Grants

YouthMADE Take 2 (YMT2): Climate Matters is an intergenerational media production, facilitation training and educational outreach program. It will see 24 diverse youth from 8 (primarily rural and under-resourced) Indigenous communities gathering to work with accomplished Indigenous filmmakers, activists, elders and allies to create and disseminate a series of digital stories. These works will focus on the impacts that resource extraction and environmental destruction have had on the communities / territories noted in Question 14 and also explore potential solutions for change. This project is a direct response to the need (expressed by previous participants and community partners) to: - nourish the skills base of the next generation of land stewards and community leaders—especially Indigenous youth who tend to be disproportionately impacted by large-scale resource extraction projects. - develop educational resources and workshops that are created and facilitated by young people whose experience of the current climate challenges are grounded in local knowledge and experience.

In the past year, Arts Umbrella has focused on preparing for the launch of two facilities in Surrey; one in the South (primarily tuition based) and one in Surrey Centre (primarily free-of-charge). In Fall 2012, we will begin the delivery of our free-of-charge Surrey Outreach programs from our Surrey Centre facility, firmly establishing Arts Umbrella as a permanent presence and stable support organization for at-risk children in the Surrey Centre area. Arts Umbrella will provide arts workshops that are sensitive to the needs of Surrey’s diverse child population, with a particular focus on supporting children facing unique settlement challenges in their new Canadian home. Arts outreach programs will run both after school and over spring break. With the activation of this free-of-charge programming through a new permanent Surrey Centre facility, we will be able to forge new connections and establish meaningful relationships with Surrey families, schools and other community organizations, and thereby further increase access to supportive services for vulnerable Surrey children.

The Seniors for Seniors Project is a senior-led initiative that will address the Health and Wellness & Belonging and Inclusion of seniors living on the Westside. The project will engage local seniors and community partners to help design, develop and implement a new one-stop Seniors Resource Centre for vulnerable seniors and individuals with physical disabilities to access info and referral services, navigate systems of care and support, and participate in programs that promote healthy living and social connection. The Kits House Seniors Resource Centre is centrally located on 8th & Vine Street, close to public transit and is wheelchair accessible. The Westside has one of the highest concentrations of seniors in Vancouver, and many are living alone with a low income, lacking support systems, feeling isolated and facing many health challenges. The Seniors for Seniors Project will address community-identified needs by providing advocacy, information and peer support services, health and social programs, and opportunities for seniors to volunteer and contribute in meaningful ways.

Sole Food Farm will develop an Urban Orchard on one of our established urban farm sites. We will continue to employ residents of the DTES and provide hands-on skills training in grafting, planting, pruning, maintaining and harvesting fruit trees in an urban environment. This project will directly increase the amount and diversity of local food made available in our community while reducing food miles, increasing urban tree canopy, and diversifying native pollinator food sources.

We are developing a network of partners to increase social connectedness in Delta. Evidence suggests that individual organizations are struggling to be wholly inclusive. Many have indicated a desire to connect with other organizations and stakeholders with little capacity to do this effectively. We will bring together non-traditional partners to create unique collaborative practices. Diversity will create a synergy that informs, communicates, advocates, and engages members in sustainable community solutions. According to Wightman (Spring 2012) local engagement strategies are weak and communities must find ways to engage citizens (p. 7). We will accomplish this through action based research and community engagement. The first stage of the project is to engage local organizations and businesses in dialogue to help identify assets and gaps that impact social isolation. The second stage will be to create a community plan with broad community input. Forums will occur in each of Delta's three communities to leverage social capital and implement the recommendations locally.

The CYEC provides a safe, supportive environment where children who have experienced/ witnessed abuse, have a mental health diagnosis or are isolated (i.e belong to marginalized communities) can share experiences, identify and talk about feelings, improve self-esteem, and enhance communication and conflict resolution skills. The CYE camps are free full-day camps, held one week at a time in schools, divided up based on age and run during school breaks (spring, summer). Nearly 200 participants attended the last spring and summer camps. The camp's innovation comes from the delivery model utilized: it uses a team approach, using staff from several different counselling and outreach programs, all of whom have different expertise they share in individual, small-group work and workshops. There is also significant time devoted to indoor and outdoor play activities and opportunities to connect with community resources. Partners in the camps include police, fire, school districts, and city recreational services. The camps have been so popular that several cities have requested them

Vancouver Farmers Markets is a leading partner in the development of a local food hub for the City of Vancouver. With construction anticipated to start in 2014-15, the New City Market (NCM) will provide a significant public asset for generations of Vancouverites and BC farmers, featuring a year-round farmers market, supply aggregation & distribution support and commercial micro-processing kitchen. NCM will increase long-term capacity and revenues for local small and medium scale rural and urban growers and value-added micro-processors, and will increase access to these local products by Vancouver food buyers such as institutions, community groups, chefs, small retailers and the general public. As a result, NCM will provide environmental benefits, local economic development, increased training, skills development and employment opportunities, and increased public awareness about locally-produced foods and BC agriculture for generations to come. A site has been identified and a final governance model and business plan is anticipated for fall, 2012. Project details: newcitymarket.org.

The Golden Youth Engagement project is a collaborative youth-lead project that enhances opportunities for youth and strengthens the links between youth and the community. This project aims to empower youth to be leaders in our community and enhance civic engagement opportunities for youth. The Golden Youth Engagement project will operate out of the newly created Golden Youth Centre. The Youth Center will create formal and informal engagement opportunities between the community and youth and serve as a bridge between youth and the community. Key community organizations have committed to providing in-kind staff support to engage with youth out of the Youth Centre by committing to working or volunteering at of the Youth Centre one evening per month as well as co-facilitating workshops and activities with youth and youth centre staff.

The Bagel Club Catering Social Enterprise project is a catering business that specializes in Vegetarian Mediterranean Cuisine. This service offers high quality food while training and employing adults with special needs. Participants learn all the elements of how to work and operate a catering business. These include meal preparations, food safety, and customer service. Participants are paid an hourly rate for their service. This is led by Bagel Club Catering trained staff, assisted by outside professionals such as chefs, nutritionists, and business people. Participants are trained and employed with Bagel Club Catering with the goal of part time employment. This project meets the growing need of training and employment opportunities for able special needs adults. Our persons served want to contribute to their community and society. It heightens their self worth and allows them to increase their income and lessen reliance on government funds. In addition, we see that in the past year there is a great need for this business in the community.

Our mission is to foster employment for individuals facing major barriers to work, particularly those with mental and physical disabilities. We do this through the social enterprises we support which provide (a) sustained, dignified, and meaningful employment for our participants and (b) a way for consumers to support social values through their purchases. Social enterprises have gained recognition as excellent tools for providing employment to individuals facing barriers to work, including those with disabilities. Through our own social enterprise work since 2006, we too have had success: 30 individuals facing major barriers had employment in 2010, 28 of these faced a disability, 17 of those 28 have been employed for more than one year, and 11 have been employed for more than two years.

The Burnaby Youth Hub opened in 2010 to give vulnerable youth easier access to educational, health and therapeutic services. A range of services previously scattered throughout Burnaby are now offered in one warm and welcoming location. Your support would help maintain the position of a Coordinator to facilitate this one-stop shop of services. Services are offered by individual agencies and organizations that collaborate to customize support for youth with multiple needs. These youth are not connected to the community and the Hub offers them opportunities for better life chances, greater economic independence and ensures they are living out of harms way. Services include an educational program, clinic, youth centre, counselling and job readiness and skills training and other services. Government, non-profit and community agencies work together to help each youth reach their potential. The Coordinator supports youth, service providers and staff, provides oversight of the network of agencies at the Hub, attends to physical plant issues and promotes the Hub to the community.

NEONOLOGY 2.0 emerged from the success of the NEONOLOGY Initiative. Under the direction of NSWAC (NS immigrant planning table - 17 orgs), NSMS developed NEONOLOGY as a model of best practices in diversity and anti-oppression education. NEONOLOGY has engaged more than 3000 grade 10 students in workshops exploring power, privilege, stereotypes, and the underlying causes of discrimination. Over 80% of these students indicated that the workshops increased their understanding of discrimination and its impact on the community. Students and teachers urged NSMS staff to offer a similar workshop to younger students, saying that students need to understand issues of diversity before entering high school. Research confirmed discrimination and isolation as risk factors for NS children preparing for high school1. In response to this need NSMS will deliver NEONOLOGY 2.0, a program engaging grade 6/7 students in developmentally appropriate anti-oppression and anti-bullying themed workshops in their classrooms. Students in grades 10-12 will be trained to provide mentorship to the grade 6/7 student.

Leading the Way will establish a Province-wide peer support network that will provide gender-specific support and interventions for women living with HIV. Peer Mentor candidates will be chosen from a pool of women who have graduated from Leadership Training through the Pacific AIDS Network Leadership Institute, our current volunteer pool and from our long-standing members who have served as national and regional delegates. Participants will represent the mosaic of women living with HIV in BC. The network will be established in all health regions of British Columbia (two representatives from the Interior) and will work in partnership with local service providers to ensure women are receiving optimum care and support, and address the issues and community priorities identified in LEAD that are specific to women living with HIV.

The Academy is seeking support from the Vancouver Foundation to help us bring a world of musical opportunities to students from inner city schools. Addressing the critical need for high quality afterschool activities has been identified as a priority in supporting the well being of children, youth and families in our inner city neighbourhoods. We are seeking funding of $25,000 per year for three years to pay the salary of a Music Outreach Coordinator. This position will facilitate the expansion and development of our music program at three elementary schools. Their responsibilities would include: building strong partnerships with elementary school staff, securing teachers, scheduling of classes, transportation of students to the Academy, special events coordination and administration of the outreach program.

Over the last 12 years, the Networks have been successful in developing the capacity of BC educators to deliver quality and equity education for BC students. Drawing on this successful educator leadership model, we would now like to extend our focus to student leadership and connectedness to the school community. The current Networks employ teacher-led inquiry projects to further their own professional learning and the learning outcomes of their students. This new project will be built around student-led inquiry projects that involve students, educators, and school communities, particularly through the Aboriginal Schools Enhancement Network. We seek funding to support the following activities: student-led inquiry-based projects in 40 school communities in BC, involving the school community (i.e. families, Elders, community partners); adaptive learning for educators to enable them to carry out this model with success and confidence; and pre- and- post analysis of students’ learning and connectedness to school/community.

Sooke School District intends to offer a Nature Kindergarten program, beginning in September 2012, that provides Kindergarten students with outdoor learning every morning regardless of the weather. In natural, outdoor settings, the students will engage in increased physical activity and develop strong connections to the natural world and the Aboriginal Ways of Knowing. This model was inspired by forest preschools, which were started in northern Europe almost fifty years ago, and can now be found throughout Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The Nature Kindergarten will be taught by both a Kindergarten teacher and an early childhood educator (ECE). This teaching model and program are unique within the B.C. public school system. Nature Kindergarten aims to address a growing need for young children to spend more time outdoors connecting to nature. University research partners will study the academic, personal and social benefits of this model. This is a two-year 'proof of concept' pilot, that, if successful is hoped to be replicated in school districts across B.C. and beyond.

The Mentorship Employment Program will provide opportunities for both young adults with developmental disabilities and the local business communities to broaden their expectations of how persons with disabilities can meaningfully contribute in the workplace. The Program will help participants discover and develop their interests and skills in the pursuit of employment opportunities, and will facilitate increased accessibility and inclusion in Sea to Sky communities and labour markets. The Program will provide participants with opportunities to explore 3 employment options through supported unpaid and short term employment experience in order to find the best/most appropriate employment opportunities, where both employee and employer needs are satisfied. SSCS is uniquely positioned to successfully deliver this program using our related experience and existing collaborative networks. We have been helping adults in their career choices since 1990 and have worked effectively with partners in many of our employment and disability focused programs.

SCACL is embarking on a three year initiative to develop their commercial store front into a sustainable social enterprise that offers community inclusion and employment opportunities to persons with disabilities. The concept is to operate a "Garden to Table Food Hub". The store front would offer sales of local produce and value added food products, resources, training in food production and catering, sustainable gardening workshops, community kitchens and a shared commercial kitchen. The "Food Hub" would offer exciting sustainable employment opportunities in agriculture and food production and expand social and community inclusion opportunities to persons who are marginalized by traditional work hours and places. The idea for the project came from meeting other successful social enterprises such as SOLE Foods in Vancouver and the growing of our own food over the past two years. SCACL has been meeting for over a year with community groups about the concept of the "Food Hub" and has several partnerships and consultants in place to assist in the development and success of the project.

Dying, when complicated by uncontrolled symptoms and without the benefit of specialized palliative resources, is traumatic for all involved and leaves a collective community memory. Local community members and care providers in the regions of Trail and Castlegar have identified a critical need for a community-based team approach to respond to the significant challenges that exist in providing high quality, cohesive rural palliative care. UBC Okanagan School of Nursing faculty member, and Canada Research Chair, Dr. Barb Pesut, along with community health nurse, bereavement counselor, and Trail Hospice Society board member Brenda Hooper, are currently engaged in building connections with local health and palliative care professionals and volunteers so as to provide an integrating link for patients and families to community resources. This multi-sector team will work to create a sustainable model of care that will provide coordinated and accessible end-of-life support, impacting the quality of care, and ultimately the quality of life, for dying individuals and their families.

This project focuses on enabling inner city aboriginal youths in the Lower Mainland and at First Nations schools throughout BC to acquire the necessary mathematical skills to enroll in post-secondary programs in science, engineering and other technical professions. This will be achieved through a combination of activities targeting both students and teachers, including summer math camps, mentorship programs, homework clubs and teacher training workshops. In Vancouver, a year-round support network will be established for at-risk students, including: tutoring by undergraduate mentors, homework clubs and summer math camps. There will be a camp for students transitioning into high school and a separate one for seniors, where students will have an opportunity to work with scientists and other faculty at UBC. Summer camps and mentorship programs will be further expanded to First Nations schools throughout BC. In addition, regular teacher training workshops on mathematics will be organized both in Vancouver and at several First Nations schools, seeking to enhance teaching skills.

Youth aging out of pediatric care report feeling abandoned and helpless in the adult health care system. ON TRAC, a collaborative initiative involving UBC, Child Health BC, BCMA, BC Children’s Hospital and health regions, aims to improve health transition for B.C. youth. Key to success is genuine community-based youth engagement and an active and empowered youth voice. Healthy outcomes for youth will be actualized when youth are involved, active participants in their health care. Youth ON TRAC will directly engage youth with chronic health conditions/disabilities (CHC/Ds) in all processes to create a new, relevant, meaningful, effective, authentic youth health advocacy voice through skills-building training to 1)co-create a needs assessment; 2)develop a youth-led “transition workshop template” and hold workshops; 3)develop online social mentorship; 4)provide education for youth/families; 5)inform health care decision makers on youth-friendly health care transition. Creation of a Provincial Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) within Patient Voices Network (PVN) will ensure sustainability.

The project idea is in response to a specific request to the principal investigator from health care providers, on behalf of the people in Haida Gwaii, to address difficulties concerning cancer diagnosis and care in isolated Aboriginal communities. Not only does geographical isolation make it difficult to access tertiary services, but social and cultural factors form potential barriers to accessing cancer services. The health care providers identified a need for a comprehensive electronic database of their entire population, which will enable them to participate in health care improvements and research. A research team, comprised of experts in family practice, Aboriginal health, information technology, oncology, epidemiology and biostatistics will identify all patients with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of cancer in Haida Gwaii and collect demographic data, family and personal medical histories and lifestyle information for each patient. All data will be populated in a database that will allow for analysis to identify common delays in care, survival analysis and statistical comparisons of Aboriginal vs. non-Aboriginal patients for each outcome. This project has the potential to improve Aboriginal care in Haida Gwaii and other Aboriginal remote communities by identifying bottlenecks and barriers in care and advocating for measures to address these issues; through education and resource allocation.

UVic has developed an Indigenous Child Well-being Research Network and has piloted training for Indigenous communities on child well-being best practices for the last 2 years. Each training session is developed in advance with community input. The training supports the Indigenous knowledge inherent in the community engaging Elders, adults and youth to learn about positive Indigenous child well-being best practices in order to inform public policy at all levels. They want to know how the current system works and how they can become more independent eg. through Granny Clubs, youth mentorship groups, etc., in order to protect and keep their children in their own communities. The training facilitates knowledge mobilization and the adaptation of promising practices to local contexts. Cultural metaphors such as basket weaving, dip nets or disappearing oolichan fish are used to provide an appropriate cultural context grounded in respect, relevance, reciprocity and responsibility.

In consultation with young parents we have developed a project which includes individualized coaching in life skills, parenting and goal-setting; group programs; and two Support Worker positions specializing in working with Indigenous and newcomer families. Partners include the City of Victoria and the Victoria Immigrant & Refugee Centre to provide a weekly group; and the Esquimalt Nation to provide programs to families living on local reserves. The target population for this project are Indigenous, non-Indigenous and newcomer young parent families who live with complex risk, including poverty, homelessness, abuse, neglect, fetal alcohol and narcotic effect, racism, low literacy, and sex trade involvement. This project will provide individualized support to young parents and their children through: i. a home-visitation program, ii. programs for families on local reserves; iii. an Indigenous Support Worker to ensure accessibility to our programs; iv. a Family Support Worker specializing in working with newcomer families, & v. a weekly fitness-wellness support group with childcare.