Children born into disadvantage are more likely to experience poorer health, lower earnings and lower levels of happiness than their peers. Social innovation agency Nesta has been working with local authorities to trial, adapt and improve services to support children in their earliest years.
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    Hessy Elliott
    Senior Analyst, A Fairer Start Mission, Nesta
    Hessy is a senior analyst at Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good. She works in the A Fairer Start mission, one of Nesta’s core strategic areas which aims to tackle inequality and disadvantage in early years and education. Hessy has helped build Nesta’s Early Years Innovation Partnerships with City of York Council, Leeds City Council, and Stockport Council with Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

    She has worked closely with York and Leeds on their initial Discovery projects, undertaking collaborative research using a range of innovation methods to identify opportunities to improve support for families with young children in the early years. She is now working with the three councils to help co-design a programme of work for the long-term Innovation Partnerships programme, which aims to reimagine services and support for children and families and pursue a measurable impact on children’s outcomes.

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    LJ Woodward
    Locality Lead (Health and Early Intervention), Stockport Family
    LJ is a locality leader of integrated health, early years and early help teams in Stockport Family. She is a champion of radical service integration to achieve the best for early years children and families. LJ has been a motivating force in the development and implementation of the Start Well Early Years Strategy. She is passionate about inspiring parents to take part and lead parent support groups, building their own confidence and producing huge benefits for their children. LJ has led the research and evaluation of several initiatives including Empowering Parents Empowering Communities and is committed to ensuring that evidence and data inform service development and transformation.