Peace River Shelter Facing Summer Closure
May 9, 2023
Homelessness
May 9, 2023
Homelessness
Emily Plihal – Local Journalism, Initiative Reporter
Out of the Cold Shelter in Peace River is facing temporary closure if they cannot secure funds to help them keep their services available through summer.
Located at 1010 – 100 Avenue in Peace River at the Sagitawa Friendship Society, the shelter provides a place for people in need to find refuge from outside elements and some warm food to nourish them. Unfortunately, they need to find extra funding or else the program will have to be halted until winter.
“The shelter was created to fill a gap in our community as there was no shelter for our vulnerable population,” explains Sagitawa Friendship Society executive director Marissa Geldart.
“Peace River is the hub of Northern Alberta, and we see many transient people from neighbouring communities, as well as our chronically homeless population that are local to our community. We are also two hours from the closest shelter located in Grande Prairie, over the past three years the shelter has become an essential service in our community,” she adds.
Geldart says that from April 1, 2022, to March 31 of this year, Out of the Cold Shelter had 239 clients access the shelter with 3,560 service visits. She notes this calculates to 9.78 clients per night.
Some of the concerns with the potential closure of the shelter is there will be nowhere for people to escape the excruciating heat of summer, they won’t be able to access safe housing to get off the streets, and they will have to struggle to find ways to access food, water, and shelter.
Geldart and Sagitawa Friendship Society president Krista Park-Stepaniuk say they were fortunate to receive funding through the federal government and the Rural Development Network to keep the shelter open year-round during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In November 2022, we received funding from the Alberta government and the Rural Development Network to operate the Out of the Cold Shelter for the winter months,” Geldart says, noting those funds have now lapsed, and the shelter is seeking assistance to keep its doors open through summer.
“As outlined in the Action Plan for Homelessness from the Alberta government, funding was provided for winter emergency response rather than year-round funding.”
The shelter is now asking for public donations to try to keep its doors open to help individuals year-round. Initially, they thought they would have to close the shelter on May 1 of this year. Geldart says a very generous donation from Lisa Jebb and Craig McNaughton allowed them to stay open longer than they were anticipating.
“At the shelter we provide a safe place to sleep, two meals a day (breakfast and dinner) and laundry services,” she says.
“Clients also have access to Outreach Services and through our other programming we can provide a wrap-around approach to ensure that clients are receiving the best possible care and support. The goal of the shelter and Outreach Services is to permanently house clients.”
The services provided are vital, individuals who require help with temporary housing, mental health assistance access, or assistance to find rehabilitation services can go to the shelter and provide direction.
Unfortunately, as outlined in the Action Plan for Homelessness from the Alberta government, funding was only provided for winter emergency response, not for year-round funding.
“We are still needing more funding to allow us to stay open for the duration of the summer,” says Geldart.
“Currently, we are seeking donations to allow us to stay open. If the shelter was to close, there would be a number of displaced individuals having to sleep rough or in other unsafe conditions. Peace River is home to the majority of our shelter clients, and they choose to stay in our community rather than going to a shelter in a larger urban area.”
At a recent Peace River town hall meeting, homelessness was one of the biggest concerns addressed by individuals.
The shelter helps reduce the number of people on the street at night, which helps reduce crime associated with desperation to attain basic necessities. It also reduces the number of calls police must attend to, because there are fewer people being put in dangerous situations because they have a safe place to sleep.
“In the fall of 2019, the Town of Peace River requested assistance from the AHS Environmental Public Health Inspector to advise on a small tent town that had been formed in the downtown area,” explains Park-Stepaniuk.
“The inspector formed a committee comprised of the executive directors of the Sagitawa Friendship Society and the Peace River Regional Women’s Shelter, the RCMP community liaison, and representatives of the Icare and Servants Heart Initiative. Most of the residents of the tent town were men and the only shelter open to men was 200 km away.”
Park-Stepaniuk says the committee realized the need and knew that transitional and accessible housing would be best, but the quickest way to help these people was to try to open a wet mat program, allowing men and women a safe place to sleep in cold months.
“While they could enter while under the influence, they would not be able to consume any intoxicants on site,” says Park-Stepaniuk, noting that they opened Jan. 13, 2020, during a -54C windchill evening in donated space with a dedicated group of volunteers.
“Both the Holy Family Catholic School Board and the Peace River United Church kindly donated the use of their space. The community members supported the shelter with many financial, material, and in-kind donations.”
Park-Stepaniuk says the shelter was run by volunteers until the global pandemic was declared, when a grant from the County of Northern lights allowed for the hiring of the first few staff.
“The committee had discussed future plans and determined a larger non-profit would have to form with stable funding for shelter space or another established non-profit could take over the control of the program,” Park-Step- aniuk explains.
“The Sagitawa Friendship Society board of directors, who have been working to support those in need in our community for over 60 years, voted to do just that. They have successfully obtained funding allowing it to run every night since they have opened using grants from the provincial and federal funding.”
Now the shelter requires assistance from the pubic. If individuals are interested in donating to the program to help keep the shelter open through summer, please phone Geldart at (780) 624-2443.
“Shelters provide an essential service to a vulnerable population,” says Geldart.
“The clients rely on the shelter to have their basic needs met and to have a safe place to sleep. Sleeping rough is never a safe option and having shelters in rural communities closing in the summer means that clients are either having to sleep rough or in other unsafe options.”
Canada’s immigration doors have been opened in recent years allowing newcomers to migrate into the country as students, permanent residents, or other approved immigration paths as one way to address a skilled labour shortage. However, some newcomers find the integration and transition into the Canadian workforce difficult or complex due to several factors such as the absence of Canadian work experience and lack of knowledge of Canadian work culture, among others.
Renzo Calienes is a newcomer. Hailing from Peru, Renzo came to Canada as a student to pursue a Master’s in Business Administration at Vancouver’s University Canada West. When he approached the end of his studies, Renzo was eager to build his resume with Canadian work experience before he graduated as he believed this would increase his chances of employment.
To support Renzo, his university’s career centre introduced him to the Rural Development Network’s Rural Roots initiative – a work-integrated learning (WIL) program that allows post-secondary students to gain practical work experience alongside their classroom study. When an employer is matched with a student, this is known as a WIL placement.
In this blog, Renzo highlights how Rural Roots helped him gain Canadian work experience to enhance his resume and how Rural Roots can do the same for other newcomers.
For newcomers like Renzo, Rural Roots offers the opportunity to safely test the waters of the Canadian workforce. Renzo was matched with the Rural Development Network’s Shelter Pulse project. He worked as a Research Intern, conducting research, analyzing data, and writing reports on gender issues and violence against women.
I pursued a work placement opportunity to gain practical experience and apply what I had learned in school to a real-world setting
Renzo Calienes
The internship introduced Renzo to the realities of a formal work setting in Canada. He developed workplace skills and experience in Canada’s work culture. To secure the position, Renzo received guidance on how to prepare his resume to improve his chances of being invited for interviews by Canadian recruiters. Essentially, he learned how to ‘Canadianize his resume’. He also went through a formal recruitment process that will help him prepare for future recruitment processes.
Renzo argues that his WIL placement offered an experiential insight into the Canadian workforce, making him “feel better prepared for future work opportunities.”
WIL placements can help newcomers explore career paths they haven’t considered or had the opportunity to experience. Renzo worked in the non-profit sector for the first time through his WIL internship while his previous work experiences have been in entrepreneurship, consulting, sales, and customer service in his home country.
In the beginning, I felt overwhelmed and doubted whether I could succeed. However, I was able to overcome challenges and succeed in this new environment. This experience has taught me the importance of pushing myself out of my comfort zone and being open to new opportunities, even if they seem daunting at first
Renzo Calienes
As an intern, Renzo helped develop and implement projects, such as creating new policies or procedures and communicating the results to stakeholders of the Shelter Pulse Initiative. “I had a few “AHA!” moments [working with Shelter Pulse] when I realized the real-world impact of my work and how it could contribute to improving the lives of women and marginalized groups,” he adds.
Seeing the outcome of his research in real-time combined with his newly gained work experience in the non-profit sector, Renzo is now open to exploring career opportunities in the nonprofit sector, especially roles that will help him support women and other marginalized groups.
Through Rural Roots, newcomers can identify new industries and explore potential career opportunities where they can learn to transfer their existing skills to not only gain employment in Canada but also identify the type of work and industry they’d like to pursue after graduation.
WIL placements help post-secondary students build their resumes or portfolio before they graduate, which is very important for newcomers seeking employment. It can help newcomers improve the quality of their resumes by enhancing their existing work experience or help them develop new skills, allowing them to effectively compete for skilled jobs and improve their quality of life.
From this experience, I learned the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and how to effectively communicate research findings to stakeholders. It helped me build my research, analytical, and technical skills, provided me with valuable experience for my resume and portfolio, and opened up new opportunities for future work
Renzo Calienes
Renzo’s favourite part of working with the Shelter Pulse team was how he was able to develop a range of soft and hard skills while contributing to the project’s mission to build capacity for rural women’s shelters across Canada. These new skills have greatly improved Renzo’s competitiveness in the employment space.
Renzo also developed a professional network that can provide mentorship and testify to his skills, potential, and professional character for future employment referrals – a powerful and much-needed asset for newcomers.
It was also a great opportunity to work with passionate and knowledgeable professionals who were committed to making a difference. Looking back, I am proud of my achievements and the skills I developed during my time with the Rural Development Network such as adaptability, resilience, and dedication to learning
Renzo Calienes
The Rural Roots initiative invites newcomers in post-secondary institutions like universities, colleges, and trade schools to take full advantage of the benefits of its work-integrated learning program and work placements.
Work-integrated learning is a great way for newcomers or international students to learn about the Canadian workplace. It’s a low-risk way for you to discover new skills, build relationships, or add valuable experience to your resume as a way to enhance your future job applications
Daniela Seiferling, RDN’s Program Manager for WIL
Renzo Calienes is a highly qualified and value-driven business leader with over 15 years of business management experience in entrepreneurship, consulting, sales, and customer service in his home country, Peru. He holds a Master’s in Strategic Business Administration from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and an International Certificate in Digital Transformation from MIT. He recently completed his second MBA from University Canada West (Vancouver, BC).
Renzo possesses strong leadership, talent management, strategic planning, and change management skills. He is self-motivated, proactive, and detail-oriented. He has a track record of managing diverse teams ranging from 5 to 60+ people. Renzo is known for his ability to adapt to new technology trends and update his strategies accordingly. He has garnered numerous affiliations, awards, and recognition for achieving top rankings, annual goals, customer loyalty, and growing customer bases.
Businesses across sectors worldwide are currently facing crucial challenges such as accelerating digital transformation, sustainability, global economic downturn, and rising client expectations. But, at the heart of these challenges, is stiff competition for a talented workforce as companies need more resources to build capacity and meet their business goals.
So how can organizations build sustainable capacity? The Rural Development Network (RDN) endorses work-integrated learning (WIL) as an effective solution to this rising problem. RDN uses WIL to address capacity for small initiatives, including engaging five post-secondary students for a policy audit as part of our Shelter Pulse Project.
Here are three ways WIL helped build the project team’s capacity:
WIL students come to employers to gain industry experience but they also have something to offer organizations, specifically fresh ideas and perspectives. Being young, post-secondary students generally bring a different point of view and newly developed critical-thinking skills. Students also tend to be more knowledgeable of recent technology, tools, or trends that support efficient project execution. As a result, students often foster productivity and innovation in the workplace.
“The WIL students brought new frames of reference to the project. They also brought their own knowledge from lived experience or their past work and study experiences, which further enriched the project and policy audit,” says Daniela Seiferling, RDN’s Program Manager for WIL.
It is important to engage students in the workforce to build up their experience, and skills, and gain exposure to a professional environment. We have seen students that are more keen, capable, and knowledgeable than we give them credit for. The WIL students displayed excellent research, analytical, and critical thinking skills, posing challenging questions that displayed a deeper understanding of the project. These new perspectives helped Shelter Pulse review policies and improved the quality of its outcome.
When engaging five WIL students, RDN broke down the policy audit project into smaller pieces. This allowed the team to concurrently have multiple steps of the project being worked on at the same time while focusing on longer-term sustainability and strategy.
The WIL students helped fill the capacity gap in the Shelter Pulse team, allowing for the effective distribution of tasks. The students had to audit over 15 policy manuals, perform a gap analysis, and create benchmarks for meeting certain policy criteria, and a policy guide.
By deconstructing the complex project and having WIL students work on smaller parts, RDN was able to successfully complete the project on schedule.
“We were able to build our capacity and meet key foundational goals of the project in a timely fashion,” adds Daniela.
Businesses with limited resources often struggle with capacity due to the cost of recruitment. Work-integrated learning is a cost-effective method for recruiting and training new employees. WIL provides additional capacity for organizations with limited budgets and smaller teams.
It only took two weeks for the Shelter Pulse team to be matched with five post-secondary students that could support their project. RDN’s Rural Roots program supported the initiative with developing a job description outline, liaising with the partner post-secondary institutions, and finding the right talent to meet their needs.
Overall, Shelter Pulse credits engaging WIL students to the success and enrichment of its policy audit.
Rural Roots is a Work-Integrated Learning Program that matches businesses with student talent.
“Rural Roots provides low-risk placements to build capacity for employers and students across Canada. Engage a student in practical experience while meeting your business objectives,” says Daniela.
Shelter Pulse is a project partnership between the Rural Development Network (RDN) and the Mountain Rose Centre (MRC) to develop a centralized online database of feminist, trauma-informed policies for rural women’s shelters across Canada.
The database will be a free, easy-to-use, up-to-date resource to resolve these issues. Pooling resources to create a consistent framework for policy development and service delivery will also save time and money for shelters, eliminate duplication of work, and create a standard for all rural Canadian shelters.
The project is funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada’s Feminist Response and Recovery Fund.
Innovation is simply the understanding and knowledge that there is an efficient way of doing something – achieving a set task or goal. However, arriving at an innovative idea requires creative thinking, stepping outside the box, and oftentimes teamwork or partnership. But how can employers make sure they stay innovative?
Bob Bezpalko, the Executive Director of Alberta HUB has engaged over 20 students through the Rural Roots Initiative of the Rural Development Network.
He shares his insight on how work-integrated learning (WIL) supports innovative business solutions.
Work-integrated learning allows employers to outsource various aspects of a complex project. For instance, Bob’s organization had plans to establish a distribution location in Vegreville. However, the business needed an in-depth analysis of the viability of Vegreville as a suitable distribution centre to make informed decisions.
Through the WIL program, Bob outsourced this task to skilled post-secondary students in Canada. This gave Bob and other employees of Alberta HUB the capacity and time to focus on more complex aspects of the distribution project. Bob saw the value in working with students by leveraging their knowledge and skills.
“I believe WIL facilitates innovation. Our project required thinking outside the box and seeing the world as it is today, and defining trends that will change how business is done,” says Bob. He described his WIL experience as “very rewarding and successful.”
Engaging WIL students increases the capacity for success of any project. For innovation to thrive, employers must have a clear understanding of the complexity of their business challenges and provide student talent with the flexibility and space to bring innovative ideas forward. .
While working with Bob, WIL students creatively undertook an analysis of the relative industry, transportation and logistical opportunities, geographic and socioeconomic factors, and provided an extensive report that delivered the required outcomes.
“Our organization focuses on increasing wealth in our region which provides opportunities for our communities to grow. WIL provided the necessary capacity to gather information and formulate recommendations on best ways to proceed thus increasing the opportunity for success,” Bob explains.
These WIL students had research capabilities, skilled in marketing and human resource management to name a few. From his experience, Bob notes that while WIL students bring quality skill sets to any project, it is the responsibility of employers to provide all important information for a successful project.
Working with post-secondary students can help businesses develop strategies to meet their mandates. To achieve this, Bob says it is important for employers to “define the problem they are trying to solve” so students fully understand the expected deliverables.
“The students were very professional and showed great interest in executing the project. The result was an excellent report that detailed the required information and recommendations for the next steps in the short and long term.,” adds Bob.
Working with RDN’s WIL initiative also provided Bob with an insight into the future of Canada’s workforce. He urges more organizations to tap into the unlimited human resources WIL offers. “This program can help employers and organizations like Alberta HUB maintain operations and assist in developing a strategy to meet our mandates,” says Bob.
Post-secondary students across Canada are searching for opportunities to use their acquired skills in real-life situations to enhance their portfolios and resumes. Businesses have a chance to benefit from this pool of innovative and creative talent to meet their needs.
“[Rural Roots] program assists in developing a partnership with post-secondary institutions allowing the opportunity to address current and future labour needs,” Bob concludes.
Bob Bezpalko is the Executive Director of Alberta HUB. He began his career towards Economic Development in radio where he developed his communication and marketing skills. This gave Bob the opportunity to understand that the most important skill needed to communicate is “listening”.
Over the years he has gained extensive experience in project management, marketing, and strategic planning. He has a sincere passion for working with people in a team environment.
In his position as a regional economic development professional, Bob has had the opportunity to lead an alliance of municipalities, First Nations, Metis Settlements, colleges and business/industry to enhance the quality of life in his region. Working collaboratively with numerous other organizations and government departments has enhanced positive results.
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