Impetus – Sutton Early Years Initiative
A child’s life chances are still heavily determined at birth. Disadvantaged children start lagging behind their better off peers before they even start school. To close that gap, the Sutton Trust is partnering with Impetus to launch an initiative focused on working with disadvantaged parents and their young children, to tackle inequality at its roots.
The first years in a child’s life are crucial in laying the foundations for successful cognitive, emotional and physical development. Research clearly shows that negative behaviours can be engrained at a very early age – aggressive male behaviour (the single best predictor for violence later in life) is stable as early as age 2; and cognitive development at 22 months correlates strongly to educational attainment in later life.
There are a significant number of interventions that have been proven to be able to turn the tide – supporting the most disadvantaged families and their young children through those crucial initial years, making a significant difference to children’s life chances as they start school.
We want to support these programmes and ensure they reach many more children and families. To this end, the Impetus - Sutton Early Years Initiative will invest in successful early years interventions specifically working with disadvantaged parents and their children aged 0 to 5 with the goal of closing the gap in school readiness for those children. It is looking to work with ambitious organisations that wish to significantly enhance and improve their current impact. Organisations will receive, over a period of 4 / 5 years, a support package comprised of unrestricted funding of up to £350,000 in addition to tailored capacity-building support from the Impetus investment team and network of consultants and advisers.
The first three initiatives to receive funding are Family Links, I CAN and Ripplez, all of which have been selected for their evidence-based work with economically disadvantaged children aged 0 – 5 and their parents.
It is hoped that the size of the fund will grow over time, with other individual investors and grantmakers contributing both money and experience.
More details of the initiative, Impetus Trust and the support they offer are available at: http://www.impetus.org.uk/what's-new/.
