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Looking for help or resources? Visit BC211 at the following link http://www.bc211.ca

bc211
is a Vancouver-based nonprofit organization that specializes in providing information and referral regarding community, government and social services in BC. Our help line services include 211, the Alcohol and Drug Information and Referral Service (ADIRS), the Problem Gambling Help Line, VictimLink BC, and the Youth Against Violence Line.

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What is The Social Planning Council?

Activities:

o Monthly Meetings: Attend meetings with guest speakers from within the community &/or presentations at each meeting. We currently meet the fourth Monday of every month (excluding summer) at City Hall with light lunch by donation.

o Facebook & Email Group: Utilize the network on Facebook. Start discussions, learn about & share upcoming community events, projects and meetings. If you don’t use Facebook, then join the email network instead.

o Inform City Council: The SPC provides reports to City Council regularly and the City keeps the SPC informed. Use the network and have your voices heard.



Strategic Direction of the Social Planning Council of Williams Lake & Area:

o Poverty Reduction and the local Living Wage Campaign.

o Community Collaboration and Networking.

o Retention and Succession of residents within the Area.



Community Social Planning:

o Supports communities in building an integrated approach to complex problems that take into account social, economic, and environmental concerns.

o Maximizes the effectiveness of often scarce resources by working to reduce duplication, overlap and competition.

o Provides an ongoing forum for communication, coordination and conflict resolution.



Friday, March 23, 2012

Community Updates - Mar 23, 2012

Community Updates – Mar 16, 2012

Hello Everyone,

Please visit http://socialplanningcouncil.blogspot.ca/ for updates from around the community.

1) Strategic Planning with the Social Planning Council.

This is a reminder for our Strategic Planning Session this Monday. The Agenda is simple… strategic planning. The meeting will take place over lunch at City Hall in the downstairs boardroom on March 26th from 11:30 – 1 pm. Other regular monthly business will be postponed until the following meeting (due to time constraints). You are encouraged to send your “Roundtable Updates” by email to spc-coordinator@xplornet.com for distribution through Facebook and email.

2) BC SPCA – Spay-Ghetti and No Balls fundraiser event this Saturday March 24th at CJ’s Southwestern Grill. Come out and support your local SPCA with an Italian dinner, entertainment, live & silent auction (from over 100 community supporters) and much more.

3) Here are a few updates from the Poverty Reduction Coalition…

Housing and food still out of reach for too many in BC: "Two significant reports were released this week that shine a light on the crisis of poverty we face as a province. Cost of Eating in B.C. 2011 found that healthy food is unaffordable for the poorest people in B.C. And the final Metro Vancouver Homeless Count report reveals that 2,650 people were homeless in 2011. Together, they paint a picture that shows that the basic necessities of housing and food are out of reach to many in our province.In fact, according to Cost of Eating, families and individuals on income assistance must choose between having a roof over their heads and eating nutritious food. Inadequate welfare rates mean that a family of four spends 60 per cent of its income on rent and then has only $744 each month for food, transportation, clothing and all other basic necessities. The average healthy food basket costing $868 a month is out of reach, leaving that family hungry and poorly nourished.

"Read more of this opinion editorial written by our Organizer, Trish Garner, published in The Province yesterday.

More information on food insecurity, homelessness, and the provincial budget is brought to you by the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition – visit http://bcpovertyreduction.ca/

4) Planning is underway for the Boys and Girls Club of Williams Lake and District’s newest community fundraiser, the Wii Olympics.

Classrooms at Thompson Rivers University (Williams Lake Campus) will be transformed into a fun filled gaming arena on Sunday, April 1 from 1pm until 4pm, as participants age six and up compete against each other in a series of Olympic-style events using Wii game consoles. There will be a fun non-competitive station for children under age six. Funds raised at the event will support programs for local youth.

With the popularity of Wii, we are sure this event will be a huge hit! Feel free to forward this along to your networks and contact the Boys & Girls Club for a poster.

We hope to see you there!
Isher Lehal
Operations Coordinator
Boys and Girls Club of Williams Lake and District
Phone: (250) 392-5730
Fax: (250) 392-5743
Email: isher@noopa.org
www.bgcwilliamslake.com

5) My name is Cat and I work on the Welcome PG project at IMSS, Please send this along to anyone you think might be interested maybe someone in local government.

A new Welcoming & Inclusive Communities & Workplaces program which is now called Welcoming Communities and proposed to being a 5 year term of funding. The Ministry will be coming to Prince George on March 28 for a round table discussion on how the program could be developed. It is my understanding that the new program incorporates new immigrant settlement services (which means that smaller communities could leverage this funding to develop new immigrant settlement programming – if not currently available). It also invites developing ongoing community partnership that will help new immigrants integrate into our communities.

I was asked by the Ministry to share this information to centers around PG so we have a more inclusive voice at the round table which is on March 28th (here in PG) from 10 to 1 (PG specific) and 2 to 5 (smaller centers). Registration deadline is tomorrow and the form is within the attached info paper.

Please contact me if you’d like any clarification.

Cat Sivertsen, MEd
Project Manager, WelcomePG
Welcoming & Inclusive Communities & Workplaces Program
www.welcomepg.ca

6) The Council of Canadians invites you to get involved in town tomorrow for World Water Day. The Council of Canadians is on hand Friday, Mar. 23 from 2-5pm at the Food Co-op site. So please come along on Friday to further the water thoughts/ give out info!

7) Pay it Forward Day – April 26th from 8 am – 11:30 pm (in 38 countries all over the world and here in Williams Lake!)

While every day should be Pay It Forward Day, our lives are very busy. This international day reminds people to take time out of their busy days to help others without expecting anything in return.For more information, visit www.payitforwardday.com

In 2011, participants paid kindness forward all over the worlds. For this years international Pay it Forward Day (PIFD), we are amining to inspire over 3 millions acts of kindness.

What can you do?
Pay for someone’s cup of coffee, meal or train ticket
Arrange a fundraiser for a charity or cause you support
Use your unique skills or talent to help someone in need
Be creative – more ideas are at: http://bit.ly/pifideas

8) An invitation to the "local currency" talk and discussion segment at this month's Transition Town meeting, March 26th

To all residents of Williams Lake, with a special focus on local business people (farmers, business owners, tradespeople). The following invitation is from Cody Slinn, Transition Town member, and Potato House vice president. If you're reading this email, it's because someone thought you might be interested in learning about, or helping with, the creation of a local currency in Williams Lake.

I will be giving a short presentation on local currency at the next Transition Town meeting (Monday the 26th, 5-6pm at the Central Cariboo arts & Culture Society building [old fire hall - #90 4th Ave]), after which there will be time to dialogue about how to turn the local currency idea into a reality. Your help, even if only limited to your opinions about the project or the needs of your business, would be greatly appreciated. Afterwards, a working group will also be put together for the project, which you will also be welcome to join. I invite anyone who has an interest in this issue to come to the meeting, but I am extending a particular challenge to those involved in formal local business (local: farmers, business owners, tradespeople) as it is you who have the potential to benefit the most, and whose support must create the backbone of such a project. Furthermore, if a local currency is to be effective, it MUST be created with your unique interests and needs in mind; though a local currency has HUGE potential to increase economic activity among the informal economy (home bakers, casual labourers, garden-work parties, craft makers, artists etc), in order to be of most benefit to the community as a whole it must rest on a foundation of support from formal local businesses.

I will of course be giving all of the information about why local currency is potentially a good idea for Williams Lake on the 26th, but here's a quick overview of why you should be interested. After reading this list, I hope you'll see both the potential of a local currency, and the need for a varied group of collaborators who can carefully and systematically bring such a project from vision to reality.

Local Currencies are created with the intention of:
-making small scale local farming economically viable
-increasing local economic activity
-making buying local more attractive than buying multi-national
-creating local jobs-facilitating the recreation of local jobs.

In order to be as effective as possible, a local currency must:
-attract 'essential' service/product businesses as its backbone (food, clothing, energy, trades, repairs)
-provide a means of making these services as, or more, attractive than their non-local counterparts
-be well enough promoted and understood to gain ever increasing support and use from the community at large.

Local Currency is not my project, I am simply carrying it until a group of supporters is found. To that end, I look forward to seeing you at the Transition Town meeting and hearing your input on this important project! If you have any question in the meantime, please email me at codyslinn@hotmail.com and I will do my best to answer them. Thank you for your time reading this invitation!Cody Slinn, codyigk@hotmail.com

9) Please visit the Central Cariboo Arts & Culture Society for their latest newletter.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

FEEDING THE HOMELESS

The majority of the people involved with helping this cause had a history of substance abuse and a high percentage of those people came from the Downtown East side

The Servants of Hope is a non profit charity that has been helping the people of Vancouver’s downtown east side for the past 6 years. Alongside hot meals and warm coats they serve up a sense of hope and a chance at a new life. Below is a video link from Christmas 2012 over one hundred people came together to feed the homeless and do outreach we served over one thousand people that night

http://vimeo.com/38616528

Contact Us

The Social Planning Council is made up of volunteers from the community. Many of us work in social services agencies or also volunteer for other organizations.

Our Mailing Address is Box 20045, Williams Lake BC V2G 4R1

To reach the Society Coordinator Jessica Dunn please email spc-coordinator@xplornet.com or call 250-243-2126

To reach the Communities that Care Project Facilitator Barb Jones please email communitiesthatcare.wl@gmail.com or call 250-305-4838

To reach the THRIVE Williams Lake Project Manager Anne Burrill please email annelburrill@gmail.com or call 250-267-7211

To reach the current SPC Chair Larry Stranberg please email happytrails@cfdccariboo.com or call 250-392-3626