Newspaper Articles & Other Media Coverage
The COast reporter
Community Invited to Take Action
Christine Wood
May 24, 2013
The Local NEWspaper
Can We Afford Child Poverty on the Sunshine Coast?
March 7, 2013
Submitted by The Canadian Federation of University Women
Coast Reporter
One Heart One Spririt- Shíshálh Nation
Candace Campo/Contributing Writer
January 23, 2013
The Local Newspaper
Jan 24, 2013
TV schedule change!
A filming of the Make Progress workshop will debut on Coast TV- channel 11 (Sunshine Coast Magazine) on Monday Jan. 28th (not the 21st as originally posted) at 8:00 pm. After that the program will run each day at 9 am, noon, 4 pm, 8 pm and midnight until the end of the week
Make Progress Workshop
Coast Reporter Jan 18, 2013
Christine Wood
Photos- MakE Progress Workshop
Coast Reporter Photo Gallery Jan. 16, 2013
Get Involved to Make 2013 Better
Published January 4, 2013
EDITORIAL
Knock on Wood Christine Wood/Staff Writer
Welcome to a new year on the Sunshine Coast. I hope 2013 brings us all exciting new possibilities,
prosperity and peace in this beautiful place I’m thankful to call home. Now, while I’m starting off
the new year with gushy good wishes, I know it will take more than lip service to make any of
them come true. That’s why I’m planning to invest some effort into things that need support this
year, and I hope you will too.
I can think of one particular project that I believe will result in prosperity, some peace and new
possibilities on the Coast for all of us — the Progress Plan.
It doesn’t sound sexy or even particularly intriguing, and the fact it’s focused on women may
make some of you tune out — but stay with me as I connect the dots.
The Progress Plan’s mission is to improve the economic well-being of women on the Sunshine
Coast. The plan’s survey of nearly 400 local women has shown that economic well-being is being
negatively impacted by four main things: lack of transportation, low income, lack of affordable
care for children and dependent adults, and an absence of community belonging.
The plan aims to improve these things to ultimately raise women’s economic well-being.
If you’re a woman on the Coast, you should care about this. If you’re not a woman, I bet you
know at least one on the Coast whom you love, and that should be enough to make you care about
the Progress Plan.
If you’re still on the fence, make it personal. The Progress Plan can help you.
Ask yourself if you care about transportation, affordable care, low wages or community belonging.
I bet at least one hits home.
The Progress Plan has money to impact these areas, $294,000 in fact, to be spent by the end of
2015. The money will fund a number of pilot projects between now and then aimed at
strengthening the weak spots. And here’s the best part — you can have a say about how the money
is spent.
Everyone’s invited to a Make Progress workshop slated for Jan. 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at
the Sechelt Indian Band Hall. There community members can get involved by brainstorming ideas
for change. Those ideas will be worked into the plan, and pilot projects will be crafted. Organizers
want to walk away from the half-day workshop with solid ideas to help close to home. Find out
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more about the Progress Plan and the upcoming workshop at www.progressplan.ca.
If the Progress Plan isn’t your thing, then think about one of these other worthwhile initiatives to
support with your time, money or expertise in 2013.
VOICE on the Coast is an advocacy group for those aged 20 to 44. Their goal is to attract, retain
and engage the younger generation, which is finding it increasingly difficult to live, work and raise
families here. Linking up with this group is a great way to stay connected and up to date about
what’s planned for young adults on the Coast. Go to www.voiceonthecoast.com for more.
If you have a soft spot in your heart for animals, think about volunteering some time at the
Gibsons Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in 2013. Clint and Irene Davy have been running the
Coast’s only wild animal rescue centre from their home in Gibsons since 1988. They rely entirely
on donations and volunteer help to care for the hundreds of animals they see each year. Find out
more at www.gibsonswildliferehabcentre.org.
And if play is your passion, think about getting involved with the playground project in West
Sechelt. The group has been fundraising for two years but are still far from their goal and could
use some more help. Visit www.westsecheltplayground.com to learn more.
© Copyright 2013, Coast Reporter
Story URL: http://www.coastreporter.net/article/20130104/SECHELT0302/301049972
/-1/SECHELT/get-involved-to-make-2013-better
FRont page news! - Plan pinpoints economic problems
Published January 4, 2013
LOCAL NEWS
COAST REPORTER NEWSPAPER
Progress Plan Christine Wood Staff Writer
Many women on the Coast are struggling, and the first phase of the Progress Plan has discovered why.
Through community conversations and surveys during the past three months, the Progress Plan has gathered responses from nearly 400 women who point to four main issues negatively impacting their economic well-being.
“Women are least satisfied with transportation, their income situation, their care situation — that’s care for children and dependent adults and themselves — and it’s all linked together by community belonging,” said Progress Plan project manager Michelle Morton. “So if you’re very alone because of lack of transportation or if you’re very alone for lack of friends or lack of information or lack of social supports or any of those things, chances are your income is struggling as well, so all of these things are interconnected. If you lack one of these, then you’re really struggling on the Sunshine Coast.”
Morton and project consultant Betty Baxter heard many first-hand accounts of hardships endured by local women during their three months of information gathering.
“The one story that stuck for me was a woman who had 10 to 12 hours of work a week, had three kids in elementary school and her husband was waiting for disability insurance. So she hasn’t got enough money to survive. That’s their life story right there,” Baxter said. “We’ve probably heard face-to-face a dozen or more of those kinds of stories.”
The stories of struggle were so moving that Baxter and Morton decided to incorporate some of the comments into a live performance that will kick off a Make Progress Workshop slated for Jan. 16 at the Sechelt Indian Band Hall.
All the information gathered to date will be presented and small working groups will be formed to brainstorm ideas for change. The workshop will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. starting with a coffee social and ending with lunch being served.
Morton and Baxter hope many interested Coasters will come out to take part.
“Our plan for the forum is to actually have the community help write the plan,” Baxter explained. “Now that we know the issues, we’re structuring the forum around the issues so we can have people who are particularly passionate about, say, childcare or about transportation be at that table with others and actually talk about ideas. Then we can get priorities from that and we can structure it as to what would require a collaboration or partnership or what would be a small project or what would be a huge project and put it in the plan, but it will actually be the voice of the community in the plan.”
Once completed, the Progress Plan will contain specific action items or pilot projects that need to be put in place to address the four areas of concern.
“At this community workshop, we want to focus on what we can do right here to make a difference,” Morton said.
The Progress Plan was launched last year in an effort to gather information and create projects to improve women’s economic well-being on the Sunshine Coast.
The plan is funded by the Status of Women Canada and is run in partnership between the Sunshine Coast Community Resource Centre and Sunshine Coast Community Services Society.
The nearly $294,000 in funding for the project will run out in the winter of 2015.
To find out more or to sign up for the upcoming Make Progress workshop, see www.progressplan.ca. You can also connect with the Progress Plan on Facebook.
© Copyright 2013, Coast Reporter
Story URL: http://www.coastreporter.net/article/20130104/SECHELT0101/301049974/-1/sechelt/plan-pinpoints-economic-problems
Add your Voice to The Progress PLan
Published October 5, 2012
COAST REPORTER NEWSPAPER
Pumped about the progress plan
Click to read: Coast Reporter Newspaper Editorial "Pumped about the Progress Plan" by Christine Wood
Published July 20, 2012
EDITORIAL
Upping the Economic Well Being of women
Click to read: Coast Reporter Newspaper " Upping the Economic Well-Being of Women" by Christine Wood
Published July 6, 2012
News