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The Power of Love
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Carla, the Supervisor for Burnaby Family Life’s Young Parent Program at Burnaby South Secondary School. Carla has been the Supervisor of the Young Parent Program for eight years and liaises between the childcare, high school education and lifeskills components of the program. Between her, a youth worker, two teachers and several daycare staff, they run the program for young parents that is constantly adapting to meet individual needs. Carla also manages the operation itself and advocates for youth and clients alike.
Young Parent Program
The Young Parent Program (YPP) is designed so that young parents can attend classes while their children are being watched in daycare just steps away, making it easy for young moms to see their children during the day. Young parents have to be enrolled in the YPP in order to have their child enrolled in daycare. Their schedule is flexible in the sense that they have the option to go through regular classes and take electives, but also stay in a teen parenting room and work on other subjects if it gets too hard. There have been times when a child gets sick which prevents the parent from attending classes, thereby disrupting their routine. The program has adapted to this by acknowledging that young parents have more success when they can work at their own pace.
Currently, the program takes in children from as young as eight weeks to three years. If these young moms graduate from the program and decide to upgrade their schooling, the program still considers them as a young parent and can still provide daycare for their child. If they choose to attend post-secondary, they are considered within the “community” group and new rules apply for subsidy reasons. Another Burnaby Family Life (BFL) program at Morley Elementary school provides daycare for children ages three to five and designates four spaces for former YPP participants. Carla says she would love to see the daycare expand so they could support more children, specifically older age groups.
Resources
The YPP is not just a daycare and schooling program for young moms, it’s also a resource centre for all kinds of requests. When asked about what resources are available, Carla was quick to tell me that help is given on an individual basis and when requests arise, she will try to find a resource in-house or will offer outside help if needed. Carla says they are always keeping up with individual needs on a day-to-day basis. Within the school itself, young moms are able to connect with community support.
Recently, a garden was donated to the daycare in the hopes of involving young moms in growing healthy, fresh food and to show them the benefits of growing their own food. To read more about the garden, local newspaper Burnaby NOW, has written an article about it here: http://www.burnabynow.com/life/Teaching+garden+opens/3260447/story.html
Inspiration
It’s hard enough going to school as a teenager, but when a young mom comes through the door early with a smile on her face, Carla thinks, “Wow, she did it again.” Carla says it’s inspirational when you see the attachment happening and the little family unit growing.
Inspiration comes in many forms and is seen daily by Carla and the staff. One past student who graduated from the YPP continued on to post-secondary school and ended up working for a local credit union. She then came back and donated to the program. Another student learned sign language while going through the YPP and now wants to be an interpreter. There have been lots of successful students who come through the YPP and are great examples to students currently in the program.
Help with homelessness
There’s always more that someone in Carla’s capacity wants to do and for her, it’s helping with homelessness. The program currently does not have many cases of homelessness but it was an issue a couple years ago. Finding homes for teens with children was difficult and Carla looked into the idea of starting a home, similar to temporary housing, but there were no funds for it and it’s wasn’t in BFL’s mandate to focus on housing. Fortunately, through much hard work and time, the program has been successful in helping their clients overcome homelessness.
Power of love
Thinking back to my teenage years, I can’t imagine caring for a young child as I could barely take care of myself. This is where Carla tells me to never underestimate the power of love, even if it’s a 15-year-old’s love for their child. Unplanned pregnancies happen but we, as a society, need to acknowledge that we can help teenage moms get the skills they need, while programs like the YPP, care for their children. In the long run, the hope is to help teenage moms become successful and productive members of society and in turn, their children can strive for the same and better.
Donations
It was amazing to hear that the daycare provides breakfast, lunch snacks, and access to donations whenever young parents are in need. Carla has direct contact with the Christmas Bureau and often seeks daily living necessities for parents. Donations have been made by community parents as well, but Carla says they are always open to receiving donations, especially diapers of all sizes as these get expensive for the young moms.
Pro Organics donates to the program’s Christmas party and the great thing is, the girls get to go home with bags of produce: enough for the two weeks that the daycare is closed.
Carla says they also get funding from the Food First initiative in Burnaby, where girls learn how to cook nutritious, low-budget meals in the classroom, get to eat them and go home with enough ingredients to duplicate the recipe for their families.
Other generous donations have been made by Telus for the girls to enjoy the things that their peers enjoy. Carla recalls one year where Telus donated their box suite at GM Place (now, Rogers Arena) for the girls to see teenage pop sensation Avril Lavigne in concert. Carla says the girls were thrilled and fully enjoyed themselves.
Carla points out that donations and volunteers are always needed. Donations can be made by contacting Carla at 604-257-4465. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Claire Chiang, Coordinator of Volunteers at 604-312-3243 or e-mail cchiang@burnabyfamilylife.org. The daycare always needs extra support with the children.
Since the first day I met Jeanne Fike, Executive Director of Burnaby Family Life (BFL), I found her to be such a passionate connector. Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeanne at BFL to find out just what makes BFL the organization that is defining Burnaby’s social services sector.
Our conversation started with how BFL planted its roots in Burnaby and is continuing to grow. Jeanne was pregnant when she joined the STEP program which is still one of the core programs at BFL. In a very grassroots way, she enrolled in leadership training, volunteered and started everything by trying. BFL applied for grants from the government and has been receiving them since 1972. Since the beginning, BFL has been responding to the needs of the community and has done so by partnering with the school district, health region and other organizations. Partnerships are a great way to bring the community what they need but the constant struggle that Jeanne faces is that most, if not all, organizations apply for the same government funding, making it very difficult for these service providers to comprehensively serve the community.
Jeanne’s professional and personal spheres depict a life of fulfillment and contribution. She’s passionate about Burnaby’s diversity and loves meeting people. In fact, she’s traveled to 48 different countries, mostly developing countries, and she‘s proud that BFL’s employees collectively speak 40 different languages. The highlight of her professional life is working with immigrants and refugees. This ignited a memory we both had of the time the Burnaby Board of Trade hosted an immigrant integration forum and tour that sparked the social consciousness of the business community. The tour brought 10 CEOs to BFL and helped make doors open while Jeanne witnessed resilience and human potential in overcoming adversity. (To find out more about this amazing initiative, visit the BBOT’s website.)
When asked her how she stays connected given her busy lifestyle, she stressed the importance of her relationships and that she loves staying connected through technology especially her Blackberry, while email and entertaining at her home come in a close second. She believes that everyone has a purpose and that she was meant to connect people and it helps that it’s a true passion of hers.
Another way she stays connected and promotes connections is through the programs at BFL. The programs facilitate the strengths of others through sharing stories and mutual support. Jeanne revels at how the programs are like an entity in themselves and is amazed at how they transform people and give people the tools they need to succeed in life.
When asked to describe a personal and special connection with someone in the community, Jeanne was quick to name Darlene Gering, President & CEO of the BBOT. Jeanne considers Darlene a passionate ally in the business sector; a sector that BFL doesn’t usually have as much access to. Darlene pushes BFL to set the business case for its programs and to push for funding by showing the value of its programs to the local community.
Business and social sustainability haven’t always gone hand in hand and as Jeanne admits, identifying with the business sector has been a new experience.
As the Communications Intern for the Burnaby Board of Trade, I had the opportunity to explore businesses and organizations within the Greater Vancouver area and understand the complexities of social development faced by non-profit organizations. I was excited to be a part of conversations surrounding the business case for homelessness, social development and immigrant integration. This is where I met Jeanne, who is an active member of the BBOT and is involved in the Social Development Committee that the BBOT hosts.
With all of Jeanne’s experiences and stories, what was her message to the readers? Pay it forward. Recognize all that you have and be purposeful about making a difference. Know how much it means to somebody to be recognized for who they are and what they are doing. Suspend judgment. Be kind.
Burnaby Family life has been featured in local newspapers BurnabyNOW and Burnaby Newsleader.
Social Reflections 