Vancouver Board of Education Inner City and CommunityLINK Re-Visioning Consultation

Context  To re-vision the supports and services the Vancouver Board of Education (VBE) provides, though Inner City and CommunityLINK funding, to students who are affected by the complexities of poverty

Background  Inner City  Implemented 25 years ago to support children affected by poverty  Provides staffing (Teacher, Youth and Family Worker, Neighbourhood Assistant and Staff Assistant) to elementary schools designated as Inner City  Designation of Inner City schools has traditionally occurred every 5 years and involves an analysis of socio economic trends in neighbourhoods across the city  Last Inner City review occurred in 2009

Background  CommunityLINK  Grant funding from the Ministry of Education – began 2004  Focus is on providing supports (food, academic, social emotional and community connectedness) to vulnerable students  Main components:  Lunch Program  12 Community School Teams (CST) - Teachers, Youth and Family Worker, Community Schools Coordinator  CST has not been reviewed since its inception  Lunch Program reviewed in 2009

What do we mean by poverty?  Complex, extreme and diverse set of compounding layers, often generational, including:  economic pressures  impoverished spirit  food insecurity  lack of adequate housing  mental distress/illness/addictions  physical ill health  social marginalization, isolation, lack of social network  little resiliency, lack of alternatives

The Concept

The Focus Intensive, individual student support Targeted, small group support Universal programs and services

Consultation Questions  1. What do we need to do to support children who come to school disadvantaged by the complexities associated with poverty (e.g. classroom practices, school strategies, district policies, family engagement, partnerships?) Where in the continuum of prevention to crisis intervention should we focus our resources?

 2. What aspects of the current Inner City Program (a team of Program Teacher, Youth and Family Worker, Neighbourhood Assistant, School and Students Support Worker) work well for children, who come to school disadvantaged by poverty?

 3. What aspects of the CommunityLINK (Community School Teams –Teacher, Youth and Family Worker and Community Schools Coordinator) work well for these vulnerable children?

 4. If you work with an agency other than the VSB, what kinds of partnerships with the district do you think work well for the children who come to school disadvantaged by poverty?

 5. What are the gaps in services and supports for children who come to school disadvantaged by poverty? What might not be working well?

 6. If you could make changes to improve services and supports for students coming to school from impoverished backgrounds, what would you change and why?

Thank you!  Your input is valuable and will be used to create recommendations for the Vancouver Board of Trustees in early 2014.