and towns.
Tom Symons, Deputy Director of Nesta’s Fairer Start mission, said:
"We want every child to have the same opportunities to thrive, but sadly that’s not the reality for too many children today. Through Fairer Start Local, we want to make sure that every parent and child has access to the support that they need to get on in life. We’ll be working with council experts who bring a wealth of knowledge, understanding and ideas about how to best support local families. Their strong connections with diverse local communities will help us to develop new approaches that really work for people, providing the right support at the right time and place".
Councillor Ian Cuthbertson, City of York Council’s Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, said:
"While the majority of York’s residents achieve excellent whole of life outcomes, significant inequalities still exist. We recognise the need to continue to focus on the early years if we are to improve the health, education and wellbeing outcomes for our most vulnerable children and young people so as to narrow the gap with their peers.
"This initiative with Nesta is a fantastic opportunity to develop new ways of working and to share best practice with partner authorities, while using Nesta’s expertise to maximise the benefits for families in York."