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United Way of Sarnia-Lambton to cut funding of Agency Program and announce new Venture GrantUnited Way of Sarnia-Lambton to Cut Funding of Agency Program;
New Venture Grant Announced
Friday, March 2, 2007------The United Way of Sarnia-Lambton has made the difficult decision to eliminate funding of "The Correctional and Post Release Rehabilitation Program" provided by the John Howard Society. This measure will take effect March 31, 2008.
United Way Board Member Dave Barnes says these types of decisions are never easy, "The Outcomes and Impacts model of funding implemented 10 years ago has resulted in a reduced number of programs that we do fund. This allows us to invest more money into those community programs and services meeting the biggest, most pressing needs in Sarnia-Lambton with measurable results."
United Way Executive Director, Dave Brown says the organization is continuing to focus more of its funding on Prevention and Early Intervention services, "With the ageing population, growing drug and alcohol abuse issues and many other social issues related to our youth in Lambton, the United Way can achieve more of a client and community impact by focusing more of its funding on programs and services that address root causes. Our strategy is to keep people out of jail in the first place."
In other United Way news, Laura Black, Chair of the United Way Community Investment Committee, is pleased to announce a $22,275 Venture Grant to the Father Involvement Initiative provided through the County of Lambton's Community Health Services Department. This initiative includes a Dads Connect' series as well as a Transition to Parenting' Class for males only. The program will be provided through the Ontario Early Years Centre's and Best Start hubs in order to reach as many of the rural residents as possible.
The goal of the Father Involvement Initiative is to support the development of nurturing relationships between fathers and children, which includes new fathers, male caregivers or significant males in a child's life. Participants will benefit by increasing their awareness and knowledge of how their active involvement influences a child's development. "Ultimately the greatest long term impact will be on the children," said Black. "By having fathers who are move involved, children will develop cognitively, academically, physically and emotionally in more positive ways," she said.
The Venture Grant Program has approximately $100,000 available each year to fund new and innovative to meet a need in our community. If your not-for-profit organization has developed a program in Lambton County to address a local community need and you meet any of the United Way's Funding Criteria of Youth with Physical, Mental or Social Challenges, Poverty and Working Poor Families, Seniors, Medical Programs and Services or Rural Programs, please visit our website at www.theunitedway.on.ca. Applications for Venture Grant funding are accepted on a year round basis.
For more information, please contact:
Dave Brown, Executive Director, United Way of Sarnia-Lambton, (519) 336-5452 Ext. 7 or 337-0862 (home)
Dave Barnes, United Way Board of Directors, 1-877-836-7822
For more information on the Venture Grant, please contact:
Laura Black, United Way Community Investment Committee Chairperson (519) 339-4711
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