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Karen Bennett, ExtendAFamily Waterloo Region
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Title: Karen Bennett, ExtendAFamily Waterloo Region
1
- Karen Bennett, Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region
- Heather Green, KidsAbility - Centre for Child
Development
2
Agenda
- Kids in Camp Facts
- Goals of Kids in Camp
- What We Did
- Project Evaluation
- Project Outcomes
- Next Steps
3
Kids In CampFacts
- A unique community partnership initiative
- Identified as a best practice by the Ontario
Trillium Foundation - Project span 5 years (2001 2005)
- Project funding 172,000.00
- Number of community partners 17
4
Community Partners(Steering Committee)
- Recreation/Camp Partners
- Camp Kummoniwannago
- City of Kitchener
- City of Waterloo
- City of Cambridge
- Hidden Acres Mennonite Camp
- J. Steckle Heritage Homestead
- Cambridge YMCA
- Cambridge YWCA
- Camp McGovern
- Emmanuel Day Care Camp
- Engineering Science Quest (UW)
- Camp Joshua
- Core Group
- Extend-A-Family
- KidsAbility
- City of Kitchener
- Family and Childrens Services
- kidsLINK
5
The Goals of Kids in Camp
- To increase the availability of community summer
programs to children with a disability - To increase number of children with special needs
participating in community summer programs - To develop appropriate training resources
- To develop the capacity of community summer
programs to include children with special needs - To enhance community summer program experience
for children with special needs - To increase collaboration among agencies who
serve children with special needs.
6
What we did
- Committee Development
- Inclusion Facilitator Role
- Project Coordinator Role
- Training
- Camp Partners
- Sustainability
- Project Evaluation
7
Committee Development
- Established steering committee consisting of core
and advisory members - Established guiding values and responsibilities
- Agreed on a project name and regular meeting
schedule - Established Sub Committees
- Hiring (of Project Coordinator)
- Finance
- Training
- Partnership
- Sustainability
- Developed inclusion policy for participating
camps - Created Letters of Understanding for existing
and new camp partners.
8
Inclusion Facilitator
- Steering Committee established benchmarks re
role of the IF in residential and day camp
settings - Participated in IF training and general camp
training - Provided support to children aged 3 to 14 with
disabilities at sites throughout Kitchener,
Waterloo, Cambridge and surrounding areas - Gathered evaluation information from campers and
parents
9
Project Coordinator Role
- Hours Full-time, May to August and ten
hours/week September to May - Developed critical path for coordinator role
- Responsible for
- Assisting with work of steering committee
(contact lists, meeting schedule, administrative
work, etc.) - Sitting on sub-committees
- Assisting in interviewing IF staff, with camp
partners - Planning and implementing training for IFs and
general camp staff - Site visits to check in and trouble shoot at
camps in the summer - Collecting statistics on campers and evaluations
from campers and parents - Writing a comprehensive summer-end report each
year
10
Training
- One week in June prior to camp-specific training
- IF-only training evolved to include general camp
staff where desired - Components included
- Moving to Inclusion
- Disability information (e.g.. Autism)
- Ethics of Touch
- Understanding and reporting signs of
- abuse/neglect
- Program Adaptations
- Case studies/scenarios
- Lifts/Transfers
- NVCI or PMAB Training and Behavior Management
11
Camp Partners
- Received two years of IF funding (IF/camp)
except for year 5 - IF staff paid through Extend-A-Family (transfer
payment agency for Trillium funds) - Letter of Understanding for involvement in the
Project signed by camp director and the
chairperson of camps Board of Directors - Agreement to attend all steering committee
meetings for remainder of Project span - Agreement to sit on at least one sub-committee
- Agreement to have IF attend training
- Agreement to abide by benchmarks
- Agreement to sustain the IF position after
Trillium funded ended - In year 1, three camps partners participated
- By year 5, twelve camp partners participated
12
Sustainability
- Sub-committee established in year two
- Distributed survey to camp partners to
- A) help identify camps present need for
support/assistance in order to be able to offer
an inclusive environment and - B) determine future supports needed to sustain
inclusion at the camp - Three main needs identified by camps training
accessing funding networking - Agreed over time that it was critical to maintain
Project Coordinator role on a reduced basis
(Extend-A-Family agreed to commit funds to this
role at conclusion of Trillium funding)
13
Project Evaluation
- Sub-committee established in year three
- Secured the services of a local agency to
complete an evaluation of the Project (Centre for
Research and Education in Human Services) - Results contained herein including recommendation
from the Ontario Trillium Foundation that the
results be shared widely with other communities
14
Strengths of the Program
- Gathered data over 5 years
- Learned from experience and modified the program
approach - Developed resource materials (training guides,
evaluation, statistics tracking, funding manual
for camps) - Sustainability planning
15
Our Challenges
- Initially, working out the role and
responsibilities of core and camp partner
steering committee members - Pay rates for Inclusion Facilitators (widely
variable across camps) - Budget revisions (requesting use of funds for
unanticipated needs) - Commitment of some camp partners to overall
project goals - Working space for Project Coordinator
- Accountability of Project Coordinator (to whom?)
- Time commitment for Steering Committee
chairperson - Sustainability deciding where to commit time,
energy and funds
16
Evaluation
17
The purposes of the evaluation
- To help the Steering Committee understand the
overall impact of the program - To provide feedback to the funder
- To gather learnings and experiences that may be
helpful to other communities considering
establishing a similar program.
18
Evaluation Methods
- Four focus groups
- Core Group
- Recreation/Camp Partners
- Program Coordinators
- Inclusion Facilitators
- 2. Analysis of
- parent and camper evaluation surveys (2002-05)
- camp leader surveys (2003-05)
- year-end reports (2003-05)
19
How the Program Evolved
- The importance of the Project Coordinator role
become clearer - Strategies for training Inclusion Facilitators
camp staff became more focused and more creative
- Tracking and evaluation methods became more
sophisticated - The number of camps and campers increased
- The needs of supported campers became more
challenging
20
Number of Camp Sites Providing Inclusion Support
21
Number of Spots Filled by Children with Special
Needs
22
(No Transcript)
23
Number of Camp Staff Volunteers Provided with
Inclusion Training
24
The Outcomes for Kids
- More camp opportunities available
- Fun
- New skills
- many dont want to deal with kids like my son.I
am so thankful he is able to go to camp and have
fun.
25
Outcomes For Parents
- Peace of Mind
- A Break
- Pride
- He is able to do everything just like the other
kids. - (after camp) I have a happy child who is tired
and relaxed at night.
26
For Others Greater Awareness and Sense of
Community
- The highlight was watching all the other kids
try to include him and cheer him onSeeing all
the children have fun and perform inclusion on
their own through minor modifications for games.
27
Evaluators Conclusions and Recommendations
- The program has been very successful
- The keys to success are structure, hiring
training, protocols supports, resource
management communication - Particularly important was the projects
investment in a project coordinator - The strong commitment of the key organizations to
work together in partnership throughout the five
years.
28
Next steps
- Develop strategies to provide staff and families
with realistic expectations given limited
resources - Ensure that summer recreation programs play a
leadership role - Continue to document results consistently
- Share this evaluation report broadly
29
The Vision of Kids in Camp
- A more inclusive society in which all children
would be included and supported as people
developed a greater understanding and acceptance
of diversity and differences. - (The highlight) was seeing a bunch of 12-14 year
old girls being so nurturing to a 10-year old
developmentally delayed girl. They () asked me
if they could take her on walks etc. I told them
the point of my job was to one day not have
oneand for one week that happened. (inclusion
facilitator)
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