Sure Start was a flagship policy of the last government - a New Labour initiative launched in 1998 that aimed to address the long-neglected policy area of children's early years. As a large-scale social innovation Sure Start operates across England, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders to deliver a variety of services.

Thirteen years on from its genesis, Sure Start's first Director and Young Foundation trustee Naomi Eisenstadt has written "Providing a Sure Start: How government discovered early childhood"- considering, in depth, the evolution and impact of the Sure Start programme. On the 4th of November we are delighted to be hosting a lunchtime seminar with Naomi to discuss the lessons social innovators today can learn from the challenges and triumphs of the Sure Start programme's development thus far. In particular, Naomi will consider what Sure Start can teach us about large-scale social innovation- tackling questions such as: when is a good time to ‘scale up' a social innovation? How do social innovators best deal with the tensions between community capacity building and local diversity? And does Sure Start offer social innovators today a replicable model for ‘scaling up'?

The event will be held in the Michael Young Room at the Young Foundation - to RSVP please reply to events@youngfoundation.org or alternatively call  +44 (0) 20 8709 9268