Dear Members and Allies of the Self Advocacy Community,
CLBC wants to make sure we are keeping you up to date on the things we are working on. This letter includes information about:
- CLBC’s next strategic plan
- Update on the Community Action Employment Plan
- Housing Forum Draft Report
- Update on the Advancing New Support Options project
- include Me! Quality of Life survey planned for Fall 2016
- Update on CLBC’s regional reorganization project
- Annual meeting with CLBC and BC People First
- Resources to share
CLBC’s next strategic plan
CLBC’s strategic plan shows the most important goals and priorities for CLBC to work on.
The current strategic plan ends this year, so CLBC is working on its new strategic plan. The new plan will be for the next three years.
CLBC is listening to self advocates, families, service providers, CLBC staff and other community members about what is most important to include in the new plan.
You can learn more by clicking here. We expect CLBC’s new strategic plan will be finished by December 2016.
Update on the Community Action Employment Plan
The Community Action Employment Plan (the Plan) was started in March 2013 by CLBC and many partners in community.
The goal of the plan was to help 1,200 more people supported by CLBC to find work. After three years 1,800 people have found work.
This means about 4,000 people supported by CLBC are now working!
In June, CLBC updated the Plan and created a new goal for the next 3 years. The new goal is for 5,000 people supported by CLBC to have a job.
You can learn more on the new Community Action Employment Plan webpage here.
Housing Forum Report
On March 10, CLBC hosted a one-day Inclusive Housing Forum. People have different ideas about inclusive housing.
The reason for the forum was to talk about inclusive housing policies and practices.
There were many different people at the forum, including individuals, families and service providers.
The ideas from the forum have been used to create guidelines about inclusive housing.
CLBC will use this report to guide future work on inclusive housing.
Update on the Advancing New Support Options project
The Advancing New Support Options (ANSO) project will help CLBC create a new support option for the people we serve.
This is a three-year project. The goal of the new support option is to help people CLBC serves to get a job, be involved in the community, develop skills and build support networks.
This new support option is being designed by 5 teams from around the province. Each design team includes a self advocate, family member, service provider and CLBC staff member.
This summer, the teams will meet to put their ideas together. They will then begin to test out their ideas in Fall 2016. You can find information about ANSO on CLBC’s website here.
If you have any questions, please email Manon.Gelinas@gov.bc.ca.
include Me! Quality of Life survey planned for Fall 2016
The CLBC include Me! survey asks people CLBC serves about their quality of life. Over the past 4 years, CLBC has asked more than 3,200 people to tell us about their quality of life.
The survey helps CLBC and our many partners to make decisions that improve the quality of life for people with diverse abilities.
Over the next year, CLBC will survey 1,500 more people in Vancouver-Coastal, Simon Fraser, South Fraser, and Southern Interior regions.
If you have questions about the include Me! survey, please contact Andrea.Baker@gov.bc.ca or click here to visit the CLBC webpage.
Update on CLBC’s regional reorganization project
In our previous messages, we shared information about how CLBC is going to change how we work together as staff. This is called the regional reorganization project.
The main change is that CLBC Facilitators (who work with individuals and families) and CLBC Analysts (who work with service providers) will work together on the same team.
They will all report to the same Integrated Service Manager. This will help CLBC respond more quickly to individuals and families.
This change will take place from September to December 2016.
The only change that some people we support might have is a new CLBC contact person. If you have any questions, please contact your local CLBC manager.
You can find more information on the CLBC website here.
Annual Meeting with CLBC and BC People First
On May 4, CLBC and BC People First (BCPF) executive teams met for their second annual meeting.
The purpose of this meeting is to share updates and priorities and to find ways to support each other’s work.
CLBC is a proud sponsor of the BC People First Conference. You can read a summary of the BCPF May 2016 conference We’re in this Together here.
Self Advocate Net shares stories
CLBC continues to be a proud sponsor of B.C.’s Self Advocate Net website. Please visit the links below to read recent articles from self advocates across BC.
- Speaking up about rights – by Rasika Aklujkar
- Living independently with a visual impairment – by Michael McLellan
- What friendship means to me – by Cheryl Fryfield
- Becoming a senior ambassador – by Barb Goode
- Dancing in the night life – by Lee Kissinger
If you want to share your own story idea, you can click here. Self Advocate Net has also started a monthly newsletter.
You can read recent editions and become a subscriber by clicking here.
We hope you found this update useful.
Please feel free to contact Jessica directly at Jessica.Humphrey@gov.bc.ca if you have any questions or comments about this message.
Thank you as always for helping us build strong and welcoming communities.
Sincerely,
Seonag Macrae
CEO
Community Living BC
Jessica Humphrey
Self Advocate Advisor
Community Living BC
