Outcomes for Organizations

The people who were involved in working on TLC³ at the local sites reported that they and the organizations in which they worked changed too. Program managers/coordinators and some staff members were interviewed during annual site visits by the HDI team. At some of the sites, managers and staff were interviewed as part of the local evaluation process. Key informants in the community were also interviewed for their observations.

Staff involved with the TLC³ project at all sites reported that they:

• gained greater understanding of the importance of promoting early language and cognition;
• received training in specific strategies and tools to use with young children and parents;
• built positive, respectful and warm relationships with parents;
• developed new professional skills and gained confidence in their abilities;
• made new contacts in their professional fields;
• gained appreciation of the value of evaluating programs and learned about how evaluations are done;
• found being part of a project team, locally and nationally, personally fulfilling; and
• were proud of their involvement in this project and its accomplishments.

A typical concern with time-limited projects is that the programs and activities will end when the funding runs out. In the case of TLC³, the HDI team made a point of urging the sites to think about sustainability early and to think about it creatively.

On a national basis, a year after the end of program funding, program managers, staff and key informants reported that:

• host and partner organizations had generally been able to sustain the benefits of TLC³;
• in some provinces, the project's reach went well beyond the local community;
• partnerships forged during this project continued to flourish; and
• host organizations were recognized in their communities as leaders in early childhood development and programming.

Sustainability was achieved in different ways:

• Several sites reported a year after the end of TLC³ program funding that TLC³ programs were being continued with the help of new funding from government or other sources;
• Specific program training received by staff and parents meant that those programs could continue to be offered to families;
• Through professional development, coaching, modeling and other techniques used by TLC³ coordinators/directors, a focus on early language and cognitive development has been integrated into everyday practices and programs in preschools, child care centres, family resource centres and other community settings; and
• Local and national networks of people and organizations committed to promoting optimal early child development have been built.