Sherrie Botten, Rowan House Emergency Shelter

Present

Sherrie Botten, Rowan House Emergency Shelter

Brenda Brochu, Peace River Regional Women’s Shelter

Noreen Cotton, Columbus House of Hope

Pam Desjarlais, Mountain Rose Women’s Shelters

Jean Dunbar, YWCA Sheriff King

Lisa Falkowsky, Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter

Tess Gordey, The Brenda Strafford Centre

Jennifer Gullage, Safe Haven Women’s Shelter Society

Brenda Hill, Kerby Centre

Marj Luger, Yellowhead Emergency Shelter

Geri Karsten, Sonshine Community Services

Megan Kompf, LaSalle

Sister Lucinda May Patterson, Lurana Shelter

Yvette Houle, Dr. Margaret Savage Crisis Centre

Karen Pease, Community Crisis Society

Kerri Potvin, YWCAHarbour House

Cassandra Putnam, Hope Haven Society

Linda Ruryk, Wellspring Family Resource & Crisis Centre

Kathy Sheppard, Odyssey House

Carol Tabone, Brigantia Place

Pat Vargas, A Safe Place

Ian Wheeliker, Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter

Mary-Ellen Proctor, Unity House

Darlene Lightning-Mattson, Sucker Creek Women’s Emergency Shelter

Dorothy Sam, Eagle’s Nest Stoney Family Shelter

Barbara Beaulieu, Safe Home

Pat Garrett, Wings of Providence

Carolyn Goard, Alberta Council of Women’s Shelter

Christie Lavan, Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters

Jan Reimer, Alberta Council of Women’s

Call to Order

Ian Wheeliker called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.

Approval of Agenda

Agenda was approved as presented with no additions

Approval of Previous Minutes

Corrections to April 23, 2009 minutes as follows:

• Barb Burton e-mail address should read
• Missed in the minutes was an invitation to have Carol Lemieux from Victims Assistance Program to attend an Executive Director’s meeting in the near future.

Kerri Potvin moved minutes be approved with corrections. Sherrie Botten seconded. Carried.

Strategic Issues Update & Discussion

• SPEC Committee has taken the results of the Banff Leadership Training held in Feb 2009. After visiting the building blocks which the Directors identified there are still questions that need to be answered:
• What do these blocks mean?
• Where do we go from here?
• Whatparticular challenges do we face as shelters?
• What are the current strategies to address?
• What additional strategies do we need to address?

From the responses ACWS will compile a word document and forward them to the LTWG and the ACWS Board.

Long Term Working Group (LTWG)

• The terms of references are completed. The link to the LTWG will be available on the ACWS website.

• On August 7, 2009 there will be a meeting in Edmonton as a follow-up to last year’s meeting and the LTWG will present their findings. Hindsight has been hired to facilitate the meeting.

Bannister Follow-up Survey Results on roundtable & Women’s Shelter Review:

Jan advised that ACWS did not get the responses they had hoped for and as a result will have to look at how ACWS can get more participation and have more dialogue with member shelters. The on-line survey is a good tool for ACWS to compile information however members do need to respond. The following is the feedback regarding possible reasons why there was little participation:

• Survey was too long, confusing and complicated to maneuver around the links.
• Some questions did not seem to be connected to the Roundtable discussions; they were too general and unclear; the questions needed contextualization in order to give appropriate responses
• Questions posed would have lead to negative responses and some Directors felt that as a group we have come a long way and therefore did not want to frame their responses negatively.
• Survey was a comparative analysis and because there are a lot of new directors who were not around during the Roundtable discussions it was difficult for them to do any comparisons.
• Many directors were not aware what was happening behind the scene.
• As a group we have not been reviewing the Roundtable issues and therefore it was difficult to answer the survey
• Recommendations from the province do not have timelines attached. Consequently it makes it difficult to hold them accountable.
• On Reserve shelters were not involved in the Roundtable discussions therefore could not answer any questions

Provincial Aggregate Data Report for 2008

• The 2008 stats show there were 200 fewer families who accessed shelters. Possible causes for this decrease over 2007 are attributed to:

1. Some women are utilizing the shelter Outreach Programs and therefore have no need to access residential services
2. Some shelters were going through renovations
3. Lack of affordable housing in the community and therefore women are not coming to the shelter only to have to return to their abusive environment
4. More referrals, partnerships and collaborations with other community agencies may be resulting in women choosing alternative option rather than coming to shelter

• One area that shelters need to look at is how stats are being collected. There were additional funding dollars given to some shelters in 2008. Did these dollars increase the shelter capacity or did the dollars simply go to fund beds that already existed but not funded? Shelters who received the additional funding are encouraged to send this information to Carolyn.

Provincial Training Plan

Funding received was in four specific areas:

• Leadership Bursary

To date directors have attended 3 Leadership courses:

1. Leadership and Mentoring – U of A Extension Program
2. Negotiations – U of A Extension Program
3. Banff Creative Leadership

• Child Care Grant

There is $55,000 as a one time grant to build capacity for children support

SPEC is suggesting that we maximize the impact of these funding dollars and possibly do something that will have a lasting impact. They asked that a small committee be formed to come up with possible ideas. Volunteers for this committee are Lisa Falkowsky, Sherrie Botten, Kerri Potvin, Carol Tabone, Mary Ellen Proctor, Jean Dunbar, and Karen Pease

This committee will come back to the table with their proposal.

It is important that we do not forget to ask Child Support Workers for their input

• Outcomes Conference

Carolyn attended the Outcomes Conference and was inspired by the conference. The Outcomes measurements will be linked to the contracting process. She encouraged everyone to go to the Website…she will forward the website address to the directors.

• General

Possible training ideas suggested include:

Danger Assessment Media Conference

Media in the Edmonton area were invited for the release of the Danger Assessment Research Project results. Jan Reimer, Jacquelyn Campbell, Barb Young and Brenda Brochu spoke at the media regarding these results.

Discussion with Jacquelyn Campbell

Jacquelyn Campbell facilitated a more detailed report about the Danger Assessment Research Project Outcomes. Presentation included such topics as Risk Assessment, Safety Planning and Risk Management. Her presentation will be available to members by going to the ACWS Website.

Jacquelyn will be coming to Edmonton on Sept 23rdfor the Police Training Conference held at the Ramada Inn on Kingsway Avenue. Attendees of the conference can be certified in Danger Assessment after completing the online test.

National Crime Prevention Funding

“Walking the Path Together” is a new project which is being funded by The National Crime Prevention Council. This project is in collaboration with the five On-Reserve shelters, the Centre for Children and Families in the Justice System, Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell, John Hopkins School of Nursing and ACWS. It will focus on:

1. Hiring a Child Advocate in each of the On-Reserve shelters. Its focus will be to work with Linda Bakeron how to teach children and youth to be safe from crime and violence.
2. Continue to work with Jacquelyn Campbell on the Danger Assessment Research Project and its relevance for On-Reserve shelters.

Funding has been received for this project and Dorothy Sam has been hired by ACWS as Project Manager.

Next Meeting -September 10, 2009 in Edmonton

Next Minute Taker: Sandra Danco