ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: June 30, 1998
Author/Local: Anne Kloppenborg/6031
CC File No. 2201

TO:	Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
FROM:	Director of Community Services, Social Planning Department
SUBJECT:	Allocation of 1998 Cross-Cultural Expertise Grants

RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council approve Cross-Cultural Expertise Grants to the following organizations, the source of funds being a $20,000 reserve in the 1998 Community Services Grants Budget:

a) a grant of $7,500 to MOSAIC, in partnership with the Canadian Red Cross Child Abuse Prevention Program;

b) a grant of $7,500 to Vancouver Second Mile Society, in partnership with United Native Nations.

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Community Services submits the foregoing for CONSIDERATION.

COUNCIL POLICY

Approval of grant recommendations requires eight affirmative votes.

PURPOSE

This report recommends grants to two projects intended to share and develop cultural expertise and increase the degree to which community service agencies effectively serve people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
BACKGROUND

On March 24, 1998, Council approved a reserve of $20,000 in the 1998 Community Services Grants Budget for the Cross-Cultural Expertise Grants. This is the fourth year of the program, which was developed in collaboration with immigrant-serving and general community service organizations, to increase cross-cultural understanding and to make organizations and programs more culturally accessible. (Appendix A: program criteria).

In the first year of the program, projects included an initiative in Hastings Sunrise which developed better connections between Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, Thunderbird Community Centre and First Nations families in the area; and a partnership between SUCCESS and Family Services to share cultural and professional expertise in family counselling and support services. Subsequent projects included development of a culturally appropriate parenting group model for Chinese families; an innovative multi-agency family support model in the South Asian community; and a project to assess barriers and organizational issues in three eastside agencies regarding gay, lesbian, bi- and transsexual youth.

This year, seven proposals were received and two are recommended at this time. One additional proposal was highly rated but needs further development and will be considered in September.

RECOMMENDED GRANTS

Each project is a partnership between two or more organizations.

· MOSAIC and Canadian Red Cross Child Abuse Prevention Program

Request: $9,000 Recommendation: $7,500

This project will enable the partners to share expertise on child abuse prevention and on family issues in ethno-cultural communities. It will assist MOSAIC to broaden the scope of training to its family support workers, and will support the development of culturally appropriate abuse prevention training for Red Cross volunteers. Staff representatives from several other immigrant-serving organizations will be included in the discussions, as will key staff from other Red Cross programs. Total project cost is $14,900, with the partners sharing the balance of the costs.

· Vancouver Second Mile Society and United Native Nations

Request: $7,500 Recommendation: $7,500

In this project, the All Nations Elders Healing Circle at Vancouver Second Mile will develop presentations on the urban Aboriginal experience, Aboriginal culture and spirituality, and racism, based on personal experience. United Native Nations will help the group develop the material into a format that the elders themselves can present to other groups. As part of the first phase of the project, the Vancouver Second Mile Board and staff will participate in the test-run of the workshops. The Board has undertaken to use the information and experience to make Second Mile programs more accessible to aboriginal people. The second phase of the project, for which funding from other sources is being sought, will take the workshops to other Downtown Eastside organizations.

GRANTS NOT RECOMMENDED

Five other applications were received. A proposal from Early Childhood Multicultural Support Services and several First Nations groups to develop a culturally appropriate approach to First Nations programming in childcare has been deferred until September.

Four projects were not recommended. Problems with these applications included lack of a partner organization, and projects which were more service-oriented than oriented toward systemic change, or which were weak in the areas of systemic change and sustainability.

· a project to remodel Canadian Mental Health Association services to the Chinese-speaking community;
· a project to do outreach to African women and youth and promote cross-cultural understanding (Little Mountain Neighbourhood House);
· a project to share information on AIDS issues in the Spanish-speaking community (New Hope HIV Education and Support Society) and information related to the individual control of Home Support funding (Community Empowerment Society); and
· a project to gather information about successful ways of including newcomers with limited English as volunteers (Volunteer Vancouver, Collingwood Neighbourhood House, and MOSAIC).

CONCLUSION

Two grants are recommended at this time in this year's Cross Cultural Expertise Grants program.

ATTACHMENTS TO THIS REPORT THAT DO NOT HAVE ELECTRONIC COPY ARE AVAILABLE ON FILE IN THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver