OCS Outcomes Report 2016-2017
First Steps is jointly managed by Diversecity Community Resources Society and OCS, with liaison support from Umoja Operation Compassion Society.
Outcomes • Minimize the impact of trauma and the refugee experience on the growth and development of very young refugee children and their caregivers. • Support the children’s health, wellbeing and early learning potential within a play-based, language enriched, parent-child interactive setting. • Facilitate successful transition of the children into mainstream Early Childhood Development services and kindergarten. • Build the capacity of the children’s caregivers within the Canadian context. • Enhance collaboration amongst settlement and Early Childhood Development services. • Develop culturally competent services and practitioners within the Early Childhood Development sector.
Service Highlights • 13 multi-week parenting programs held. • 40 workshops. • 167 families served. • 5,863 snacks and meals provided. • Primary language spoken is Arabic.
Quality Improvements • An additional counsellor – Arabic speaking was added to our program staffing to support the increase in families arriving through the Canadian governments promise to sponsor 25,000 refugees. • The City of Surrey continues to provide a support staff to First Steps program for 10-12 hours/week. This ensures that families are not only aware of the Leisure Access Program (LAP) but that they are enrolled and able to access affordable programming for their children. The City staff is able to help staff of the program and families become familiar and comfortable in navigating City services. This
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position has been extremely valuable in both helping the City understand the specific needs of the Refugee community as well as help engage the families in our program with the services offered in the community. • First Steps partnered with School District 36 Surrey for the first time to deliver the Kindergarten Readiness program. This program was delivered both at First Steps and W. E. Kinvig Elementary School. Although at the beginning this was a shift from the previous years for our team, at the end of the program, it was a very positive experience for both the parents, staff and especially the children. This partnership with the school is an
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