Better Beginnings, Better Futures is a 25-year primary prevention policy research demonstration project. Its major purpose is to assess the extent to which community-based primary prevention programs can be effective in preventing emotional, behavioural, physical and cognitive problems in children from economically disadvantaged communities. The project grew out of a number of primary prevention initiatives introduced by the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS) since the late 1970s. Eleven sites, four of them located on native reserves, received funding in January, 1991 to establish programs in their communities. From the beginning, a qualitative, naturalistic research approach has been utilized to document and understand the ways in which the programs have developed in the various Better Beginnings communities.