April 14, 2015 Meeting
Guests: Chris Beaton, Executive Director, Nanaimo Aboriginal Centre and Ian Kalina, Executive Director, Boys and Girls Club of Central Vancouver Island.
Foundation: Colin gave another inspiring message about the work of Foundation.
Announcements:
- Rotary Leadership Institute will be holding Phase I of the leadership training on April 25. For details, please contact Cathy Power (power.consulting@telus.net). They need to register a minimum of 10 to make it happen. Anyone in a leadership role is invited to participate.
- Ed gave the Club a rousing ‘thank you’ for fully supporting both our Community Breakfast and our role in the Customer Service Appreciation day at Country Grocer. We sold more tickets than ever (275 tickets - $1,375) and took in $659.00 in hot dog & popcorn donations. (We do love those unrestricted funds).
- 50/50 sales deadline is approaching and we are requested to turn in our $$ and ticket stubs a.s.a.p.
- Rob Waine conveyed an invitation from the Zonta Club to join with them in the Big Bike Race to be held in June. Interested folks can connect with Rob for details.
Program:
Chris & Ian gave us an update on the progress being made in the community since they spoke to us last year.
As education one of the main keys to success, the goal is to have 100% of aboriginal students graduate from high school. Progress is indeed being made: from 49% to a grad rate of 64%.
Chris spoke about partnership as a main factor in the achievements being made. One of the most significant is the partnership with the Boys and Girls Club (BGCCVI). Building on the early years focus, a K-3 elementary school has been established within the BGCCVI. They hope to include grade 4 by September. It is important to note that this is the first aboriginal elementary program to be established with in a BGCCVI in Canada and the first urban aboriginal elementary school.
Other noteworthy achievements include:
- Home Instruction for Parents of Pre-school Youngsters (HIPPY) is an evidenced-based program that works with families in the home to support parents, primarily mothers, in their critical role as their child’s first and most important teacher. HIPPY strengthens families and communities by empowering parents to actively prepare their children for success in school. Currently they are at capacity with 20 families enrolled.
- 1st Annual Soccer Tournament established with 550 athletes from all over.
- National Aboriginal Day at the BGCCVI.
- Aboriginal Family Night: 175 families come together to share with a focus on culture.
- Aboriginal Child Care Scholarship Program: This program tops up the child care access subsides so that mothers can work and/or access education and training.
- Aboriginal Early Years Outreach: Science has clearly shown that young children’s early experiences and environment lay the foundation of future health, success and well-being. The early years, a period of rapid growth and development from conception until age six, are critical for a child's physical, social/emotional and cognitive development. To that end, the focus of this program is to engage those families not yet involved in accessing service. To date, 71 families are involved.
- Aboriginal Affordable Housing: Focus is to assist students from VIU with young families. VIU has the largest number of aboriginal students in the province – so this is an important outreach.
Ian spoke about impact of working collectively to get things done. The BGCCVI is the largest licenced child care provider in Canada with specialized programs and outreach. To name a few:
- Specialized life skills training.
- Youth programs including a Youth Dragon Boat team.
- Parent Education Programs focusing on teens.
- Relationship with the aboriginal communities as well as the broader community with a focus on improving the lives of kids living in poverty.
- Engaging with youth around entrepreneurship with consideration of establishing a business incubator.
- Integration of the aboriginal culture which would include joint planning that would build and monitor successes.
From this excellent presentation by Chris and Ian, we could clearly see the remarkable progress being made and are really looking forward to next year’s update. Chris asked us to remember to ask him this question next year: How are they doing with respect to the commitment to evaluate effectiveness and achievements? From what we have seen already, that should be quite an amazing report back.
Birthdays/Anniversaries: We sang our usual version Happy Birthday to our own Paul Geneau. I think he was impressed.
Happy/Sad: Pres. Greg who got to the meeting just in time after being stranded on the other side of the pond!
Door Prize: As the lucky winner last week, Perry brought his door prize which was won by Derek who will be responsible for bringing the gift next week. Remember if it’s your turn to bring the door prize and you find that you are not able to attend, you need to find someone else to bring it for you.
A combined Executive and Board meeting following the close of the regular club meeting. The incoming Executive Board was invited to attend.
Next Week: We are off-site and meet at 6 p.m. for a tour of the new library in Hammond Bay (6250 Hammond Bay Rd). After the tour we’ll go to Pipers for supper. Should be interesting AND fun! Thanks Audrey & Barb for arranging such great programs for us each and every week.
