January 19, 2016
Province to Fund Enhancements to United Way Supported Family Resource Centres, Women's Centres
– – –Support for Centres Will Enhance School Readiness, Help More Women, Families and Children: Premier Selinger
The Manitoba government will work with United Way of Winnipeg and senior Winnipeg volunteer leadership to enhance supports to family resource centres and women’s centres, enabling these agencies to continue to offer high-quality, culturally competent programming, Premier Greg Selinger announced today.
“Manitoba’s family resource centres are an invaluable source of support for many parents and children in our province,” said Premier Selinger. “By helping family resource centres provide sustained, accessible and quality early childhood programming, we can better support families and ensure more children are fully ready to begin school and thrive from the experience.”
Under this partnership, the province will match donations to this special initiative of United Way in support of family resource centres and women’s centres, up to $1.5 million per year to help areas with the highest needs over a five-year period.
“We applaud the commitment to match donations to family resource centres,” said Bob Silver, president, Western Glove, and co-chair, Premier’s Economic Advisory Council. “We understand the very real connection between the important work done at these centres and better outcomes for children and families, including better school attendance and graduation rates, better supports for parents seeking improved educational and employment opportunities, and much more.”
Specific priority areas for the funding include:
- expanded hours for family resource centres and women’s centres,
- quality early childhood development and programming,
- food and nutrition programs,
- parent coaches and counseling,
- literacy,
- system navigators, and
- volunteering and pre-employment opportunities.
In 2014, United Way supported family resource centres provided support to over 35,000 people in Winnipeg. Meanwhile, women’s centres create safer and healthier communities by empowering, supporting and providing opportunities for women to help themselves, their families and their community.
“We are very excited by this news today. Everyday throughout our city, family resource centres open their doors to kids and families in their neighbourhoods, offering a welcoming, non–judgemental, lifeline. It is a model rooted in trust, respect and responsiveness, and it’s working,” said David Johnston, president, Johnston Group and representative, United Way. “Through this partnership, we believe we can increase availability and accessibility of this model, enhancing strengths, replicating success to do more to help nurture and encourage our city’s most precious resource – our children and their families – at a scale that could well be transformational for Winnipeg.”
The funds will be administered through Manitoba’s Early Childhood Development Innovation Fund (ECDIF). The ECDIF was established in 2013 as a way for corporate, philanthropic and private sector donors to make contributions to early childhood development innovation in Manitoba.
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