Alexandra House: Parent education sessions such as Circle of Security and Positively Parenting have seen increased need over the past year as a result of the pandemic and increased isolation of families. By providing additional Parent Education sessions, that focus on parent-child attachment, positive behavioral management and peer support, families will have increased tools and abilities to navigate the joys and challenges of parenting.

Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver:

EFry is a non-profit organization uniquely focused on delivering gender-specific support. The reasons for this are simple:

• Women are primarily convicted of non-violent transgressions. There are not enough women in Canada’s prisons to financially merit equal access to the counseling, educational opportunities, or transitional housing options available to men.
• Gender plays a key role in women’s personal circumstances. Two-thirds of female inmates are parents and the vast majority are sole caregivers. Many struggles with addiction and mental illness. Virtually all live below the poverty line and some are homeless.

Our goal is to support criminalized and marginalized women, girls, and children in achieving their potential. With the right support, we know females from difficult circumstances can transform their lives – and those of their families – for the better. Dignity, opportunity, and equality are the gateway to a world of potential.

Avalon Recovery Society is a nurturing community that offers hope, compassionate support, resources, and profound connections for women and their families caught in the despair of addiction. Our programs and services are accessible to anyone who identifies and lives full-time as a woman and is seeking recovery.

Unfortunately this past year the Reading Program was greatly affected by the pandemic- due to the Covid19 protocols at the institution, volunteer programs were suspended for the year from March 17th, 2020 to the present. This year the Soroptimist funding was used to fund education packs and tablets for children in the Hotel shelter programs that were set up at hotels in Surrey and New West to house approximately 201 women and 111 children fleeing domestic violence at home in these challenging times.

Semiahmoo Family Place: Due to the pandemic that has challenged us all the past year, Semiahmoo Family Place (SFP), an independent, nonprofit family resource program has shifted its services to online platforms. We continue to deliver programs geared towards families in our immediate community bringing them together with songs, stories, crafts and physical activities (albeit done in their own homes). We run our programs twice to thrice a week and have kept our community in touch despite the restrictions. We are also running parenting seminars and providing additional knowledge and resources to parents of young children in both South Surrey and White Rock. Skills shares include strategies for positive child guidance, early literacy, and developing healthy connections with family.

Sources Counselling Program: We wish to develop a community art project for women healing from trauma. Workshops of painting, stitching, storytelling, poetry writing, and idea building session. We will offer 4, 1.5-hour workshops for two groups of 9 people to complete a storytelling quilt. The quilt will be placed in a public location at Sources Women’s Place.

These group art-making sessions will be installed in, and transform the private space at Sources, and reflect the lives of the community members who live in Surrey and WhiteRock. Many of our clients in the trauma counseling program are identifying they feel socially isolated. The participants will consist of our clients across Sources services. The groups will involve ritual, play, creativity, inclusivity, and a contribution to community work that supports self-representation for both individuals and the collective. These foundations of social connection will be manifest in the art piece (quilt) and will help redress the social isolation community members have been feeling.

2020