Dept. of Justice funding to help VOV planning process

BY KIRK STARRATT

kstarratt@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The board of the Victory Over Violence (VOV) Emergency Teen Shelter says they’re going through a strategic planning process as they continue to refine their services to help youth at risk in our area, especially teenagers.

Kings North MLA Mark Parent, Environment Minister and Minister of Labour and Workforce development, was on hand to present the VOV board with a cheque for $4,500 on behalf of the Department of Justice prior to the board’s Thursday evening, Sept. 4 meeting at Scotia McLeod in Kentville.

Parent said the funding represents an effort provincially to help deal with issues of crime. He said you have to work in a preventative way and responsibility can’t always fall on the policing side. He said there is a group of youths typically in their late teens that tend to fall into a gap. They have trouble accessing social assistance because they’re too young.

Parent said there would be six people hired across the province specifically to help young people at risk who don’t know where to turn for assistance. He credited the volunteer efforts of the VOV board members with helping make sure young people don’t fall through the cracks.

Met to discuss plans and goals

VOV Board chair Angie McWaid said the board met recently with other stakeholders to discuss plans and goals to help youth at risk in our area, including various services in the community. She said they hope to use the provincial funding to help in their strategic planning process and help provide direction as they revamp policy.

McWaid said that it could be difficult even for an adult to navigate the somewhat complex social assistance system and the VOV board is currently in a transition in terms of the services they offer. The board is taking a couple steps back to re-evaluate its operations.

She said the shelter currently has no physical address during the transition period, but can still provide shelter to youths, particularly teens, at risk. One reason for the strategic planning and transitioning process is they want all the funding they receive to go toward helping youths.

VOV co-chair Lars Nichols said he gets the feeling speaking with law enforcement that the strategic planning being undertaken by the board would be very useful. Youth at risk are feeling a crush as no one seems to know where to put them and they don’t simply disappear.

“We have a plan and a system to place youth,” Nichols said. “We’re looking at ways to do strategic planning with other partners in the community.”

Great step in right direction

With moving forward and taking a different approach, he said the recent stakeholder meeting was a great step in the right direction. Bringing all stakeholders together to work toward a common goal can be one of the biggest challenges. At the meeting, which included local law enforcement, VOV board members, representatives of Youth and Family Services and others, different perspectives were shared and Nichols said he found it staggering and shocking.

“Even the government side recognizes the problem too, which is good. Youth are falling through the cracks,” he said.

If you are a youth facing upheaval and are looking for shelter, call VOV at 678-2323. VOV secretary Cathy Foster said the emergency teen shelter board is looking constantly for volunteers to serve in any capacity from fundraising to facilitating overnight stays. The board welcomes monetary donations as well.