Issues & Trends from the Executive Director
This year marks the 60th anniversary of Community Living Victoria making a difference in the lives of children, youth and adults with disabilities and their families. On December 6th, the people we support, families, board members and supporters will gather to mark this milestone. We will have dinner, a live band and celebrate our rich history together.
Our anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate how far we have come as a civil rights movement for social change and inclusion. We are grateful and humbled by the work of our pioneering families and all of the families, individuals and supporters who have paved the way over 60 years for a better life for all people. So much to celebrate. Still so much to be done. We invite you to join us!
Our Foundation is also celebrating its 20th year of raising both significant funds for the people we support and the profile of Community Living Victoria. Key events this year include the Vipond Royal Colwood Golf Classic, held on June 12th. This is the 4th year that we have been chosen as the tournaments’s charity of choice and we are grateful for their ongoing support. Our signature fundraiser, the 2015 Concert for Hope.Help.Home. features 2 time Juno award-winning Chantal Kreviazuk on November 6th at the McPherson Playhouse. Tickets are available at www.concertforhopehelphome.com
With the summer fast approaching, please consider contributing to our Reach for the Sun fundraiser, which ensure that the people we support enjoy the summer season with activities and needed items. Your donation makes a real difference.
On May 20th, we were pleased to present our Community Recognition Awards at CLV’s General meeting. We honoured employer, educator, and volunteer of the year, as well as those individuals who have made a difference in the lives of people with disabilities. Please see the winners and their stories of inspiration on the website.
Inclusion BC, our provincial advocacy organization, celebrated their 60th anniversary at its provincial conference and AGM at the end of May. The conference theme, “Keep Moving, Don’t Stop” brought together 700 delegates including people with developmental disabilities, their families, the organizations that support them, and leaders in the field to continue driving the movement towards fully inclusive communities.
The 20th National CASE Supported Employment Conference, held in Victoria in June, was a huge success. Community Living Victoria was pleased to be a co-host along with other members of the BC Employment Network. This is the 20th annual CASE conference where employers, employees and industry leaders are brought together from all over Canada to participate in workshops and training focused on ensuring that equitable and diverse employment practices are understood and promoted.
Through employment services, CLV participated in the MentorAbility initiative. This project pairs a potential employee with a local business and the individual has a full day of job shadowing with a mentor and the opportunity to learn valuable skills needed for the job. This provided awareness for the business as well as for the worker and may assist the individual to get a job. The four mentors were: Tom Humphreys at Peninsula Co-op, Steve Baker at Victoria Shipyards, Christine Jensen at Community Living Victoria and Crystal Chabot at Le Spa Sereine. All reported very successful experiences with the individuals who were mentored. Two of the individuals obtained employment as a result of this experience. CLV was proud to participate in this national initiative and four of our Mentorship partnerships are featured in the MentorAbility booklet, which is on the CLV website.
We continue to work on meeting the goals from our strategic planning session last May. One of our goals was to replace our McRae home as it no longer meets the accessibility needs of the people we support. We have worked with CLBC and BC Housing over the past months and are very pleased that a property has been purchased and we are hoping that ground will be broken soon to build a new home to replace McRae. It is expected to be completed by May 2016.
Another goal from our strategic plan was to continue to enhance our youth services. Youth Services includes: Teen Community Connections (TCC) after school and summer camps, Autism services (social groups and summer camps) and Children and Youth with Special Needs. We are busy setting up our summer camp programs – a variety of fun and learning camps such as: outdoor adventure, Chef-on-the-Go, and sailing – spaces are filling quickly! Check out our Youth page for more information on how to register.
The members of VOCYL (Victoria Opportunities for Community Youth Leadership), our youth group, have written a book that will touch and inspire you. Their book launch, held at the Horticultural Center, was well attended as the youth presented their stories, poems and accomplishments detailed in the VOCYL publication. Copies of the book are available at the main office.
