The Early Years Refugee Program helps refugee families with young children integrate into the Lower Mainland. Refugee children are provided with tailored supports to ensure they’re ready to succeed when they enter school: a critical building block to life-long success and possible freedom from the burden of poverty. Supports include health screening, language and literacy development, information and referral, and outreach to isolated families.

The program will receive approximately $5.75 million to continue through 2014 under an agreement between United Way of the Lower Mainland and the Ministries of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and Responsible for Labour and Children and Family Development. The BC government will contribute $3.9 million and the United Way of the Lower Mainland will contribute $1.75 million to the program.

The Early Years Refugee Program is part of WelcomeBC, the provincial immigrant settlement initiative, which coordinates and supports programs in communities across the province to help immigrants settle successfully in B.C. The program has locations all across the province, and United Way helps fund six sites in Burnaby, Coquitlam, Langley, Richmond, Vancouver and Surrey.