The Local Weekly The heart and soul of our communities with news and information about the Sunshine Coast
Over 120 local professionals and residents participated in action planning at the January 16 Make Progress Workshop. It was an incredible display of community involvement.
Since June 2012, staff and volunteers have reached out to people, from all areas of the Sunshine Coast Regional District, to find out how women are doing and to get ideas for improvement. 14 community conversations or focus groups were held at various locations and times and included a total of 165 women. The Progress Plan is being funded nationally by Status of Women Canada.
Community conversations focused on the concerns and ideas of women living in various geographic areas along the Coast, as well as diverse socio-economic backgrounds, ages and cultures. Conversations were held in Pender Habour, Halfmoon Bay, Sechelt, Roberts Creek and Gibsons. Staff heard from seniors, university-educated women, working families, young single mothers, immigrants and first nations women.
Eighteen interviews were conducted with key informants to learn about specific topics. Examples include: Food Bank staff, authors of the Vital Signs Report Card (SC Community Foundation), staff involved in creating the We Envision regional sustainability plan and various specialists in fields such as regional economic cooperation, community economic development, arts & culture, early learning, aboriginal issues, home care and adult education.
Staff also participated in 12 planning groups & other initiatives happening on the Coast during that time (i.e. Gibsons Age Friendly Planning session, Early Childhood Development Planning Table, Transit Planning Workshop, SC Labour Council, etc.).
Over 200 women and 25 service providers have completed surveys. So far feedback has been obtained from more than 422 individuals & organizations on the Sunshine Coast. Stay tuned and the next step of actions will be released soon.
A filming of the Make Progress workshop will debut on Coast TV- channel 11 (Sunshine Coast Magazine) on Monday January 28 (not on 21 as originally posted) at 8pm. After that the program will run each day at 9am, noon, 4pm, 8 pm and midnight until the end of the week. 
