Community Living

For more than 60 years, Community Living Victoria has provided services and support to people with intellectual disabilities and their families, at the same time promoting participation in the community.

Community Living

For more than 60 years, Community Living Victoria has provided services and support to people with intellectual disabilities and their families, at the same time promoting participation in the community.

Community Living

For more than 60 years, Community Living Victoria has provided services and support to people with intellectual disabilities and their families, at the same time promoting participation in the community.

Community Living

For more than 60 years, Community Living Victoria has provided services and support to people with intellectual disabilities and their families, at the same time promoting participation in the community.

Community Living

For more than 60 years, Community Living Victoria has provided services and support to people with intellectual disabilities and their families, at the same time promoting participation in the community.

Community Living

For more than 60 years, Community Living Victoria has provided services and support to people with intellectual disabilities and their families, at the same time promoting participation in the community.

Issues & Trends from the Executive Director

November 2023

2023 is a year of Transition at Community Living Victoria. We said good by to our beloved Ellen Tarshis at the end of January as she retired after being CLV’s Executive Director for 32 years. I have worked at CLV since 1998 in a variety of capacities and have been part of the Senior management team for the past 15 years. During that time, Ellen was a mentor to me as she was for so many people. We are all so indebted to her leadership which has made CLV the life changing organization it is today. She will forever be a part of the CLV family.

I am so honoured to be appointed CLV’s new Executive Director and am excited to lead the organization into the future. We have had several changes on our senior management team over the past year and everyone on the team is working hard to ensure that CLV remains the top performing organization that it has been for the past 68 years.

We are pleased that the Community Social Services Bargaining Association ratified a new collective agreement. It includes significant increases for our staff and will ensure fair compensation and working conditions for all employees. This will help with recruitment and retention but will most importantly value the important work that CLV employees do every day to ensure the people we support have quality services and access to their communities.

CLV was fortunate to receive a generous donation of $15,000 from CFAX Santa’s Anonymous. This allowed CLV to provide respite and grocery cards to many individuals and families through our Family Support.

CLV also received funds from the Oak Bay Christmas Cup this year. The organizers were friends of Melissa Lougheed from the Supported Apartment Living (SAL) program who sadly passed away. They chose CLV as the recipient of this year’s donation in her memory. The $25,000 funds will go directly to activities for supported individuals, with a significant amount designated specifically to the SAL program.

We were fortunate to receive a sizeable grant for $75,750 from the Supported Employment Recovery Fund managed by Inclusion BC. This is the third phase of grant funding which will help Employment Services to continue to support individuals whose employment was affected by the Pandemic. This grant will help CLV to support 11 individuals in 2023.

We have received another 3 years of funding for the Impact Youth Employment through the Ministry of Social Development and the Federal Government to provide youth with disabilities employment supports for the next 3 summers (2023-2025) for Impact 2.0. With this funding CLV will support 12 youth ages 16-19 to secure paid jobs, complete short-term work experience, or engage in volunteer opportunities each summer. Studies show that engaging youth with disabilities in early interventions related to employment will support them to be more successful in securing and maintaining employment when they transition out of high school.

Due to the significant change in Leadership at CLV, we were granted a 1-year extension for our next CARF accreditation survey. The survey will now be in the spring of 2024, and we are preparing for another successful survey l and 3 year accreditation.

A major focus for us over the spring and summer is bringing two new homes into the CLV Family. Twin Oaks, formerly operated by Victoria Community Resources Society, dissolved as a society on August 1st. These homes are side by side ranchers located in the Royal Oak area. Owned by BC Housing, Twin Oaks is home to 9 individuals. It has been a privilege getting to know all the individuals, families and staff who are working closely together to ensure a smooth transition.

We remain grateful to all CLV employees for their ongoing dedication and commitment to the people we support. This has been a huge year of transition, and everyone has worked hard to ensure that the supports we provide remain seamless and consistent. Together, we will continue what we do best: Supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities to lead full and meaningful lives while promoting full Citizenship.

Mike Jensen
Executive Director

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