Family Connections is a parent-child coalition made up of early childhood service providers, public agencies, and community stakeholders. The coalition has broad representation from the community. Service providers, public agencies and individuals who make up Family Connections represent constituents in Manitoba’s Interlake. Members of Family Connections are engaged in providing a broad range of services including pre- and post-natal care, parenting education, family literacy, public school, crisis intervention, nutrition education, and community development. The unique advantage that the coalition provides is a vision of A Web of Best Practices, a distributed approach to a southeast Interlake early childhood development program. The overarching goals of The Web are fourfold:
1. To improve the skill and commitment to parenting among parent and primary care givers of children aged 0 to 6 years.
2. To enhance the nutritional knowledge and practices of parents and primary caregivers of children, those not yet born to 6 years of age.
3. To increase opportunities for and accessibility of adult learning and family literacy, particularly for those families with children under 6 years of age.
4. To use methods by which individuals, institutions, and parents develop a voice, a sense of community, and a commitment to the continuous improvement of the community in which children spend the critical first five years. Family Connections began meeting formally on September 17, 2001.