November 1999 ISBN# 1-894159-74-8

Cranberry Portage Child/Family Resource Centre

Introduction bined efforts of parents, service providers, com- munities and governments. The Community Action Program for Child- ren (CAPC) is an initiative of Health . Its The following story is an example of how purpose is to fund community groups to establish one community, through innovative partnership and deliver services that address the developmen- arrangements among agencies and programs, was tal needs of children from birth to age 6 who live able to identify and take action to better support in conditions of risk. The program is based on children and families. the principle that communities are best positioned to recognize the needs of their children and have the capacity to draw together the resources to Child/Family Resource Centre, Cranberry Portage, address those needs.

CAPC is one of three community-based The Child/Family Resource Centre pro- programs delivered by Health Canada to ensure vides programs for children and families in Cran- that children have a healthy start in life. The other berry Portage, Manitoba, and surrounding com- programs are the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Pro- munities. The centre offers a variety of services gram (CPNP) and Aboriginal Head Start (AHS). based on the needs of the children and families in the community, including cooking circles, a ‘Partnership’ is a guiding principle of breakfast program, a toy/book lending library, in- CAPC. Holistic support for children and their home visits, parenting programs, play groups and families can be achieved only through the com- family literacy activities. Community members

The publication, translation and distribution of this paper were made possible through the generous support of the Childhood and Youth Division at Health Canada. community stories

Children in a summer program at the Resource Centre. who have a commitment to the children and fami- In addition, the number of young people lies in the area are the backbone of the centre. increases during the school year as people come The Board of Directors includes representatives to town from outlying areas to attend Frontier Col- from a variety of organizations that work with legiate Institute, a residential school in Cranberry children and families. Portage. In 1990-1991, a statistical study by Fron- tier School Division found that there were high rates of teen pregnancy among students attend- The community ing Frontier high schools in Manitoba, and that 16 percent of students were already parents. Cranberry Portage is a small community of approximately 800 residents in northern Mani- toba. The community has a high incidence of History poverty, single-parent families and households on social assistance. The majority of the families The idea for the Resource Centre came from with which the Resource Centre works are abo- a small group of day care workers at The Chil- riginal. dren’s Developmental Centre in Cranberry Por- tage who wanted to help children and families A public health nurse is based in the com- obtain support and improve their circumstances. munity but other essential services – such as doc- As Director of the day care centre, I organized tors, mental health workers and addiction coun- community meetings in 1994 to let people know sellors – are provided only on a weekly or monthly about potential funding available from the Com- basis. Families must travel outside the commu- munity Action Program for Children. nity for all other health or social assistance pro- grams, which can be stressful and difficult for the At first, people wanted a youth centre many who do not have access to a vehicle. because of the high incidence of vandalism and

2 Caledon Institute of Social Policy community stories alcohol- or drug-related problems involving In August 1994, Health Canada informed youth. The day care workers stressed the impor- us that our funding was approved. We were ecsta- tance of early intervention with children up to tic! For the first time, Cranberry Portage would age 6. We believed that if we could reach chil- have substantial funding to address the needs of dren early and provide supports to their families, children and families. we could reduce the incidence of youth vandal- ism and criminal behaviour. Growing pains Gradually, people began to understand the concept of a ‘family-based centre’ – a centre that Our first task was to find a building that looked and felt like home, where families could would be accessible to families. The Frontier drop in and feel comfortable and welcome. A School Division No. 48 generously supplied a few people formed a committee to begin the building adjacent to the local elementary school daunting task of working on the proposal. As and day care centre. Rent was minimal and the the proposal took shape, we continued to hold school division covered hydro and water costs. community meetings to keep the community This was the beginning of a partnership that would informed of what was happening. bring about positive changes in the community and the lives of young families.

Parents participating in the Kisewatotatowin program for aboriginal parents.

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In February 1995, the centre held its grand ‘Breakfast Buddies’ opening. Several community members attended and word spread about the centre. In September 1995, discussions with teach- ers at the elementary school revealed that some During that first year, the centre offered a children were habitually late, coming to school toy/book lending library, parenting programs, hungry and falling asleep in class. We began a scheduled play groups and a drop-in program. breakfast program with funding from the Cana- Play groups were busy, and toys and books were dian Living Foundation Breakfast for Learning being borrowed, but we realized slowly that the program to help cover the costs for food. families accessing the centre already had strong supports, were usually two-parent families, dis- In the first year, about 25 or 30 children played positive child/parent interactions and did attended daily, and nutritional information and not feel isolated from the community. Adoles- recipes were sent home to parents so that they cent parents and families living in conditions of felt connected to the program. Slowly, parents risk did not come to the centre, or stayed for only became involved by volunteering to bake muf- short periods of time. fins at home, and women in church groups vol- unteered to help cook breakfasts. The children Over the next two years, the centre went began to talk about the toys and books at the cen- through ‘growing pains’ as we struggled to reach tre and started bringing their parents to borrow these families. We had to educate ourselves on items. It was a start. the issues that faced them. We had to try to understand what it was like to be knocked down time and time again by a system that did not “The centre’s support in providing positive par- understand many family situations and to be enting instruction, nutrition and meal planning treated in a manner that undermined one’s self- support as well as the ongoing child support pro- esteem. The centre was often intimidating to grams have added a dimension to our educational some families. Young mothers did not feel com- program that is the envy of many communities.” fortable coming to a play group when they knew Jerry Storie, Former Area 4 Superintendent of their children would ‘act up’ and that the other mothers might stare or be judgmental.

We realized that we needed to change our approach to ensure that these families felt com- The program has been formally named the fortable rather than threatened. We also knew ‘Breakfast Buddies’ by the children. The local that there were no overnight solutions, and that it Lion’s Club provides additional funding for the would take time to build a trusting relationship. program and has adopted it as one of its commu- We involved parents in ‘fun things’ where con- nity projects, sending a clear message that the versations developed naturally and staff became community is becoming aware of and is reaching part of the group, such as sewing circles and fam- out to vulnerable families. In 1998, a 9-year-old ily outings. We also decided that if we could not child – who previously had almost always been reach the parents directly, we could try reaching late for school or missed school altogether – out to the children and gradually involve the par- received a certificate of perfect attendance at a ents. school assembly.

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A Christmas cooking circle.

Parenting programs Initially we tried to offer ‘Nobody’s Per- fect,’ a parenting program developed by Health The number of teenage pregnancies in Canada, in the evenings at the resource centre. Manitoba’s Frontier high schools is considerable. Attendance was sporadic at best. We then tried Many pregnant young women drop out of school, to offer it in the building where the parents lived, return to their communities and seldom come but it was too chaotic with children underfoot. back to complete Grade 12. Without a Grade 12 education, they have little opportunity to gain Finally, we discussed offering the parenting well-paid employment to support themselves and programs as part of the Institute’s adult educa- their children, and the cycle of poverty and isola- tion life skills class. The Institute’s Speech and tion continues. Language Pathologist was trained in ‘Hanen: You Make the Difference in Helping Your Child In 1995, key stakeholders in the school sys- Learn,’ a program for parents that encourages tem developed a program that would enable sin- interaction and language learning. The Director gle parents to attend the adult education program of the Aboriginal Sweetgrass Centre at Frontier Collegiate Institute and live on cam- also was interested in what we were doing. She pus with their children. The school felt that the was trained to facilitate the Medicine Wheel pro- parents needed more support than they could pro- gram in which aboriginal people learn about cer- vide and invited the Resource Centre to become emonies and traditional culture. a partner in the program. We agreed to organize parenting courses, a toy/book lending library and Together we developed a ten-month pilot cooking circles. parenting program that included Hanen, the Medi-

Caledon Institute of Social Policy 5 community stories cine Wheel and Nobody’s Perfect. Initially, the delivering low birthweight and high birthweight program had some difficulties, but after adopting babies due to poor nutrition and lifestyle choices. several suggestions by parents who had partici- In 1996, we received funding from the Canada pated (e.g., changing location; emphasizing atten- Prenatal Nutrition Program to develop a program dance) the program was improved and strength- for the communities of , Cranberry Por- ened. tage and Flin Flon, Manitoba and Creighton/ Denare Beach, Saskatchewan. Community mem- We continually seek to improve the parent- bers were invited to submit names for the pro- ing program based on parent input and have gram and ‘Baby & Me: Best Beginnings’ was incorporated a ‘Read to Me’ family literacy com- selected. A steering committee, composed mostly ponent. The Medicine Wheel has been combined of public health nurses, was formed to support with the Kisewatotatowin program for aborigi- the registered dietitian who was hired to coordi- nal parents. nate the program.

A number of parents who have participated Outreach workers were hired for each of in the Institute’s program have graduated and the four communities. They are community gone on to take early childhood education courses, women with backgrounds in counselling, nurs- enrolled in the Northern Teaching program or ing, aboriginal culture or early childhood devel- expressed a desire to go to university or college. opment. Their most important qualification is There is a strength and determination in these their caring, nonjudgmental approach. They have young parents that is amazing, even though they been able to reach women when everyone else themselves cannot always see it. has failed. Within a two-year period, the outreach workers, who worked 15 hours per week, had full Nevertheless, there continue to be barriers. caseloads, and in some communities there were Some of the parents leave the adult education pro- waiting lists. We have been extremely fortunate gram. Some young parents have grown up in hor- to have such dedicated people in the program. rendous conditions and bring those experiences with them. Their children frequently suffer from “The Child/Family Resource Centre staff and their alcohol-related birth defects and/or other devel- programs have helped me through a very difficult opmental delays. The lack of alcohol and drug pregnancy and they continue to show support for treatment facilities and abuse treatment for fami- my family and me.” lies in the region is a serious problem. We hope that through the strong partnerships we have Mother in Cranberry Portage developed, something can be implemented to sup- port these families and ensure that they succeed. In 1998, the Manitoba government initiated the Women and Infant Nutrition (WIN) program ‘Baby & Me: Best Beginnings’ for lower-income families and households receiv- ing provincial income assistance. Under WIN, Early in the centre’s existence, we recog- eligible families can receive an income supple- nized the need for more support and services for ment to help pay for healthy foods during preg- pregnant teenagers and for women at risk of nancy and the baby’s first year of life.

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Existing programs in communities were AHS person on-site, our play group has expanded invited to apply for funding or to become WIN to include an aboriginal component. Our staff sites. Because of the strong nutrition component, have learned about aboriginal culture and ceremo- coordinators from a number of community organi- nies and how to work with aboriginal families. zations selected Baby & Me: Best Beginnings to Referrals between programs have increased. be the applicant for WIN funding. The other part- ners would register as WIN sites. In addition to the partnerships already men- tioned, we have strategic alliances with Manitoba The WIN funding enabled outreach work- Justice, Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, the ers to put in additional hours, thereby reaching Nor-Man Regional Health Authority, the Mani- more women and increasing opportunities for toba Diabetes Education program, the RCMP, and staff training. Cooking circles offered by the the Child and Family Services Division of the Resource Centre and Aboriginal Head Start sites Manitoba Department of Family Services. expanded to include families from Baby & Me: Best Beginnings, so there was a mix of pregnant Partnerships enable us to provide consist- women and mothers with babies, aboriginal and ency to families over a longer period of time; share non-aboriginal families. The Resource Centre staff expertise and training; make available a began providing in-home supports to women in variety of programs on a limited budget through Flin Flon. The In-Home program assists women shared office and program space; share space and who need support with nutrition, breastfeeding, coordinate program scheduling; share program child development and parenting after being dis- staff (the Coordinator of Flin Flon Family Lit- charged from Baby & Me: Best Beginnings. eracy offers the ‘Read to Me’ program in Cran- berry Portage and trains parents in facilitating a program); develop innovative fundraising strate- Partnerships benefit all gies; and address specific issues, such as fetal alcohol syndrome. All partners have benefited The partnerships developed in our commu- by sharing resource materials, office supplies and nity were successful because each organization equipment, and through joint purchases for the viewed our initiatives not as individual undertak- toy/book lending libraries. ings but as part of one large project.

Our partnership with the Sweetgrass Cen- Lessons learned tre’s Aboriginal Head Start (AHS) program dem- onstrates how both parties benefit from working We have learned many things since we together. The Sweetgrass Centre’s cultural aware- first received funding from the Community ness activities, play groups and parenting sessions Action Program for Children to develop the are held in the Resource Centre. The Sweetgrass Resource Centre: Centre, in turn, provides office space for our reg- istered dietitian and outreach worker in Flin Flon. 1. We have learned the hard way that it is cru- Sweetgrass Centre staff and parents in the AHS cial to determine goals from the beginning, program have benefited through having a regis- and to ensure that everyone understands and tered dietitian on site to advise on nutrition and agrees with those goals. through access to prenatal information. With an

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2. Since the beginning, evaluation has been an Our community has accomplished a lot in important component of our project. It has five years. The various partnerships we have taken time to develop tools to gather informa- developed help us maximize our reach while tion from parents that are not seen as intru- maintaining our focus. The relationships within sive or threatening. Feedback forms given the various partnerships continue to grow and to parents at the end of each parenting pro- change, but the focus remains: listening to what gram are tailored to the group’s needs. For families want and need, and working together to example, if participants are young parents, ensure that it happens. have low literacy skills or speak as a first language, we use pictures instead of a written questionnaire. For drop-in programs, Wendy Trylinski we encourage parents and children to use a suggestion box in the Resource Centre. Wendy Trylinski is the Director of the Child/ Staff also are involved in informal discus- Family Resource Centre. She can be reached at sions on a day-to-day basis with the parents (204) 472-3671 or by e-mail at childfam@mb. and children who come to the centre. In gen- sympatico.ca eral, our experience has been that if staff are sincere about hearing what parents have to For more information about Health Canada’s say, the parents are usually very open and community-based programs, visit the website at feel comfortable. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/childhood-youth/ 3. The staff, Board of Directors, parents and interested community members are invited Cet article est également disponible en français. to participate in a yearly review of the goals and objectives for programs and to help develop an operational plan for the next year. Copyright © 1999 by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy. This proactive approach has helped ensure that the needs of families are met and that 1600 Scott Street, Suite 620 they have a voice in the program and a sense Ottawa, Ontario, Canada of ownership. K1Y 4N7 phone: (613) 729-3340 fax: (613) 729-3896 4. During the first three years, we took on more e-mail: [email protected] website: http://www.caledoninst.org than we could handle. We were the ‘only thing in town,’ and the community looked Caledon publications are available from: to us for services and programs that should have been considered ‘extras.’ With limited Renouf Publishing Company Limited funding and human resources, we found that 5369 Canotek Road Ottawa, Ontario we could not do everything, and we had to K1J 9J3 stop and really think about what we were Phone: (613) 745-2665 doing and for whom. It took some real soul- Fax: (613) 745-7660 searching to drop projects that were not core programs, but the yearly reviews and indi- and from Renouf stores at: 71 1/2 Sparks Street, Ottawa (613) 238-8985 vidual program evaluations keep us grounded 12 Adelaide St. West, Toronto (416) 363-3171 and remind us why we are here.

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