Airdrie Family Services (AFS) in Airdrie, Alberta has launched a social marketing campaign in partnership with Invest in Kids. The 20-week campaign is designed to raise awareness of the importance of a child’s early years, in particular, their healthy social, emotional and intellectual development. The campaign, "What a child will be depends on you and me", gets its name from the official title of Invest in Kids' "Years Before 5" Resource Kit and further encourages the community to visit the Invest in Kids website.

"We wanted to get people connected with early childhood education," says Linda DeLong, AFS Family Resource Program Coordinator. "We believe in the Invest in Kids Resource Kit and in its website. Both are tried and true resources that didn't require us to reinvent the wheel. It was the perfect connection for us."

"Airdrie demonstrated some very creative thinking with this campaign," says Nancy Birnbaum, President & CEO, Invest in Kids. "They leveraged our existing resources to meet their current needs and we're thrilled to have partnered with them in this way. In the end, the more ways we can find to educate parents about early childhood development and parenting, the better it is for all of us, especially our youngest children."

The AFS campaign was made possible by federal and provincial funding and is evidence of how much family services organizations can do with just a little.

"Invest in Kids is ready and willing to share our existing content and our expertise in translating the science of child development into user friendly materials with other groups who want to create similar campaigns," adds Birnbaum.

Airdrie's public awareness campaign will run until August on outdoor billboards and city bus shelters. Approximately 3,000 Invest in Kids Resource Kits will be distributed to parents in Airdrie and surrounding areas.

To discuss partnering with Invest in Kids on your public awareness campaign, click here.

To learn more about Airdrie Family Services, click here.