First Call: BC Child & Youth Advocacy Coalition Report on 2008 Provincial Community Consultations

THE MANY FACES OF ADVOCACY FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH: 2007/2008 PROVINCIAL FORUMS IN FIVE B.C. COMMUNITIES

Between December 2007 and November 2008, staff from the BC Centre for Safe Schools and Communities and First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition met with approximately 180 community representatives from various regions across British Columbia to learn how to best support the healthy development of BC’s children and youth. The BC Centre for Safe Schools and Communities and First Call are organizations with a provincial scope and are both mandated to promote the well-being of children and youth. This report outlines the findings from those community dialogue sessions.The BC Centre for Safe Schools and Communities (CSSC) (www.bccssc.ca), at the University of the Fraser Valley, promotes safe, nurturing, and inclusive school and community environments to maximize the potential and well-being of BC’s children and youth. Recognizing that the education system and community partners require support in their efforts to create optimal developmental environments for children that can be challenged by issues of abuse, marginalization, exclusion, bullying, harassment, and violence, CSSC works to support communities by providing educational resources, conducting research, offering training, and facilitating referrals to other support agencies throughout the province.

First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition (First Call) (www.firstcallbc.org) is a non-partisan, cross-sectoral coalition of over 80 provincial and regional partner organizations and community coalitions across BC. It is committed to ensuring that all children and youth have the opportunities and resources to achieve their full potential and participate in creating a better society. Through collaborative campaigns and projects, public education and training, media work, the dissemination of research, and networking, First Call works on of variety of issues, such as income inequality, child poverty, support for early childhood development, support for youth in transitions, and creating safe and caring communities.

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