Life Management Skills and Street Outreach Funding Renewed
June 23, 2006
Thanks to the folks in the Housing Branch of the City of Ottawa, federal and provincial funding has been renewed so that our Life Management Skills and Street Outreach services can continue.
As a result, three Centre 507 staff are being retained for another year to continue their fine services to participants.
Jonathan Lorch and Michèle Ferland do street outreach the old-fashioned way. They walk the streets of Centretown six days a week. They provide supportive listening, supplies and referrals to other services.
The Centre considers this service very important and has offered it for years. Continued collaboration with other street outreach services is a condition of funding.
Life Management Skills worker Sonja Prakash will continue to lead workshops on budgeting, anger management and cooking. According to Connie Woloshuck, Manager of Residential and Support Services at the City, even people who obtain housing need life skills training to cope in their homes.
Participants, staff and board members are very pleased with the Life Skills program, which is funded by the federal homelessness initiative. Although this source of funding will dry up after March 2007, we hope our success will help us find another source of funds before then.
