Dear Members and Allies of the Self Advocacy Community,
We hope you are having a great summer so far. This letter is to update you on:
- New CLBC board chair and five new members
- New CLBC newsletter Celebrate Diverse ABILITIES
- Self advocate employment trainers
- Self advocate leadership retreat
- 2014/15 Annual Service Plan Report
- Report on B.C. aging forums
- Updated Provincial Assessment Centre web site
New CLBC board chair and five new members
We are pleased to inform you that Tom Christensen is the new chair of our board of directors. He is a lawyer and has strong experience working with community organizations. Mr. Christensen was CLBC’s Minister from 2006 to 2009 and he was the MLA for Okanagan-Vernon from 2001-2009.
The other new CLBC board members are:
- Dave Babych, former NHL player, associate director of player development for the Vancouver Canucks
- Joanne Curry, associate vice-president of external relations with Simon Fraser University
- David Everett, president of the Duncan Group of Properties
- Jane Holland, past advocate for service quality
- Mona Murray, founder and president of Sheridan Property Management
You can read more here.
New CLBC newsletter Celebrate Diverse ABILITIES launched
We are pleased to share the first edition of CLBC’s refreshed newsletter Celebrate Diverse ABILITIES. You can read the newsletter on the CLBC website here. Printed copies of the newsletter have been sent to CLBC offices and subscribers across B.C.
This is the first time that CLBC’s Editorial Board helped to create the newsletter. The board members are self advocates from across the province, and family members.
In this newsletter, you can read stories about people with diverse abilities in communities across B.C. There is also a CLBC news section. Please share the newsletter link with anyone who may be interested.
Self advocate inclusive employment trainers for hire
There are now five Inclusive Employment Trainers ready for hire across the province. These self advocate trainers talk to professionals, businesses and community organizations about inclusive employment. They are part of B.C.’s Self Advocate Training and Mentoring Network.
The trainers are:
- Shelley DeCoste, Kelowna
- Elisa Paczos, New Westminster
- Kayla Finney, Kamloops
- Sherwin Strong, Comox Valley
- David Johnston, Dawson Creek
You can view their profiles on the Self Advocate Net website Speaker’s Bureau here.
You can learn more about employment trainers by reading these stories on SelfAdvocateNet.com:
- Why I’ve chosen to be an employment trainer
- My job as an employment trainer
- How I feel about job coaches
Self Advocate Leadership Retreat
The 16th Annual Self Advocate Leadership Institute will be held at Edenvale Retreat in Abbotsford from October 30 to November 1.
You can click here to learn more and to register by October 5. If you have any questions, please contact Gregg Schiller at greggschiller@shaw.ca.
2014/15 Annual Service Plan Report
CLBC’s latest annual service plan report is now posted on our website here. The report shows how well CLBC met its goals for the past year. It also includes financial statements.
Report on B.C. aging forums
During the spring, CLBC hosted nine forums to talk about supporting people with diverse abilities as they get older. These forums were part of CLBC’s Strategy on Aging, which you can read here.
About 800 people came to the forums. You can read a report about the forums on our website here.
Provincial Assessment Centre web site refreshed
The CLBC Provincial Assessment Centre (PAC) in Burnaby supports people who have a developmental disability and a mental illness, or behaviour issue.
In July, PAC’s webpage was updated to share information about their services and staff. The new page also includes a video tour of PAC. To visit the updated PAC webpage, please go to: www.CommunityLivingBC.ca/ProvincialAssessmentCentre.
As always, please let us know if you have any feedback about this update. You can respond to this email directly.
Sincerely,
Seonag Macrae
CEO
Community Living BC
Jessica Humphrey
Self Advocate Advisor
Community Living BC
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