Foothills organizations offering social and community programs across the region stand to benefit from more than $200,000 in grant funding.
The MD of Foothills approved $206,130 in Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) support for 20 programs and organizations across the region, ranging from volunteer appreciation to training, family literacy, speakers series and community outreach programs.
Among the approved funding requests was $20,000 for the Okotoks and District Seniors Club for its program facilitator salary and $25,000 for the Literacy for Life Foundation’s community family literacy program. Also included in the funding is $30,000 for the Town of High River FCSS Resource Centre and $12,000 for the Okotoks Healthy Family Resource Centre.
MD of Foothills FCSS co-ordinator Amanda Midgley said it’s important for the MD to support facilities in both towns.
“They will receive walk-ins or phone calls from residents of the MD of Foothills, and our residents will go to the closest facility available to them,” said Midgley. “So we pay for that, for our residents to use those facilities.”
The balance of the funding was distributed among programs that have been supported by MD FCSS in the past, she said. Some organizations requested slightly more money this year, and an increase in FCSS dollars from the Province allowed the MD to accommodate those applications, she said.
“These are sustained programs that have been running for years and we’ve been funding them for as long as they’ve been requesting money,” said Midgley.
The criteria for funding requires applications be of a social nature, to build resilience or for prevention programs, she said. FCSS cannot fund recreation or safety programs, she said.
One of the newer requests on the funding list is the Foothills School Division’s family school liaison program, which launched last year, she said.
Ryley Hatchard, division counselling co-ordinator, said the school liaison counselling program is run in every school in the divison, with a total of 10 counsellors making the rounds.
“We provide a variety of services, including crisis management,” said Hatchard. “Counsellors are available in the schools to support students when they’re going through something and help them get back into class and learning.”
There is also some family support offered through the program, which could involve connecting parents with resources in the community to ensure families feel connected and supported in whatever issues they’re dealing with, whether it’s a traumatic event, stress, or other struggles, she said.
In the second year of its operation, the program has also shifted its focus to include social-emotional learning curriculums, she said. Students are being taught about emotional regulation and mindfulness techniques in the classroom, and developing a better understanding of their brains and how stress and emotions impact their learning, she said.
“In the last five to 10 years there’s been a real emphasis placed on social-emotional learning in a school setting and how it produces better outcomes for kids,” said Hatchard. “They learn these skills now that they take on into life.”
The family school liaison program received $20,000 from MD FCSS for 2017. While that doesn’t cover the budget of the program, it does provide training for the 10 counsellors, including certification in ASSIST – a suicide prevention program.
“Some of the funding goes toward those sorts of extra professional development training that are not covered in our budget,” said Hatchard.
Midgley said volunteer programs make up a large portion of the funding requests received by the FCSS in the MD. They are approved because volunteerism is an important component of the community, she said.
“Volunteerism promotes the community, it promotes bringing people together, and so that’s one of the things we do fund,” said Midgley. “It’s not social prevention but it’s keeping people in the community active and they’re able to do amazing things.”
One of the volunteer programs being funded comes out of the Leighton Art Centre. The centre received $4,500 toward its annual volunteer appreciation event.
Executive director Chelsey Kehler said it’s important to recognize the 150 volunteers for their dedication.
“In 2016, they put in just under 2,000 hours total,” said Kehler. “Some of our biggest events, like our Clothesline Festival and Art Sale that happens the first weekend in June, we have about 475 volunteer hours just for that one weekend.”
She said volunteers at the Leighton Art Centre range from a lady in her 80s who puts in two days per week helping prepare classes or tend garden to a handful of 13 to 15-year-olds who volunteer as junior camp counsellors in the summer.
Last year, the FCSS grant allowed the Leighton Art Centre to purchase red aprons for all of its volunteers to wear while helping out with events, to make them distinguishable. This year, a portion of the funding will go toward getting fun, permanent nametags for everyone.
The volunteer appreciation event is the only event through the year that is solely staff-run, so the volunteers can come and take part in the fun without being asked to work, she said.
“That’s why funding from FCSS is so important,” said Kehler. “So we’re able to pay our staff and put on a really good event for our volunteers. They give us a lot of their time and we just like to say thank you and give something back to them.”
The volunteers appreciation event will be on May 6 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., in conjunction with the opening reception for the 15th annual Juried Members’ Show.
