HANDS
ACROSS CANADA
Hands Across Canada: How
we’re making a
difference
A project initiated with the help
of Sun Life Financial has connected the experience
and resources of the
Offord Centre for Child Studies with providers
of recreational, social and educational programming
for youth in communities across Canada.
The Hands
Across Canada project continues the vision of
Dr. Dan Offord, founding director of the Offord
Centre. Dr. Offord was committed to increasing
opportunities for marginalized children to
join
mainstream kids in effective skill-building
and character-building activities that help them
prepare for healthy adult lives.
A total of 37
organizations across the country are involved
in the project. They learn strategies
to examine their programming and consider
how to increase their impact on their community’s
youth. A key element brings community programmers
together from across the country for a conference.
This provides an opportunity for those who
are involved with social change, and who
often work
in isolation from one another, to exchange
knowledge of best practices from local experience
and from
evaluation.
Experienced groups like Frontier
College, the Winnipeg Boys and Girls Club and
the Christie
Lake Skills
Training And Recreation (STAR) Program
provide examples of strategies to improve program
effectiveness, while smaller, pilot projects
contribute innovative
ideas for tackling common problems. Collaboration
with the Offord Centre for Child Studies
allows programmers to rethink the importance
of structured
evaluation for program planning and funding.
The Marlene St. Tenants’ Association:
Reaching out to be more effective
In one
case, the Offord Centre helped make a difference
for children and youth in
an isolated, problem-ridden
neighbourhood of Winnipeg. It provided
information, encouragement and direction
to aid a tenants’ association
to develop on-site skill-building, recreational
programming for local children and youth
who did not have access to mainstream community
activities.
With the help of consultation
and resources from the Offord Centre, the
Marlene St.
Tenants’ Association
increased its emphasis on structured, skill-related
activities, family involvement, opportunities
for mentoring and culturally-linked programming.
The
Association reached out to other community
organizations to spotlight aboriginal heritage
with traditional
drumming lessons, and provided cooking
classes, family recreation and community
activities utilizing
the talents of local volunteers.
The Offord
Centre was also able to help programmers
incorporate clearer, more standardized
methods
for program evaluation, concentrating
on communicating results to participants as
well as on program
delivery.
Family
Services of Haliburton: Zeroing in
on what’s
important
In another instance, the Offord
Centre helped initiate a survey by Family Services
of Haliburton to provide
a profile of children’s participation in
recreational activities in the district and to
spotlight the need for accessible, affordable
opportunities for its own youth.
In a rural area
with seasonal tourism as its prime economic
base, those needs have been largely
hidden
by the emphasis on revenue-generating recreation
to accommodate tourist families.
Participating
organizations
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