Sub-Committees of the CSPC

Success by Six/Early Intervention Committee

The Early Intervention Committee has been a sub-committee of the Castlegar & District Social Planning Council since shortly after its inception in 1999. This committee has been comprised of representatives from the various programs in Castlegar serving families with children under the age of 6.

The goal of this committee is to ensure that services to children under 6 are coordinated, comprehensive, and delivered in an effective and efficient manner. This is achieved by meeting on a monthly basis, sharing information, and planning for changes in service or addressing gaps in service. As a subcommittee, this committee reports on a monthly basis to the Castlegar & District Social Planning Council.

Early in 2006, the Early Intervention Committee and the Success By 6 - Castlegar Community Table amalgamated. This is a demonstration of positive collaboration at its best with the intent to nurture and protect our youngest residents. A motion was made in February, 2006 that the Early Intervention/Success By 6 Community Table now be known as: Success By 6 Sub-committee of Castlegar & District Social Planning Council.

Housing Committee (formerly the Homelessness Committee)

This subcommittee has formed and re-formed at least twice since the inception of the Castlegar & District Social Planning Council in 1999. The most recent forming of this committee was early in 2005 when Council members began to identify a potential homelessness problem among Castlegar’s youth population. The committee has heard directly from some youth and is interested in learning more about the potential magnitude of the problem from others who work with youth. In the meantime, the Council believes that it is advantageous to take a broader view of homelessness in Castlegar, so will be focusing some of its efforts in the upcoming year on the larger population, particularly those living with mental health and addiction issues.

Seniors’ Advisory Committee

This subcommittee was formed in March, 2006. This committee had been operating as an advisory body to Castlegar Community Services’ for the previous two years as they developed their programs for seniors. Now as a subcommittee of the Social Planning Council, this committee will expand its membership and its terms of reference to ensure that it is truly representative of all seniors in Castlegar and reflects real issues facing seniors. This subcommittee meets on a quarterly basis and will report regularly to the Social Planning Council.

Food Security Action Committee

Under the auspices of Castlegar Community Services and in collaboration with the Social Planning Council, this short-term project was funded by the Interior Health Authority, Population Health. Food Security projects are happening in almost every community in the IHA region in an effort to bring a new awareness to the reality of the security of our communities’ food supplies and to develop municipal policies for food sustainability. The project kicked off with its public Community Food Action Forum on April 27th,2006. After that, a committee was formed to develop a strategy for a food secure community using the ideas shared at the forum and the massive amounts of exciting research from around the province, country, and globe about ways to create sustainable food supplies.

In December of 2006 the committee formed a Society and is still active in the region. As of June 2007 the Castlegar Community Garden is up and growing. Other Society projects include follow up work in connecting with regional districts and municipal governments around food policies across the region, and hopes for a fall public event as well. For more information on the Kootenay Food Strategy Society (KFSS) please check out the website at www.kootenayfood.ca.

Child, Youth, and Family Committee

This committee was originated at the November 2007 workshop held by the CSPC and facilitated by SPARC BC. The interactive workshop included time allocated to determine and brainstorm on solutions for current issues in the community. One group initiated the idea of creating a Women’s Support Centre. Basic plans including benefits, challenges, and potential committee members of a Centre were created. The committee is inactive at this time, but hopes to reconvene at a later date.

Violence Against Women in Relationships (VAWIR)

The VAWIR committee meets on the third Thursday of each month, September through June at the Castlegar RCMP office to network and discuss relevant issues.

Mission Statement: To consistently empower, support, and advocate for women, children and families by providing timely education, prevention strategies and problem resolution, through networking services and resources to create respectful relationships in our community’s home and social systems.

The committee is always interest in expanding membership. If you know of a local agency or service that could benefit from praticipating in the Castlegar VAWIR committee, please contact Leanna Kozak, Castlegar RCMP Victim Services at (250) 365-7341.