Minister Bettney awards funding for 20 projects under the SSP

Julie Bettney, Minister for Human Resources and Employment and Lead Minister for the Strategic Social Plan, today announced funding of $687,000 for 20 demonstration projects under the province's Strategic Social Plan.

In keeping with the goals and objectives set out by the Strategic Social Plan, projects approach social and economic issues from a preventive and early intervention perspective. Projects also focus on ways to invest in communities to make them strong and viable. Projects announced today are spread throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and cover initiatives dealing with TELE medicine, health, education, support of Aboriginal people, issues concerning women, investing in children and youth and strengthening communities.

"Our government acknowledges the value of the contribution community based organizations make not only to social development in their communities but also to economic development. In fact, these organizations are one of the major partners in implementing the Strategic Social Plan," said Minister Bettney. "The response to this initiative was extremely high. The overwhelming response speaks to the desire of people in our province to participate in future social and economic development."

During the summer funding for 19 other projects totalling $513,000 was announced. Today marks the awarding of the last set of proposals for 1999/2000. As part of the implementation process of the Strategic Social Plan, government made available a $1.2 million fund which community groups could access for projects that look at new ways and means of addressing social issues in their communities.

The Strategic Social Plan is bringing together government, regional health, education, and economic development boards and community agencies to focus on innovative ways to meet challenges in our communities and those of the future. The SSP has been initiated in the central region and work continues to bring the Plan to two other regions this winter.

Media Contact: Catherina Kennedy Kelly, Strategic Social Plan, (709) 729-3126.

BACKGROUNDER

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Project Name: Rural Mental Health Service Training and Consultation Demonstration Project
Project Sponsor: University Counselling Center, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Contact Person: Dr. Peter Cornish
Project Location: Twillingate

This project is receiving $25,000 to strengthen and broaden the range of supports within the community and the community's capacity to respond to its own mental health needs. The community of Twillingate was selected for this demonstration project as local health providers have identified a need to explore this consultation and training process. Twillingate is also ideal as it is a training site for family practice residents at MUN Medical School and has satellite technology links existing. The project is phased in over a 10 month period. It is based on the philosophy that given their own experiences, participants will draw on their diverse interdisciplinary strengths, resources and skills to generate unique, innovative solutions to their specific problems. The project consists of Weekly Case Conferences using MUN's telemedicine/Tetra video-conferencing technology, Didactic/Training Presentations and the development of a Consultation/Resource Library.

SSP funding: $25,000

Project Name: HIV/AIDS Outreach in Conception Bay North.
Project Sponsor: Conception Bay North Aids Interest Group
Contact Person: Sister Rosaline Hynes
Project Location: Conception Bay North

The Conception Bay North Aids Interest Group is being given $25,000 to support the development of a self care program for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families to improve their physical, emotional, and psychological well being. In the long term this should provide better health care for those affected by HIV/AIDS. Other agencies and communities can share this model.

SSP funding: $25,000

Project Name: In-school Mentoring Program
Project Sponsor: Big Brothers/Big Sisters Association
Contact Name: Steve Kent
Project Location: St. John's, Mount Pearl and area

In the last 10 years high school graduation has increased in this province by 30 per cent and now stands at 82 per cent, one of the highest in the country. To encourage these numbers to grow, $25,000 is being given to Big Brothers/Big Sisters for their project focusing on an in-school mentoring program. The program's goal is to improve the confidence and self esteem of children in grades K-6 who have been identified by their teachers as needing a little extra encouragement from mentors and community leaders. This positive influence will help children learn to meet the challenges that may impact on their ability to finish school.

SSP funding: $25,000

Project name: Parent Support Group
Project Sponsor: Persons With Disabilities Advisory Council
Contact Person: Anne Connor Sheppard
Project Location: Communities in Conception and Trinity Bays.

Parents of children with disabilities and challenging needs are the child's primary advocate and support. Sometimes, parents lack the information and social support they need to fill this advocacy role. In support of these parents and their children, the Persons With Disabilities Advisory Council is receiving $40,000 to develop a project that emphasizes parent empowerment to facilitate a person's ability to gain information and support for their child's day to day experiences. They will share experiences of the other parents and learn to be better advocates of their children's needs in society.

SSP funding: $40,000

Project Name: Family Support for Women Incarcerated at the Newfoundland and Labrador Correctional Center for Women
Sponsor Name: John Howard Society
Contact Name: Valerie Corcoran
Project Location: Newfoundland and Labrador Correctional Center for Women

The John Howard Society will receive $24,475 to hire a coordinator to encourage more visitations and contact between incarcerated women, their children and other family members. Family days will be conducted at various times of the year such as Christmas and more contact between these women and their children will be arranged. Contact and support with family is an extremely important aspect of the rehabilitation process for people who have been incarcerated and is also important for their children.

SSP funding: $24,475

Project Name: Strengthening the Community Capacity of Harbour Breton
Project Sponsor: Town of Harbour Breton
Contact person: Al Wurdemann
Project Location: Harbour Breton

Building the capacity of a community, i.e. building on its strengths and developing leadership with in the community to insure its viability, is a fundamental focus of the Strategic Social Plan. The Town of Harbour Breton is receiving $11,560 to encourage this idea. The focus of this project will be on encouraging and bolstering of people's self image so they will have the confidence and leadership capacity to move ahead as a community to meet the challenges faced by rural communities. Through various forums and public dialogue, community leaders and individuals will become more actively involved in this renewal. This project is encouraging strong partnerships among community organizations and agencies and is based on the view that a viable, economically secure community is based on healthy, educated, confident people.

SSP funding: $ 11,560

Project Name: Inclusion Strategies for Comminutes
Project Sponsor: Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community Living
Contact Name: Bernadette St.Croix
Project Location: Provincial focus

This proposal is receiving funding in the amount of $25,000 to support a new community inclusion project in communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. This project reflects significant partnerships between Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community Living, the Canadian Association for Community Living, Human Resources and Development Canada, Human Resources and Employment, Health and Community Services, St. John's Heath Care Cooperation, Seniors Resource Center, People First in Newfoundland and Labrador and local communities. This project will demonstrate best practices toward greater inclusion of people with developmental disabilities within the social and economic milieu of communities, thus enhancing self-esteem and independence from lives of learned dependence.

SSP funding: $25,000

Project Name: Suicide Intervention and Community Response
Project Sponsor: Labrador School Board
Contact Person: Darryl Feener
Project Location: Communities throughout Labrador

The Labrador School Board is receiving $24,756 for their project centered on Suicide Intervention and Community Response. The goals of this project are to provide communities with the support and the professional training that will assist in the prevention and intervention of suicide. As well, it will provide a framework and direction to learn to deal with crisis situations thereby fostering community support. The project will take place in many parts of Labrador including Nain, Davis Inlet, Postville, Hopedale, Rigolet, Maakovik.

SSP funding: $24,756

Project Name: Labrador Inuit Healthy Start Pilot Project
Project Sponsor: Labrador Inuit Health Commission
Contact Name: Iris Allen
Project Location: Nain

The Labrador Inuit Health Commission (LIHC) provides a wide variety of holistic programs and services. The LIHC proposes through this project to start children on a road to a healthy lifestyle. This project will focus on new parents and children up to the age of three and follows the guidelines of the SSP of prevention and early intervention. The LIHC is receiving funding for a project centering around support and guidance developing parenting and coping skills, in home support for families provided by the Healthy Start Coordinator, assistance in obtaining services in alcohol and drug treatment, family planning, employment training, job readiness, and parent support groups. Focus will also be on elder involvement in traditional parenting, child rearing and coping techniques.

SSP funding: $24,750

Project Name: Support for Residents of Port Hope Simpson with Myotonic Dystrophy
Project Sponsor: Canadian Paraplegic Association-Labrador region
Contact Name: Jackie Compton
Project Location: Port Hope Simpson

Thirty-one residents of Port Hope Simpson suffer from Myotonic Dystrophy, a hereditary, neuromuscular disease that can have an onset at any age. It has been suggested that the dexterity required making pottery will provide appropriate therapy for the disease. A trainer will be provided to teach this task. Besides therapy, this may create some earned income for these disabled people through the sale of their work.

SSP funding: $27,407

Project Name: Taking Care of Yourself and Your Child
Project Sponsor: McConnell Kenworthy and Associates
Contact person: Susan McConnell
Project Location: St. John's

In this project the mode of intervention is educational but the emphasis is on strengthening the ability of adolescent mothers to help themselves and parent their children. While adolescent mothers learn the same way as adult mothers, they are less likely to learn from experience and to avail of such mutual support because of the stigma and social isolation associated with adolescent pregnancy, and because they are adolescents. The project consists of 15 weekly sessions wherein a qualified childhood educator will facilitate good childcare and provide informal guidance and education about child development and parenting. The project will also encourage skills required for personal growth. Once the program has been developed and evaluated it would be a very worthwhile resource for other agencies and communities.

SSP funding: $25,000

Project Name: The Women's Self-Care Project
Sponsor name: Women's Health Network
Contact Name: Agnieska Kosny

The Women's Health Network and the National Network on the Environment and Women's Health have partnered to produce the Women's Self-Care Book. The SSP is supporting this partnership by providing $26,663 to fund a series of workshops in five communities to enable the sponsors to assess what self care and community tools are working to improve women's health. The workshops will also focus on effective self-care techniques for improving physical and mental health. This project shows a good potential as a resource for other communities and the end product can have a profound impact on encouraging healthy living.

SSP funding: $26,663

Project Name: Discovery Women's Network-Staging Awareness
Project Sponsor: Discovery Women's Network in Economic Zone 15
Contact Person: Lisa Langwieder
Project Location: Clarenville, Bonavista and area

The Discovery Women's Network has a mandate to focus on issues that have an impact on women targeting both social and economic development. They are receiving $25,099 for their project entitled "Staging Awareness". With the endorsement of the Vista School District, students will research and develop stage productions to give themselves and their audiences an understanding of gender equity and the need to improve the economic status of women. The second component of this project centers on building capacity within communities. This group of women wish to provide support and build leadership in communities by developing chapters of the Discovery Women's Network in each of the seven development associations in Discovery Regional Economic Development Board � Zone 15, who offer their support of this initiative.

SSP funding: $25,099

Project Name: Voices of Women
Project Sponsor: Voices of Women-Central region
Contact name: Dorothy Fewer
Project Location: Central region

This project is based on the premise that women are the people most likely to be accessing services on behalf of themselves and their families. This project will support the work of the Regional Facilitator of the Steering Committee in Central Region for the Strategic Social as they continue their work to implement the SSP. The project will educate women about the SSP and identify ways women, as leaders, can become active participants in the implementation of the SSP particularly at the community level.

SSP funding: $27,253

Project name: Grass Roots
Project Sponsor: Cable Atlantic
Contact Name: Cathy Murphy
Project Location: Newfoundland and Labrador

"Grass Roots" is a series of 24 half-hour television programs designed to motivate community involvement through the process of dialoguing with communities at the grass roots level, finding their unique gifts and reflecting them back through television. This project will help build positive attitudes about ourselves. It will be a tool for sharing projects and initiatives which are making our communities strong and viable. The sharing of this information will strengthen our communities and our culture. This project will forge partnerships among government, private industry and communities. Cable Atlantic has committed $177,612 to this project.

SSP funding: $50,000

Project Name: Utilizing the Individual Support Services Plan as a Resource to Address Student Needs: A Research Project
Sponsor Name: Central Regional Partnership with support of School District #5 and #6
Project Location: Central Newfoundland
Project Description:

This research project focuses on improving educational services for children with exceptionalities. The project will focus on six schools in the Central Region. A researcher/practitioner will compare the resource model used in the current school year with an alternate approach based on the needs of students with exceptionalities as identified in their individual support plans.

SSP Funding $73,000

Project Name: Early Childhood Language Stimulation Program
Sponsor Name: St. James Elementary, Channel-Port aux Basques
Project Location: Channel-Port aux Basques
Project Description:

This project emphasizes early intervention with three and four year olds who will be placed in a language-alive environment within a regular school. Language development, and social, intellectual and attitudinal skills will be stimulated and developed. The project coordinator will also work closely with parents of children who have been identified in the "at risk" category. The project serves communities of Cape Ray, Margaree and Port aux Basques

SSP Funding $10,000

1999 11 29                          12:50 p.m.