Tool for interagency cooperation returns

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

Next week non-profit groups and support organizations will come together once again for this fall’s annual interagency meeting.
For the past 37 years, the Wheatland Family and Community Support Services offered the service to organizations within Strathmore and Wheatland County, and thus provided a platform for sharing and collaboration.
“It’s a good way to find out if there are underlying issues that are coming up that everyone is being hit with,” said Lynn Walker, program coordinator for WFCSS.
“It’s a really good resource where people can come together and share. They all get together, and once a month, we meet and discuss things that are going on, like events that they have coming up. You address everybody’s needs and it’s less work for everybody.”
This year, members, some of whom include Parent Link, the Pregnancy Care Centre, FCSS, the Community Crisis Shelter, the Youth Club, schools, churches, and the Strathmore Municipal Library, will also receive a resource book containing information on each organization.
Often acting as a hub, the Strathmore Municipal Library has experienced the benefits of the meetings through collaboration with the Hope Bridges Society, Parent Link, and the Foothills Community Immigrant Services.
“It gives us an opportunity to cross promote each other’s activities, and what it does is open the door for collaboration, because when we’re all talking about what we’re doing and what kind of gaps we’re seeing or what we’re having a hard time with, we can see where we can help each other out,” said Rachel Dick Hughes, director of library services at the Strathmore Municipal Library.
“We’ve had a few really fruitful things come out of that which is great, and it gives us connections. So we know when someone comes to us and is interested in art workshops, we can say you know what that’s already happening we can give you all the information about Hope Bridges. It’s a really good way to avoid duplication as well, and just makes the most of what Strathmore has to offer.”
The annual interagency meeting will kickoff on Sept. 16.