The Journey Map
Executive Summary
In January 2021, a collaborative project entitled Journeys Through Early Learning & Childcare in Edmonton: The Experiences of Ethnocultural Families was launched between the Multicultural Health Brokers, the Community University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families, and the Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Care. The intention of the work was to gather first-hand accounts of the experiences of ethnocultural parents as they navigated the challenges involved in securing early learning and care for their children in Edmonton.
The intention of the work was to gather first-hand accounts of the experiences of ethnocultural parents as they navigated the challenges involved in securing early learning and care for their children in Edmonton. The project was interested in answering the following questions:
● What are the lived experiences of ethnocultural families as they attempt to access and receive early learning and care in Edmonton?
● What assets, cultural resources, and ways of knowing can be harnessed to improve the system?
● What opportunities exist to shift approaches and practices and catalyze positive change?
The Journeys Project leaned on the cultural brokering skills and expertise of the Multicultural Health Brokers. A brokering approach is anchored in principles that support self-determination, agency, and choice - namely that communities determine their own needs, are full partners in decision-making, benefit from collaboration, and benefit from the transfer of knowledge and skills.
The Journeys Project engaged 30 parents from 8 ethnocultural communities in focus groups. This included participants from the Bhutanese, Chinese-speaking, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Filipino, Kurdish-speaking, Somali, and Spanish-speaking communities.
We then undertook an empathy and journey mapping process to produce ‘personas” and composite stories that illustrate the complex experiences of parents. Each persona/composite story is a semi-fictional account woven together from what we heard from multiple participants and informed by the experiences of the brokers who work directly with ethnocultural families.
The results illuminate opportunities to improve early learning and care for ethnocultural families and their children. These pathways to change include:
1. Empowering Parents: parents expressed a desire to be included in the education process and contribute their talents and cultural wealth toward the betterment of the childcare system.
2. Supporting Language and Culture: parents aspire for the children to be in environments where their home language and cultural identities are nurtured.
3. Facilitating Inclusion and Belonging: parents yearn to be in environments where they feel welcomed and appreciated, and where they can share their experiences.
4. Improving Access and Navigation: parents identified the importance of improving access to childcare via means such as wayfinding and system navigators to help parents access childcare services; reducing language-related barriers for newcomer families; and addressing issues of affordability.
5. Advancing Equity: parents identified the need to address issues of equity and discrimination via practice and policy changes.
We want to thank the parent participants for their contribution to this work and for being so generous with their time and experiences. It is incumbent upon all of us to take their stories with us in our advocacy and program delivery efforts to build a more supportive early learning and care sector.