Floor Hockey !! when we can join !!
Every Wednesday starting September 18, 2024Victoria West
Coming soon: CLBC’s Aging Knowledge Hub
We’re excited about the upcoming launch of our new Aging Knowledge Hub.
Soon you’ll be able to find aging resources in one convenient location including provincial community resources, information and tools. The goal of the Aging Knowledge Hub is to provide easy-to-access information on a wide range of topics to improve quality of life and enhance well-being for people with developmental disabilities as they age. It will also provide resources for service providers, CLBC facilitators and primary care providers.
The Aging Knowledge Hub will be hosted on the CLBC website. It will include resources for Indigenous people and families, opportunities for connection to community, transportation resources and housing programs. It will also provide health resources, information about equity groups, dementia resources, advocacy tools and more.
We will be announcing the official launch of the Aging Knowledge Hub later this month.
CLBC’s Accessibility Plan: First-year milestones and what’s ahead in year two
September marks the completion of the first year of CLBC’s three-year Accessibility Work Plan. Here’s what we learned and accomplished:
Relationships make all the difference: We established committees, including a policy working group and an Accessibility Advisory Committee, to guide our actions. We also incorporated cultural safety into our work through training and policies.
Clear, timely communication is key: We expanded our use of plain language and created videos to help families and individuals navigate CLBC processes more easily.
Information needs to be shared in many ways: We partnered with community councils to pilot "Communication for Everyone" picture symbol boards and introduced an online form for alternative format requests.
Welcoming physical spaces: We updated our criteria for selecting new CLBC offices and gathered feedback from the people we serve to make CLBC spaces more welcoming.
Accessible employment is necessary: We hired an Equity Diversity & Inclusion Lead who will develop a strategy to improve accessibility for CLBC staff with disabilities.
As we begin the second year of our plan, we're excited to deepen connections with those we support and eager to gain new insights on accessibility from their experiences and from our colleagues at CLBC.
Discussions about community inclusion services to be held province wide
Dear Service Provider,
I am writing to let you know that CLBC is beginning a series of discussions about community inclusion supports and services with individuals, families, service providers and key community partners.
The purpose of this work is to identify best practices for community inclusion supports and recommendations for services and programs for people with diverse abilities in B.C. Following the completion of the discussions and other research, CLBC will propose next steps to support the provision of community inclusion services which reflect current best practices and provincial commitments to inclusion.
Fred Ford, Vancouver Island Regional Director, is leading this work and has begun by meeting with key provincial self-advocacy / advocacy and service provider groups and local communities to seek input on initial plans and best ways to connect with people, services and communities – to ensure that the process is respectful of each individual’s and each community’s culture and needs. Fred will visit services and meet with people in a rural, remote, urban and Indigenous communities to gather an understanding of people’s experiences and preferences, best practices for community inclusion supports, and what ideas people have for the future of these services. Fred will also gather information about best practices in these services in B.C., as well as in other provinces and countries.
Individuals and families can find out more about this work on CLBC’s website here. The page also has Frequently Asked Questions to provide a deeper understanding of this work and its goals. Recommendations developed from this work will reflect identified preferences and practices and any proposed changes will be person-centred and carefully planned.
Fred is currently reaching out to self-advocates, families, community members and service providers to identify communities and services to visit, with initial visits planned for northern BC communities. Every effort will be made to accommodate the best ways to engage with individuals and with each unique community.
For more information and to find out about how to participate and share your ideas, please contact Fred at 250-812-2221 or Fred.Ford@gov.bc.ca. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ross Chilton
CEO, Community Living BC