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Dufferin DCAFS/FTP in the News

April 15, 2012 permalink

MP David Tilson is proud to have his picture taken with the staff of Family Transition Place, which in the past has cooperated with children's aid to separate children from mothers taking shelter there. And DCAFS itself is holding a Wellies to Wishes auction at the Dufferin County Museum.

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FTP wins $187,000 in federal funding

Family Transition Place staff and dignitaries
FTP FUNDING ANNOUNCED: Dufferin-Caledon MP David Tilson was at Family Transition Place (FTP) in Orangeville Tuesday to announce a grant of $187,000 under the federal government’s Status for Women program to FTP over the next two years. Other community partners, including Dufferin Child and Family Services (DCAFS), joined FTP staff and Mr. Tilson for the funding announcement. Representatives from the Social Innovation Research Group (SIRG) from the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University will be partnering with FTP over the next two years. Shown here (left to right): back row – Lynette Pole-Langdon (FTP), Deputy Police Chief Wayne Kalinski, Pete Renshaw (FTP), Mr. Tilson, Mark Yungblut (SIRG), Orangeville Police Const. Scott Davis. Front row – Brenda Courtney (DCAFS), Stacey Copland (FTP), Lyn Allen (FTP), Trish Keachie (DCAFS), Norah Kennedy (FTP), Morgan Broganza (SIRG), Ginette Lafrenière (SIRG), and Gillian McCallum (SIRG). Photo/LINDSEY PAPP

Family Transition Place (FTP) is to receive $187,000 in new funding from Status for Women Canaa for a community-based project addressing the issue of violence against women.

Dufferin-Caledon MP David Tilson along with representatives from the Orangeville Police Service and Dufferin Child and Family Services (DCAFS) were present for the funding announcement.

“Family Transition Place is an essential organization and this project will enhance their capacity to help women in our community,” said Mr. Tilson in a media release. “Our Government is pleased to support exciting projects like this one, which will work to develop a community action plan.”

Status of Women Canada (SWC) is a federal government organization that promotes the full participation of women in the economic, social and democratic life of Canada. SWC works to advance equality for women and to remove the barriers to women’s participation in society, putting particular emphasis on increasing women’s economic security and eliminating violence against women.

Also announced on Tuesday was the partnership between FTP and the Social Innovation Research Group (SIRG) from the faculty of social work at Wilfrid Laurier University to do a community development and research project.

SIRG “has got the academic credibility to be able to look at it from a purely research perspective but have the practical experience to then come forward with a model or ideas that we’re going to be able to carry out,” said Norah Kennedy, FTP Executive Director. “They have a bit of an outside lenses so they’re able to come in without any preconceived ideas or biases or notions, really look at our community in general.”

Ms. Kennedy says that with this grant money FTP and SIRG will be able to do this project completely apart from everything else that they are doing. The project will enhance community collaboration and create a community services and university collaboration that will be a first for FTP.

Ginette Lafrenière, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Work and an SIRG director, said she has been working with FTP since 2007 on different research projects, which made this partnership a natural progression of their partnership.

“Essentially what we will be doing are interviews with local leaders, we will be supervised by a research advisory group in Orangeville so that they will be sort of guiding us throughout the entire process,” she said. “The focus is on violence prevention, with a focus on women and girls.”

She added that this is at its core a community project that has both men and women and different community partners, including the police, family and children’s services, local businesses etc.

Ms. Lafrenière admits to some excitement as they prepare for the project. She says that in a gender-based analysis around violence as a community problem, the solution has to come from the community in terms of being able to work collectively.

“So we’re going to be shooting a documentary and interviewing different stakeholders in the community, and there is also a very interesting prevention program that FTP runs in one of the schools and that will be a focus of interest,” she said.

“There is not a lot of time or money geared towards prevention work but I think Orangeville is on to something in terms of doing something around prevention work, so we’ll be talking a lot about prevention in the documentary as well.”

Ms. Lafrenière believes that from a leadership standpoint, FTP has demonstrated that they are possibly the best place for this kind of project.

She says this project aligns perfectly with this year’s theme for International Women’s Day and Week, Strong Women, Strong Canada – Women in rural, Remote and Northern Communities: Key to Canada’s Economic Prosperity.

This themes states that recognizing women and girls who live beyond urban centers as individuals who need support through projects yielding concrete results and strengthening families, communities and over all Canada, as a whole.

“The specificity of violence within a smaller remote communities and bigger cities is one of the things being researched more in depth in this study,” said Ms. Lafrenière. “We are of the mindset that there are enormous strengths and that we can learn form those strengths and that a small community actually has lessons to teach a larger urban centre as well.”

She says towns like Orangeville have different strengths and challenges than bigger cities. Some of the strengths are based on the informal network and relationships that community members can tap into.

“People know each other by name, when something happens in the community people hurt, it’s not a nameless individual, its somebody’s neighbor, or somebody’s mom. The ties are a lot more solid,” she said.

According to Ms. Kennedy the grant will be spread out over two years, covering costs, expenses, salary, etc., “with a couple of specific outcomes.

One is the documentary the other is a website, so some of the money will go into making sure there is an end product, they we’re not just walking away.”

She said FTP is excited about the grant approval. “Through this project we look forward to working with come of our community partners, such as the Orangeville Police Service and DCAFS to further our goal of a healthy, safe community, specifically for women and girls but ultimately for everyone,” said Ms. Kennedy.

“I am pleased to announce Government of Canada’s support for (FTP) to carry out a new grass-roots project that will partner key local stakeholders to develop a community action plan to reduce violence against women,” said Mr. Tilson in his funding announcement. “Along with providing a safe shelter to women and children in crisis (FTP) have become a model in our community reaching out to educate and inform residents.”

Source: Orangeville Citizen


DCAFS to host 3rd Wellies to Wishes live auction

Dufferin Child and Family Services (DCAFS) will host its third annual Wellies to Wishes live auction at 7 p.m. on April 21 at the Dufferin County Museum. Supporting Wellies to Wishes helps our youth to pursue post-secondary education or kids to get actively involved with art, music or sports.

“We have been very fortunate to have wonderful support from the art community, local businesses as well as caterers and restaurants,” said Trish Keachie, Executive Director, of DCAFS.

Wellies to Wishes has received support to date from 22 local artists including S.J. Pringle, Hugh Russell, and Sandi Wong, just to mention a few.

A number of Experience Packages will also be auctioned off by the amazing Bob Severn. The “Love to Ride” package includes a horseback ride for two from Rawhide Adventures, dinner, a night under the stars, breakfast and a ride in the morning, as well as a gift certificate from Herberts. For gardeners, “The Gardener’s Delight” package includes tickets to Canada Blooms 2013, a gift certificate to Home Depot, garden tools from Dufferin Garden Center and a gift certificate for a pair of Boggs.

“The highlight of the evening for many is the scrumptious food,” commented Heather Hayes, lead organizer. “We have had appetizers donated by Absolute Catering, Soulyve, Catering by Designs, Robins Catering, Greystones, cheese from Woolwhich Dairy, oysters from Ruby Pier, chocolates from the Chocolate Shop, and coffee from Starbucks – it is a foodies delight.” The event also features a signature drink and cash bar.

Visit the Wellies to Wishes facebook page to view the art work, the Experience Packages and to enter the contest to win two tickets to the event.

Tickets are available at Cobwebs and Caviar in Shelburne, Dufferin Child and Family Services (655 Riddell Road) and the Dufferin County Museum. For more information visit www.dcafs.on.ca or contact Jacqueline Moore by email at jacqueline.moore@dcafs.on.ca or by phone at 519-941-1530 ext 246.

Source: Orangeville Citizen

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