Family Transition Place Annual Report 2014-2015

Safety. Support. Hope.

Family Transition Place 20 Bredin Parkway Orangeville, ON L9W 4Z9 24 Hour Crisis Line: 1-800-265-9178 | TTY: 519-942-1651

www.familytransitionplace.ca

To be a leader in the work to eliminate woman abuse by supporting women, children, men, their families, and the community by: • Providing a welcoming, safe shelter for women and their children; • Counselling those who have experienced abuse and its associated impacts on a person’s wellbeing; • Educating to promote healthy relationships and end the cycle of abuse; • Advocating for systemic change; and • Providing responsible stewardship of our resources and our community’s goodwill through accountable and transparent processes.

CONTENTS 04

Message from Norah Kennedy

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Message from Stacey Coupland

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Who We Are and What We Do

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How We Served Our Clients

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A Year in Review

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Strategic Plan Update and Challenges

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Meet the Board

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About the Staff

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Community Engagement / Volunteers

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Fundraising & Partnerships

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Financial Review

message from

NORAH KENNEDY 2015 officially marks the 30th anniversary of Family Transition Place (FTP). In 1985, when FTP was first established, the shelter movement in Canada was still in its infancy. The movement had only started a decade or two earlier in the late 1960’s and ‘70’s, when, even more so than today, Domestic Violence was considered a “private matter”, best kept hidden behind the heavy curtains of a marriage. This attitude often left women stuck in dangerous and intolerable situations with literally no place to go.

Norah Kennedy Executive Director

In our community, the need for a shelter was identified first by women working in the social services. As a result of these conversations, Hillside House opened in 1985, on Hillside Drive in Orangeville. It operated out of a single family dwelling on a residential street in town. This house, originally designed to hold one family, was stretched to accommodate sometimes as many as 25 or more women and their children and operated like that for many years.

With stable funding and the support of a generous community for a capital campaign, Hillside House, which was now known as FTP opened its doors in its existing location on Bredin Parkway.

Much has changed over the past 30 years, but the reason for our being in existence has not. Women still need a place to go with their children when home is no longer safe. Despite a concerted effort to educate the community that violence is never an acceptable part of a relationship, 30 years later the shelter is full every night, and our waiting lists for counselling services are longer than ever. But FTP itself has changed. Always a vibrant and progressive organization, the agency has modified and expanded in order to keep up with the growing community and the increasing and changing demands for service. FTP expanded its facilities in 2011 to increase bedrooms and enhance accessibility.

Some of our philosophies and approaches to doing the actual work have shifted over the years and you’ll learn more about some of our recent shifts in these pages.

We have adopted a more client centred, holistic philosophy to supporting women wherever they are on their journey to healing. We have deliberately worked on making our services more accessible and diverse.

Despite these changes, our values and our commitment to ending the violence, in all its forms, never waiver. To that end we continue to work with the youth of our community, through partnerships with our schools and other organizations, to give them the tools, attitudes and skills they need to build healthy, respectful relationships. We beleive that by doing this, we will help grow a new generation for whom violence in a relationship is never an option. Some things change, some remain the same. In an ideal world, 30 years from now, FTP will not exist to celebrate an anniversary – because in that future world respect and equality will exist between the genders and within every intimate relationship, rendering our services redundant.

Norah Kennedy, Executive Director

Thank you to our funders, our donors and supporters and most of all, the women and children and users of our services who place their trust in us and teach us so much every day. We continue to learn and change whenever and wherever it is necessary, so that we can do the best possible work and be worthy of the honour of that trust.

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Safety. Sup

1985

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pport. Hope.

message from

STACEY COUPLAND After seven years on the board, the time has come for me to leave. During my term, I hope that I have been able to make my views known on the many issues FTP deals with every day. The work being done here is so important.

I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to serve our community in this capacity.

FTP has had a great year and while working towards accreditation it has become abundantly clear just how well run this organization is.

Helping women and children escape violence and rebuild their lives is truly unfortunate but rewarding work. Offering emergency and second stage housing and councelling can help these women to heal from the devastating effects of spousal abuse. The management and staff do an exceptional job while constantly dealing with budget cutbacks.

Stacey Coupland President, Board of Directors

We must continue to educate our young people on the benefit of healthy relationships and prevent violence against women from being repeated from generation to generation.

I encourage you to volunteer with our fundraisers or make a donation to help FTP continue providing support and a safe place to live for women and their children.

5-2015

I know I leave the board in good hands. I may be off the board but will continue to support FTP in any way I can.

Stacey Coupland President, Board of Directors

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Safety • We value the safety of all indviduals and recognize that women and children are most vulnerable in our society.

Support • We value the right of all persons to live free from violence and abuse.

• We value the right and ability of all women to be in control of their lives and make informed choices.

• We value the importance of respect and dignity throughout the healing process and life’s journey.

Hope • We value education and prevention as tools to end abuse in our community.

• We value individuals, communities, organizations and governments who actively work towards healthy relationships free of violence.

• We value the elimination of systemic barriers to equality and independence.

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assist them on their journey, FTP is there to help.

Since 1985, Family Transition Place (FTP)

has been providing critical services to women and their children who have experienced abuse and unhealthy relationships.

Inside FTP’s doors, women find a warm and welcoming place where their safety and wellbeing is the most important thing in the world.

Whether they need a safe place to live, or the services of a professional, skilled counsellor to

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Over the years, FTP has become known, not only for these core critical services, but also for being a leader in the field of healthy relationship education. The Transitions Training division of FTP offers corporate training for organizations on domestic violence and its’ impact on the workplace, and the extremely popular Youth Education programs in the schools are helping to build healthy communities, one classroom at a time.

Through all of these programs, FTP strives to deliver services that provide safety, support and hope – so we can help create a healthy community, one relationship at a time.

“You have helped me so much to believe in myself and to follow my dreams.

I will never forget my time here of nurturing, sharing and caring. Bless you.”

– Residential client “Thank you to all the wonderful staff at FTP. Your support has helped me on my journey for a fresh start and I am very thankful and grateful for each and every one of you.” – Counselling client “These youth education programs should be for every grade in every school.”

– Youth Education student “I felt welcome from the first night I was here. You are all so understanding and have helped me, and have allowed me to feel that I need to put the past behind me. I am a stronger woman now.” – Residential client “Thank you for being so supportive. I couldn’t have made it without you.”

– Counselling client “The most important thing I learned is that is doesn’t matter who you are or what disabilities you have everyone can be destined for greatness; you just have to have hope and believe in yourself. “ – Youth Education student “Thank you for showing me that there is HOPE even when I was in the worst time of my life. I could not have managed without you.” – Residential client “This program helped me think better of myself and helped me believe that I can do more than I thought I could.” – Youth Education student

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supporting our clients on their journeys, as they migrate from abusive situations to healthy relationships;

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expanding community awareness of the issue of woman abuse and the need for prevention – creating greater stability and sustainability for Family Transition Place.

HOW WE SERVED OUR CLIENTS EMERGENCY SHELTER: 115 WOMEN & 59 CHILDREN COUNSELLING SUPPORT (WOMAN ABUSE) 368 WOMEN SEXUAL ABUSE COUNSELLING 131 WOMEN & 9 MEN ADDICTIONS & OUTREACH 74 WOMEN TRANSITIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES 372 WOMEN & 3 MEN SUPPORT WITHIN HOUSING 5 WOMEN AND 10 ON WAIT LIST YOUTH EDUCATION APPROXIMATELY 2,000 YOUTH

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24 HOUR CRISIS/INFORMATION LINE 3,224 CALLS

A YEAR IN REVIEW: ACHIEVEMENTS We are proud to share some of our highlights for the year: •

A Motivation, Engagement and Health committee formed to meet monthly to brainstorm and implement cost effective ideas in order to create the best possible work environment for our employees. We recognize that a healthy work/life balance makes for a productive and healthier staff team.

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We are on target to complete the rigorous process of accreditation for 2016. This four year process demonstrates our commitment to excellence and to be transparent and accountable to our stakeholders. Two staff members became peer validators, which will better prepare the agency for success.

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While we have been delivering counselling services in Shelburne for years, we negotiated an agreement to erect permanent signage in the donated space to heighten our profile and allow more women in Shelburne to know about our services. We have also extended our counselling services to include sexual assault counselling support from that satellite office.

A two year Voices Initiative Project, funded by the Status of Women Canada, was completed. We partnered with the Social Innovation Research Group from the University of Waterloo and completed a comprehensive study about violence against women in rural areas.

Outcomes included a detailed document denoting all of the learnings; as well as a 45-minute documentary that reflected voices from community partners, staff, survivors, and members of the community.

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Ten group counselling programs were offered ranging in length from 3 to 11 weeks; our three core programming groups (focusing on Child Witness, Woman Abuse and Sexual Abuse) were well attended.

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Mother’s Changing Paths (our addictions program) collaborated with other partnering organizations to develop a client survey that would allow us to track, in six month intervals, changes in: substance use, repeated emergency room visits and client satisfaction to ensure client service excellence, and to serve as a baseline to see if changes are needed to the program.

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We rolled out the Violence Against Women and Children’s Aid Societies’ Collaboration Agreement.

This is a result of two years of extensive work formed by a committee of representatives from both sectors in the Central West Region. This project was funded by the Ministry of Community and Social Services. It is ground breaking in many ways and outlines how the agencies can best work together for the benefit of our clients.

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Funding from the Central West Local Health Integrated Network enabled us to develop a program called Support Within Housing that allows us to work more closely with women who not only have experienced trauma due to abuse, but who are also managing moderate to severe mental health issues. Housing units have been provided by our partner organization, Supportive Housing in Peel (SHIP). In addition, the program also will include a Drop-In Centre at FTP for those struggling to maintain housing, or who find themselves precariously housed.

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After changing our approach with marketing for therapeutic counselling groups – we had the largest participation to-date for the Mothers in Mind Group (a child witness group for mothers who have experienced trauma and have children less than 4 years of age).

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Fundraising efforts and a new cost recovery model enabled us to subsidize 69, eight week Youth Education programs over the school year; including covering the full cost of six programs for identified equity schools.

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School based programming offered opportunities for youth to become engaged in various ways with the agency. This included volunteering with groups and students speaking from a “youth perspective” at the December 6th, National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women Vigil.

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Experienced new heights in revenue through new partnerships and third party fundraisers, which we attribute to a heightened community profile.

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Advocacy strategies were rolled out in November and May to strategically coincide with Woman Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month, respectively. This all-encompassing strategy included a seven week release of educational web posts that were shared on our website and social media channels. New partnerships were developed with a specific focus on establishing new connections in Caledon that coincided with the Purple Scarf initiative and included Scotiabank (Bolton) as a major sponsor. This partnership helped bring credibility to the campaign, as well as generating additional funds by their corporate sponsor matching program.

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Record attendence at the 25th Anniversary of the December 6th, National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women Vigil honouring the lives of the women who were murdered due to gender violence at École Polytechnique.

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Strategic Plan Update and We are two-thirds of the way through our three year strategic plan and are proud of our accomplishments.

When creating the plan, preliminary conversations were held with staff, clients, management, Board members, and community partners. Research was conducted into current trends and statistics regarding violence against women and a workshop with the leadership group (management and Board) was held to explore the current landscape and identify strategies to maintain and gain momentum for FTP with respect to serving clients, engaging the community, and sustaining the agency.

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We have increased our profile by heightening marketing campaigns, working with community partners and sending more delegations to municipal counsel.

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Increased advocacy in ending woman abuse by rolling out a communications plan to engage community and involve men as allies in our work.

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Committed to the Youth Education plan to create sustainability by adopting a cost recovery model and charging a fee for service to help subsidize costs of programming.

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Explored the Top 50 Canadian Employer Programs to adopt criteria to make FTP a rewarding place to work.

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Continued work on the Accreditation process, which is allowing the agency to enhance its’ systems and ensure an environment for success.

Out of this work, an updated vision, mission, and values of FTP were adopted and four major strategic directions were put into place: •

Supporting an individual’s journey and empowering them to make informed choices for their future.

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Educating and engaging all the communities served

by FTP to support healthy relationships and end abuse.

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To be a vibrant, rewarding, sustainable agency and employer.

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Enhancing operational capacity to ensure an environment for success.

These guiding values have helped form our operational plan and we are pleased to report the following highlights from this year: •

All staff attended training in the Bridges out of Poverty workshop to understand the link between poverty and abuse.

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Developed an enhanced partnership with SHIP to explore additional housing opportunities, and are pleased with the positive outcome. From this, our Support Within Housing program was born.

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Launch of the Central West Violence Against Women and Children’s Aid Societies’ Collaboration Agreement to provide the best possible service to our mutual clients and help support them on their journey.

We continue to build on the momentum of these two years as we head into the final year of the stratgetic plan, and will ensure that all agency’s directives align with our identified goals to ensure success.

Anticipated Challenges Current economic realities have also brought challenges to the agency. The demand for service has been consistently growing, putting additional stress on capacity and resources.

• The emergency shelter remains full and busy with complex cases where many women are struggling with mental health and addiction issues as a result of their trauma. We have had to adapt our thinking on how we deal with these challenges to better serve clients.

• Increasing mental health, addiction and homelessness issues are more prevalent among FTP clients, and demographics are changing (clients are increasing in diversity, culture, same sex and age). This presents new and evolving service delivery paradigms for staff and for outreach to both clients and communities.

Despite these challenges, FTP continues to advocate for the changes needed to help eliminate woman abuse while supporting our clients’ journeys from abuse to healthy relationships.

• Both transitional support and counselling programs have continued to deliver high quality services – while carrying heavy caseloads – without funding for program expansion.

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Once a year, the Executive Director (ED) uses a Ministry of Community and Social Services risk assessment tool to help determine the level of risk for the agency.

This year, we are pleased to report a 3.5% rating, which is a very low level indicator of risk. This figure is determined by the assessment of the risks to the agency, including, but not limited to: the overall score, environmental factors, program level risks, the ED’s experience with the agency, the appropriateness of the risk mitigation strategies, and/or estimates of likelihood and the impact of the risks materializing.

The Governance and Organizational risk structure scored low risk for various reasons, one being the regular interaction of the Board of Directors. The Board is comprised of nine community members who reflect a variety of diverse skills and experience. They meet monthly and review financial statements and projections regularly, and also help guide a strategic planning process every three years.

The ED presents a “risk assessment dashboard” quarterly to the Board to identify any potential risks to the agency. Risk mitigation strategies are also presented. Current areas for mitigation

include the development of a succession plan for the Executive Director position.

The low risk score is also due to good service delivery processes that include an internal complaints process and emergency protocols.

Service delivery also scored low in risk management due to the regular review and processes currently in place. Staff sit at numerous community planning and advisory tables to ensure we are meeting the needs of our community and our service users.

In the finance category, FTP scored very low risk because the agency has no outstanding loans, has clean financial audits and follows all ministry, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and accounting guidelines for financial policies.

FTP is proud to be a participating member of the Imagine Canada Ethical Code program, demonstrating excellence within Board governance and financial accountability, staff management and volunteerism.

FTP is currently seeking recognized accreditation to ensure that every facet of the agency is examined and reviewed in order to deliver optimal services, programs and outcomes.

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MEET THE BOARD FTP is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of individuals who have a broad range of experience and a commitment to ending violence in our community. The Board governs through policies that set the organizational goals, the processes to achieve these goals, and management limitations.

PRESIDENT: STACEY COUPLAND The President is the official spokesperson of the organization’s mission to the broader community; an ex-officio member on all committees; and, accountable to the Board.

Board. Does not take away the Executive Director’s accountability for budgeting and financial health.

BOARD MEMBERS: NICOLE HAMBLETON

VICE PRESIDENT: ELAINE CAPES Works closely and cooperatively with the President. Is well versed on policy and by-laws in order to monitor Board conduct. Performs other responsibilities at the request of the President or Board and is accountable to the Board.

NANCY MONGEON

TREASURER: BLAIR RUSSELL Lead role in financial policy development and

CYNTHIA RAYBURN

monitoring finances. Advises and assists the Board in understanding finances and is accountable to the

KEMI PALMER DAVE QUINTON

MIKE WALMSLEY

Missing from photo: Elaine Capes & Dave Quinton

The Board of Director’s key role is to provide strategic leadership and to focus efforts that support the agency to meet the changing needs of our community, while simultaneously ensuring that FTP’s mission and values are front and centre. Board members, individually and collectively, will evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency annually, in order to identify areas for growth and development.

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New Board members are recruited by the Governance Committee. This committee is also responsible for reviewing the terms and expertise and diversity reflected in current

members, and identifying expertise gaps.

Once a new Board member is recruited, they are included in the slate of directors which is put forth for election at the Annual General Meeting held each June. New members are given a comprehensive orientation as dictated by Board policies and procedures. Board meetings are held monthly throughout the year and require a five person quorum for decisions that will affect the operation of the agency.

ABOUT THE STAFF FTP employs and relief staff. identifies a list relate to the

approximately 40 full-time, part-time Annually, each full-time staff member of specific goals and objectives that agency’s mission and strategic plan.

The Executive Director and Managers oversee the agency’s operations to achieve these goals within the parameters of the limitations identified by the Board.

Monthly reports are delivered to the Board to ensure the agency’s goals are met and to ensure that there is ongoing discussion of risks and challenges to safeguard risk.

Staff work tirelessly and in partnership with each other in order to provide the best possible service to our community.

The agency cares about the staff and understands that by the very nature of our work – helping women overcome enormous barriers in their lives – that this type of work can be demanding and difficult. Regular staff meetings are held for the departments to have open lines of communication and allow for debriefing. FTP is a supportive employer and has ensured that it has incorporated this philsophy into the three year strategic plan by stating, “We want to retain skilled experienced employees through the development of a recognition and reward strategy for staff contribution and loyalty.” This can be challenging in the not-for-profit environment due to lack of resources, however, a small committee of managers formed to create the Motivation Engagement Health committee. This committee was challenged with the task of finding innovative and cost effective ways to show support and appreciation for staff on a limited budget. Knowing the importance of capturing staff’s needs and desires, employees were asked at the annual staff meeting to put forth suggestions and ideas on what would make their workplace more satisfying.

many miles as a group. Highest “steppers” were awarded token prizes at a potluck celebration lunch held at the end of the trek.

Various other activities throughout the year included: Breakfast from the Board, April Showers Bring May Flowers, ice cream day, lunch-time yoga hosted by a volunteer on-site, and more.

Over the year, staff were treated to a number of “surprise” expressions of appreciation. The year kicked off with a Focus on Health and Wellness in the Workplace philosophy. In addition to communication pieces on how to incorporate self-care into personal and professional lives, staff were presented with the option of joining a gym at a corporate rate (negotiated by the ED), and given the option of automatic payroll deductions to encourage healthy living. All staff were invited to join a friendly workplace competition by logging steps via pedometers with a “virtual” Great Canadian Cross Country Trek. The goal was to inclusively track our daily steps on pedometers and log them into a website so they could collectively “dip our toes” in the Pacific Ocean before Canada Day if they managed to trek that

SENIOR STAFF ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

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Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Every May, FTP attempts to raise awareness about Sexual Assault Awareness Month by providing relevant information on our website, by sending letters to editors in our local newspapers, and encouraging the community to wear purple in recognition of this awareness initiative. Photos of community members wearing purple were posted on FTP social media sites to encourage discussion and challenge myths.

National Day of Remembrance

Each year, FTP hosts a vigil to commemorate the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. This year (2014) marked 25 years since the heinous act where a gunman shot and killed 14 women simply because they were women. This annual vigil also provides an opportunity to reflect on the phenomenon of violence against women, and time to consider the women and girls for whom violence is a daily reality, and remember those who have died as a result of gender-based violence.

Ferguson Memorial Walk

MENtors Committee

On September 12, 2009, Heidi Lee Ferguson lost her life due to a tragic domestic dispute with her estranged husband. In remembrance of her life, the Ferguson Memorial Walk was created to raise awareness and prevent future violence against women, and has helped raised over $40,000 for FTP in the past four years.

MENtors is a committee of local men working together to end violence against women. They believe that men have an important role to play in this issue and want to engage men and boys in a redefinition of masculinity and helping to create a world free of violence and inequality. This group partakes in various initiatives throughout the year to engage the community.

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VOLUNTEERS During National Volunteer Week (April 12-18) we celebrate our volunteers for their dedication and selflessness all year round.

We host a luncheon, which gives the volunteers the chance to meet each other, as many of our volunteers support different facets of the agency such as the Board, fundraising events and work in the shelter.

This past year, we recognized these individuals for their milestone volunteer awards: 5 years of service Paulene Deifel Dave Quinton Andrea Stewart Michael Walmsley 15 years of service Shirley Boyle

We know we couldn’t do what we do without the support and commitment from all of our volunteers on a daily basis.

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Bridges out of Poverty Workshop

Pink Shirt Day

FTP is a partner in this project, which helps participants gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and strengths of people living in poverty. In many cases, women struggle to leave a violent situation because they are faced with the choice of facing poverty.

This workshop identitifes new tools to better address individuals’ needs.

As part of FTP’s Youth Education programs and in our workplace, staff took a stand against bullying by wearing pink in support of Pink Shirt Day on February 25th.

Recognized across Canada, Pink Shirt Day has been commemorated because of a bullying incident that took place at a school in Nova Scotia back in 2007.

Third Party Event Fundraisers

Woman Abuse Prevention Month Every November, FTP engages the community in ending violence against woman abuse. Purple scarves are sold, which serves as a fundraiser and a symbolic gesture that women survivors are not alone. FTP also created a seven week series of informational articles to highlight what people can do to create change and eliminate woman abuse, as well as various other marketing initiatives.

FTP is grateful to the community for hosting events for which it is the recipient charity.

These events are seen not only as a support to FTP fundraising initiatives, but also as an opportunity to provide awareness on the breadth of services FTP offers.

An example of one of these events is the Charity Fashion Show organized by Hockley Valley Resort.

Magazine of HOPE

Messages of HOPE campagin

As part of FTP’s fall fundraiser, the Magazine of HOPE was published. This publication was a source of revenue for the event while simultaneously promoting messages of advocacy – reflecting voices of survivors of abuse and thought provoking articles and content relevant to the work FTP does.

Incorporated into a year-long initiative, FTP encouraged the community to take part in the Messages of HOPE social media campaign. This included holding up a message that reflected the views of each participant – photos were then shared on social media. Participants were also asked to challenge friends to do the same to help spread the message about eliminating violence against women.

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Thank you to our dedicated volunteers.

Stacey

Coupland

Max

McLaughlin

John

Shillum

Danita

Cramp

Sandra

Moffatt

Andrea

Stewart

Emily

Cussen

Nancy

Mongeon

Gillian

Vanderburgh

Paulene

Deifel

Lenora

Netzke

Debbie

VanWyck

Trudy

Dixon

Kemi

Palmer

Candace Walmsley

Liesje

Doldersum

Kathy

Payne

Michael

Walmsley

Travis

Greenley

Brittany

Pierson

Leisa

Way

Nicole

Hambleton

Julia

Poletto

Karen

Webster

Lynda

Hollran-Thompson

Kelley

Potter

Sandra

Whitehead

Manda

Jones

Dave

Quinton

Brenda

Laird

Cynthia

Rayburn

Mary

Maw

Peter

Renshaw

Tony

Maxwell

Adriana

Roche

Jeanette McCurdy

Michelle Rowan

Alec

Brenda

McLaughlin

Seltzer

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FUNDRAISING & PARTNERSHIPS Every donation helps us in our mission to provide safety, support and hope through delivery of the critical programs and services to the women and children that need our services; and to help create a community free of violence through our youth education programs. We believe that by educating youth and children about the importance of respect, selfesteem, and non-aggressive behaviours, we can influence the next generation of families, to break the cycle of violence.

The agency’s cost of fundraising is watched closely by our Executive Director and Board. We strive to be efficient, transparent and effective with our donor dollars.

Fundraising efforts consist of various activities including direct mail asks, engaging the community to encourage support for third party event fundraisers, the purple scarf campaign and other fundraising merchandise, a raffle, online/social media solicitation and two major fundraising events – our International Women’s Day Celebration Luncheon & this year, the HOPE Project fundraiser titled: The Voice of Courage: Amanda Lindhout.

Deliberately, we changed our fundraising strategy from a golf tournament to the HOPE Project event to be more aligned with our mission, vision and values and allow us to simutaneously fundraise, while advocating for systemic

change. This year’s HOPE project event featured Amanda Lindhout as the guest speaker. Her story of resiliency was a perfect fit as it echos the journey faced by the women we serve that are rebuilding their lives after abuse. While the HOPE project fundraiser was slightly more costly to run, it was an event that enabled us to engage our community and speak about the topic of abuse in all of its forms.

Included in both fundraisers were magazines published

by FTP that featured stories and articles to provoke reflection and discussion surrounding women’s issues. These two publications were also an additional fundraising source for both events.

In the spring, FTP hosts its popular International Women’s Day Celebration Luncheon which typically sells out six months in advance. This event is more celebratory in nature but allows us to bring forth discussion on women’s issues both past and present.

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FTP strives to collaborate with local like-minded businesses as part of fundraising efforts and awareness-building initiatives such as Woman Abuse Prevention Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and commemorating the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on December 6th (vigils held in both the Dufferin and Caledon Communities) with the hopes of further developing community partnerships, and enhancing FTP’s public presence.

FTP makes every effort to promote education and awareness about domestic abuse within the community by partnering with various agencies such as: the County of Dufferin, the Dufferin/Caledon Domestic Assault Review Team, the Sexual Assault Review Team, Orangeville Police Services, and Justice and Health community agency representatives. Our partnership with Dufferin Child and Family Services allows FTP to problem solve around service delivery and shared client issues. Other valued partnerships include: Dufferin Connects, the Town of Orangeville, the Morningview Foundation, Homewood Addiction Services, Public Health, the Upper Grand District School Board, Headwaters Health Care Centre and the Greater Dufferin Chamber of Commerce.

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DONATIONS AT WORK

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FINANCIAL REVIEW FTP had a successful financial year allowing for programs and services to continue efficiently and effectively.

Strong donor support and a continued focus on tightened budgets attributed to this outcome despite the continuation of a government budget funding freeze.

We are fortunate to have stable funding and continued support from a variety of funders including: • • • • • • •

Ministry of Community and Social Services Local Health Integrated Network Service Canada Headwaters Health Care Centre County of Dufferin Region of Peel Ministry of the Attorney General

Without this support, we would not be able to provide the many necessary services we offer in our community.

Audited financial statements are available upon request.

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“FTP is committed to providing responsible stewardship of our resources and our community’s goodwill through accountable and transparent processes.”

– FTP Mission statement

DO YOU NEED SUPPORT? Do you need information about woman abuse counselling, shelter or have general inquiries about how to help someone, including yourself? contact 24 hours a day: 519-941-4357 | 905-584-4357 1-800-265-9178 TTY: 519-942-1651 be a partner in our work: Interested in donating, sponsorship or fundraising events? contact: Stacey Tarrant, Manager of Development & Community Relations stacey@familytransitionplace.ca or x 240 volunteer inquiries: Want to get involved and make a difference? contact: Kelly Lee, Events & Community Relations Cordinator kelly@familytransitionplace.ca x 243

board of directors: Want to join a progressive team of Board of Directors? contact: Bonnie Waterfield, Administrative Assistant bonnie@familytransitionplace.ca x 222 feedback on our report: We are interested in and welcome your feedback. contact: Norah Kennedy, Executive Director norah@familytransitionplace.ca x 255

follow us on or subscribe to our newsletter on our website at www.familytransitionplace.ca

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Thank you.

To the individual donors, funders and organizations whose support inspires us to continue our work to end woman abuse.

To our community partners who work with us to provide the best services possible to all those we serve.

To our volunteers who give freely of their time and talents to help us achieve more for those who need our help.

To our dedicated staff team members who bring to work every day the hope and commitment to help change lives.

To each person who shares our vision and helps make our community a healthier, safe place for us all.

‘‘Building healthier communities – one relationship at a time.”