FCSS Thrive program keeps soldiering along

It seems Barrhead Family Community Support Services’ (FCSS) Thrive program has received a temporary stay of execution.

That is what FCSS executive director Shelly Dewsnap told the Barrhead Leader.

In September, FCSS executive director Shelley Dewsnap told County of Barrhead council that its family violence prevention program, nicknamed Thrive because that is what the program aims its clients will do, would cease to exist by March 2018 unless an alternative funding was found.

In November, Barrhead Rotary Club president Mark Oberg asked both Barrhead municipal councils to consider a three-way partnership between themselves with the service club that would see them share the estimated annual $45,000 annual operational costs of the Barrhead portion of the program.

On March 27, Town of Barrhead councillors approved a $30,000 expenditure, which would be spread over two years, to help keep the program afloat.

County of Barrhead council is still considering the Rotary Club’s request.

“We are still hopeful that the provincial government will either come up with a new type of grant that we can apply for or change the rules so that we are eligible for our old grant,” Dewsnap said, noting she expects to find out either way in the next couple of months.

In the meanwhile, she said FCSS has managed to fundraise enough to keep the program viable for the next nine months.

“Barrhead is such a generous community and I can’t thank the town and the Rotary Club for their contributions and we are hopeful that the county will also decide to contribute,” she said, adding with any luck if provincial funding comes through it might not be necessary.

Initial dollars for the program came through a safe communities innovation fund (SCIF) grant in 2011 and that rolled over into the family communities safe grants. Healthy Families Healthy Futures (HFHF) is actually the contract holder of the grant, however, because FCSS is associated with the Community Action for Healthy Relationships Network (CAHR) they have been contracted to run the service in the Barrhead area, something that they have done for the last seven years. CAHR is a community partnership of individuals, agencies, and organizations including police and social services that focus on providing outreach services to women, men, and children affected by abuse. In addition to Barrhead, the Thrive program is run in Westlock and Athabasca as part of CAHR.