Featured image taken by Tyler Hadikan from Stacked Films
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We acknowledge the ancestors and knowledge keepers from the First Nations, Metis, Inuit and Urban Indigenous Peoples who live throughout these lands.
Conversations in Castlegar
Thank you to everyone for your interest and contributions in the community conversations in Castlegar.
Although these sessions have ended, we still value your ideas!
Take this survey to add your ideas about how supports and services could work better in Castlegar and surrounding areas.
We are hosting conversations to hear about how there can be a better network of services and supports for children and youth with support needs in Castlegar and surrounding areas. We invite you to join us; we need to hear your ideas.
This event is free for everyone to attend.
These conversations have been designed with the intention of creating inclusive, culturally safe, and accessible spaces to connect. Children and youth with support needs are 0-19 years of age, have a disability, diagnosed or undiagnosed, need support, and/or have a possible developmental delay.
Conversations in Castlegar in June are part of the first phase of engagement in the area. The second phase will be a broader, regional conversation in the Fall with additional communities in the West Kootenays.
Registration is encouraged to support our planning for food and space but is not mandatory.
Everyone is welcome to drop in and join the conversations.
If you prefer to register for the conversations via phone or email, please contact us:
Inclusion BC office: 1-844-488-4321
Crystal Laren, COINS: 250-304-8920 or email crystal.coinations@gmail.com
Michelle Scannell, Kootenay Family Place: 778-460-5094
We will have conversations in Castlegar with:
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- Youth, families, and caregivers.
- At Kootenay Family Place on Thursday, June 15, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm
- At COINS on Saturday, June 17, from 10:00 am – noon
- Youth, families, and caregivers.
- Local community service providers.
- At Kootenay Family Place on Friday, June 16, from 10 am – noon
In each conversation, participants are invited to share their ideas about:
- What services and supports for children and youth with support needs are working well in Castlegar and surrounding areas?
- What gaps in services and support exist?
- What does a better network of services and supports look like in Castlegar and surrounding areas?
Location:
Kootenay Family Society, 767 11 Avenue, Castlegar (June 15 and June 16)
COINS, 1801 Connors Road, Castlegar (June 17)
There Will Be:
- Space and support for dialogue
- Food will be provided
- Child care options available
- Support for transportation available
- Quiet space available on site and follow-up support
Registration:
Registration is encouraged to support our planning for food and space but is not mandatory. Everyone is welcome to drop in and join the conversations.
If you prefer to register for the conversations via phone or email, please contact us:
Inclusion BC office: 1-844-488-4321
Crystal Laren, COINS: 250-304-8920 or email crystal.coinations@gmail.com
Michelle Scannell, Kootenay Family Place: 778-460-5094
More Details:
All conversations have been created in partnership with local community organizations to consider the specific circumstances of Castlegar and surrounding areas, the young people, and families in need of support who live there.
For families, the conversations are designed to include all families with children and youth with disabilities or other support needs that want to express their ideas. Youth are welcome to attend too.
For local community service providers, we want to hear about your experience supporting families and what can be different to better support them.
What we hear from these conversations will be reported back to the community of Castlegar in a written report and a virtual session.
Click here to read about the engagement process for the Community-Led Collaboration project
Following the virtual session for Castlegar and surrounding areas, there will be another conversation in the fall of 2023 with the broader community to think about ways to build better networks and involve all community partners that need to join this conversation, like schools and school districts, child care centres, community centres, health authorities, recreational organizations, etc.
In Fall 2023, in-person sessions will also take place with families, service providers and the broader community in the West Kootenays.
The results from all the conversations will also inform a report to the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) with the expectation that all this will inform the future of services for children and youth with support needs (CYSN) in British Columbia.
Ways to Participate:
We invite everyone to join the conversations. There are multiple ways to participate, like attending sessions in person or virtually via Zoom, filling in a short survey, sending us an email with your ideas (clcproject@inclusionbc.org), or calling 1-844-488-4321.
Spread the word! We want to reach as many people in your community as we can. Download the posters to share here:
- For youth, families, and caregivers
- For service providers