With a belief that every person has the strength for growth, and through this inspire their life, their family and their community, the City of Grande Prairie’s Crime Prevention department recently hosted A Path Forward: Simple Connections, Stronger Families Community Conference.
Thanks to the help of a grant from the Community Foundation of Northwestern Alberta, the conference included a day of workshops for agency managers and supervisors dealing with technology in the workplace and preventing compassion fatigue, followed by an evening presentation for community members on communication in the family.
The second day of the conference featured a series of free presentations for the community on topics such as personal wellness, togetherness, parenting in a digital age, community and family resiliency.
“Providing community members with tools to build these simple connections and stronger families helps build a stronger community to deal with the current opioid crisis and deter future high risk behaviour in youth,” says Cheryl George with Grande Prairie Crime Prevention.
Organized by the Building Resiliency Committee, which includes Crime Prevention, Alberta Health Services, RCMP Family Education Society, Odyssey House and members from the community at large who work with the Suicide Prevention Resource Centre, Moms Stop the Harm and the Community Opioid Task Force, the conference was truly a community project with close to 70 attendees over the two days.
“Overall the feedback was positive with people being grateful for the opportunity to learn, and network with others in their field,” says George. “Most people took away information they felt would benefit them moving forward.”
George noted the grant monies from the Community Foundation’s Community Impact Fund made it possible for the committee to keep the conference free of charge for the community.
“The Building Resiliency Committee of Grande Prairie and the Community Foundation of Northwestern Alberta share a common goal: we both strive to enrich the lives of community members through the work we do,” she says.
You can make a difference in our community – not only for today but forever. When you make a donation to the Community Impact Fund, we invest that gift into a permanent endowment fund and the original gift is never spent. Earnings from your gift are distributed in our community to support all needs in the community. Donations can be made online here – https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/38163 or by calling the Community Foundation at (780) 538-2820.
