Jumping-off point for work with Strathmore FCSS

Sharon McLeay
Times Contributor

 

Targeting gaps in the needs of Strathmore residents regarding social services was part of Strathmore Town Council’s request for a needs assessment. They want to help Strathmore FCSS address gaps in service for local residents.
Erica Thomas and Doug Lagore from Transitional Solutions were commissioned for a needs assessment study and summarized the draft process and outcomes at the July 20 Town council meeting.
“I think this is a really, really wonderful place to start,” said Coun. Denise Peterson. “We recognize that our Strathmore FCSS is a new entity, a new entity embarking on a new venture. There are many things that are to be discovered yet. One of the things that I would like to focus on, from a council perspective, in our role, is to work through our current human resources realignment with FCSS, to do visioning around this and in the future.
“It is an important element in our community and our community depends on it more and more all the time.”
The consultants conducted community consultations, an open house, agency and council workshops, monitored social media and did interviews to gather information for the assessment. They assembled a list of services currently available in the community. Per council’s direction, FCSS compared current services to that of another municipality. They chose Okotoks as it is of comparable size and they had access to the necessary information.
Some of the concerns in the report, pinpointed by FCSS in their explorations and comparisons, were: transportation needs for youth, low income families and seniors, family wellbeing initiatives, services for broken families and affordable housing.
“One of the things that needs to be understood in this report is what the FCSS can fund and what they cannot,” said Thomas.
She said recreation, entertainment and sports activities should not be supported with FCSS grants. The rationalization is when FCSS organizes events, a lot of human resources are needed for the events’ success and that events should be redirected to a town or community resource. However, she said the act has some grey areas, as events could be seen as supporting larger community issues.
“My question to council is what do you want your FCSS resources to focus on?” said Thomas.
Direct assistance such as money, food, clothing or shelter to sustain a person or family was not encouraged. Requests for rehabilitative, therapeutic or crisis management services should be directed to other services in the community that have this expertise. Services offered by other levels of government should not be duplicated and no money should be directed at purchase, construction or renovation of buildings and facilities.
Thomas suggested event type activities were not included under grant money allocations, but council could still choose to fund the event in other ways.
“The biggest issue is some areas are pretty cut and clear, but there are a lot of areas that are grey and up for interpretation. There can be a mix of appropriate reasoning that can fund a program or appropriate reasoning not to fund a program,” said Thomas.
Lagore said pushing the boundaries to see what is accepted may not be penalized by the government.
Pederson said it seems the Act is allowing council discretion in setting parameters for use of the funding.
Coun. Bob Sobol took exception to the flexible parameters, and felt the FCSS funding allocations were clearly stated as short term support for community initiatives and should be used to assist organizations to find other long term solutions.
“I don’t see that as a grey area. I see that as a very black and white area,” said Sobol. “It seems to me we can’t have it both ways. Personnel are looking for direction and clear direction. We are telling them they can push boundaries and ask for forgiveness after. I find it unfair and question where we are heading with this. I don’t see as many grey areas as everyone else.”
He said initiatives the Strathmore FCSS are currently doing address the needs of the community and partnerships.
“Our FCSS is, for the most part, following the rules and regulations they have been given. They are smack right in the middle of what they are supposed to be doing,” said Sobol.
Coun. Peterson said there were gaps in the initial reorganization after Wheatland and Strathmore FCSS split, and this report can be part of addressing the gaps in that process. Sobol acknowledged the report has valuable information to evaluate needs.
The report outlined the top social issues facing Strathmore: addiction, lack of transportation, poverty, lack of communication to the public of available social programs, family issues such as violence, parenting skills and generational gaps.
Thomas said the lack of communication was a new issue that came about when the Strathmore FCSS was started. She suggested they work with Wheatland FCSS in their monthly interagency meetings or take new initiatives to improve communication.
Priority areas were transportation, housing, one-stop-shop for social services, family support in crisis situations, parenting skills and intervention, poverty and unemployment.
Thomas suggested a needs gap analysis be done and an implementation plan developed. Lagore said an affordable housing study should be done as the last one was done nine years ago. The draft will be given a final modification with council’s input and made available for their use in the future.