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Annual Report 2017/18PeerNet Association of British Columbia

PeerNetBC is a non-profit, charitable organization that has been helping people connect since 1986, by providing resources for peer groups and peer-led initiatives. We work with diverse communities including those who identify as Indigenous, LGTBQ2S+, folks living with various disabilities, youth, seniors, and new comers. We work with those living in urban and rural communities throughout British Columbia.

Message from the Board:

Anna White, Vice-PresidentDear Friends,

It’s been an incredible year of change, transition and growth! Amidst major staff and board shifts, we are pleased to report that this year resulted in lot of foundational work. Together we updated staff salary grid and implemented subsequent wage increases reflective of cost of living. At the beginning of 2018 we began a significant hiring process for a new Co-Executive Director to work alongside Lydia Luk who was promoted from Community Developer into the Co-ED role this time last year. Robin McConnell assumed the role of Interim Co-Executive Director, while maintaining many of his duties as Finance Coordinator and with his great work our annual audit was a success and PeerNetBC remains in financial good standing. Thank you Robin!

Along with new staff and board members comes increased opportunities to grow our reach, nurture new partnerships, as well foster our ongoing relationships and care for our organization.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to say we are excited to share the following report outlining the work of PeerNet BC in 2017/2018 with you all. Enjoy the read!

PeerNetBC extends gratitude to our funders, partners, members, and communities that lend their support and trust in our resources and services.

Message Co-Executive Director:

Lydia LukWow what a year!

I want to thank PeerNetBC for the opportunity to step into the role of Co-Executive Director, an organization that truly values what collaborative capacity building is. Thank you iris yong and Romi Chandra, who started the co-leadership model to evolve the organization. Together, over 4 years they created a foundation for us to work in greater alignment with our core values.

PeerNetBC continued to expand our workshop delivery. In 2017/18 the team provided the most number of workshops we have done to date. Meanwhile we welcomed a new Youth Community Developer Simran Sarwara, mentored in part by vanessa bui, who left at the end of 2017. Welcome Simran and Thank You vanessa bui for all the amazing work!

Also, many thanks to !Kona (workshop facilitator) and Karen Lai (AACC workshop facilitator) for their great work and another incredible year of projects, work-shops and PeerNetBC work.

A great big THANK YOU to our amazing and dedicated board, community partners, staff and networks as we continue our work together!

AcknowledgementIn keeping with our organizational values and the integrity of our work, we acknowledge that this report is written on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) and Səlilwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. We acknowledge that colonization exists, that without its violent impacts we would not be who we are and where we are today. We also recognize that Indigenous-led alternatives exist and that change is possible. We are dedicated to having further conversations around the long-term work of how we can build stronger, healthier, and more connected communities, committed to addressing power and privilege so that we can have these conversations and do the work together.

Workshops

Topics included:

• facilitation skills• youth engagement• principles of peer support• levelling power dynamics• community engagement,

mobilization, and advocacy

• conflict and communication

• anti-oppression• group development• self-care and boundaries• advanced and inclusive

leadership• peer support for health

professionals• effective allyship• power and diversity Workshops were

delivered in:

• Burnaby• Coquitlam• New Westminster• North Vancouver• Richmond• Squamish• Surrey• Vancouver• Victoria• West Vancouver

People who have strong connections to others have improved health, and communities where people are connected are healthier places to live. We provide trainings, information, and workshops using intersectional and anti-oppression frameworks to strengthen peer support groups and peer-led initiatives throughout British Columbia. Our standard series of workshops continue to anchor our community development practices and was offered three times in 2017/18, with one series focused on youth. We continue to offer this series with a suggested donation in order to be financially accessible. Through our customized workshops and consulting services, content and curriculum are tailored to meet organizational and group needs. Throughout the year we had the incredible privilege to work with diverse groups ranging from school children to corporate teams.

3293 Workshop Participants 224 PeerNetBC workshops

4914 Service Contacts618 Volunteer Hours

Youth Engagement - Group Guidelines

“I feel empowered to one day lead an inclusive dynamic workshop myself.”

- standard workshop participant

Tent Poll Activity: Teamwork in Action

“I loved hearing the per-spectives from the facili-tators. They have a very grounded and firm grasp on the issues that help me to learn”

- custom workshop participant

Workshop Hosts

3H Craftworks Society • Back In Motion • Battered Women Support Services • British Columbia Civil Liberties Association • BC Food Systems Network • Broadway Youth Resource Centre • Building Caring Communities • Burnaby Intercultural Planning Commitee • CampOUT! • Canadian Mental Health Association • Capilano University Student Union • Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House • Cerebral Palsy Association of BC • Check Your Head • City of Surrey - LIP Program • City of Vancouver • City of Victoria Youth Council • Collingwood Neighbourhood House • Coquitlam School Board • Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre • Department of Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada • Dr.Charles Best Secondary • Family Services of Greater Vancouver • Fostering Change • Foundry • Fraser Region Aboriginal Friendship Centre Association • Greater Vancouver Food Bank • Health Initiative For Men • Ishtar Transition House • Jack.org • Kitsilano Neighborhood House • Kwantlen Student Association • Leave Out Violence BC • Mosaic • NextUp • North Shore Inclusion Works • Pacific Community Resources Society - Pathways (Surrey & Vancouver) • Peakhouse • Quest University • Rainbow Refugee • Ray-Cam Cooperative Centre • Red Gate Arts Society • Sheer Hockey • Society for Children and Youth BC • South Vancouver Neighbourhood House • S.U.C.C.E.S.S. • Telus - Spectrum Program • Templeton Secondary School • Urban Native Youth Association • Vancouver Coastal Health Peer Navigation Program •

Thank you for your engagement! Your partnership and business support our work and substantial community networks!

Strategic Planning with the Vancouver Neighborhood Food Network

Youth Summer Series In 2017, we hosted a series of workshops that were designed by our youth community developers and delivered to youth ages 25 and under, as an opportunity to participate in capacity-building training. The series was comprised of workshops based on survey feedback from our youth newsletter and included anti-oppression, facilitation, community/youth engagement, and self-care themes.

Working Better Together PeerNetBC, in partnership with Black Lives Matter Vancouver, Check Your Head, Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC BC), and the Urban Native Youth Association (UNYA) hosted an event on intersectionality and inequality. The event focused on supporting discussion, dialogue, and action planning aimed at addressing the shared concerns of participants representing a diverse range of communities and experience including and not limited to gender, gender identity, ability, race, class, Indigenous experience, age, and sexuality.

Trans Care BC Trans Care BC has been working collaboratively with PeerNetBC as a community partner on their program that provides financial resources and support to peer-led initiatives for trans, gender diverse and Two-Spirit people. The program also includes parents and caregivers of trans and gender diverse children and youth across BC. Our work supports Trans Care BC’s strategic goals of a provincial network of peer and community supports: creating stronger connections between peers, facilitating opportunities for knowledge-exchange, capacity building and sustainability for peer-based initiatives. Through our partnership, PeerNetBC is supporting eight funded peer-led projects with budgetary oversight, accountability, and project administrative support.

Health Equity Collaborative The Collaborative was created to promote improved health equity for gender and sexual minority communities in BC by bringing together people with lived experiences, health care professionals, policy makers, researchers, epidemiologists, and community leaders to create a common agenda for positive change. Funded by the Ministry of Health, Watari facilitated a two-year development process within which PeerNetBC participated as a community partner. In the Spring of 2018, Watari put forth a call for an organization to assume administrative responsibilities for the project. PeerNetBC was awarded this contract and in addition to administration, we are project managing the roll out of the activities of the collaborative over the remaining two years of the project.

Projects

In addition to workshop programming, PeerNetBC provides support to, consults on, designs, and delivers a number of key projects. We approach each project as the opportunity to deepen the impact of our core principles and workshop programs. Our highlights of 2017 / 2018 include:

AACC Leadership Team

Fresh Voices In 2017, we launched our partnership with Fresh Voices as their administrative host. This youth advisory group is comprised of immigrants and refugees who seek to support other young newcomers from across B.C. They work collaboratively in order to engage in dialogue and action - to identify and remove barriers to their shared and individual successes.

All Abilities Connected Communities The AACC emerged from the pilot leadership project we ran in 2016. 8 of the 12 original team of youth formed a committee to continue the work they began together. Each bringing their own and different abilities, and with the mentorship and support from Karen Lai and PeerNetBC, put their skills into action. Working together over the year, they expanded their connections, event-planned, and coordinated fundraising efforts, each leading to their intergenerational event in June of 2018.

Collaborations and Partnerships

Battered Women Support Services • BC Centre For Employment Excellence • BC Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf • BC Rural Network • Britannia Community Centre • Black Lives Matter Vancouver • Burnaby Intercultural Planning Table • CampOut! • Catherine White Holman Wellness Centre • Cerebral Palsy Association of BC • Check Your Head • City of Vancouver • Collingwood Neighbourhood House • Community Based Research Council • Fat Panic • First Call BC Child and Youth Advocacy • Fostering Change • Fraser Basin Council • Fresh Voices • Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House • Health Initiative for Men • Health Equity Collaborative • IATSE Local 891 • Immigrant Services Society - My Circle and Women’s Program • Kitsilano Nieghbourhood House Seniors Program • Kwantlen Polytechnic University • Learning Initiatives for Rural and Northern BC • Leave Out Violence BC • Little Lantern • Love Intersections • Made in BC • Matsqui-Abbotsford Impact Society • Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House • Mosaic • NextUp • North Shore Disability Resource Centre Association • North Shore Inclusion Works • Options for Sexual Health • Out on Campus • Out on Screen • Pacific Community Resources Society - Pathways (Surrey & Vancouver) • Parkgate • Plan Institute • Prostitution Alternatives and Counselling Education Society • Qmunity • Radical Access Mapping Project • Rainbow Refugee • Roundhouse Youth Theatre Action Group • Seycove Secondary School • Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group • Simon Fraser Student Society Women’s Centre • SMART 20th Anniversary • Social Planning and Research Council of BC • Society for Children and Youth • South Vancouver Neighbourhood House • Trans Care BC • Tsleil-Waututh Nation • Tyee.ca • UBC Patient and Community Voices Advisory Committee • United Nations Association in Canada • Urban Native Youth Association • Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre • Vancouver Coastal Health Sharon Martin Community Health Fund • Vancouver Coastal Health Peer Navigation Program • Vancouver Foundation • Vancouver School Board • YouthCo •

Thank you for your shared learning and experience - you inspire us everyday!

“[I learned more about the] issue of racism and discrimination and how poverty and homelessness ties in - that this is a much bigger issue than many of us are aware of.”

- Seycove Secondary tour participant

Projects Continued

Diversity Tour Promotional Flyer

Historical Diversity Bus Tours “Heritage of Displacement” was the theme for the three bus tours delivered this year. Our audiences were the general public of Vancouver, social justice students of Seycove Secondary School, and youth participants of the 2017 U.N.A.C. Peacebuilder’s Forum. During the creation process, youth participants met for 5 months to develop and deliver a unique tour focused in the Downtown Core, Eastside Vancouver, and Stanley Park regions. Tours were shaped by the interests of the youth and community storytellers. Each tour reflected the numerous ways in which local communities have, and continue to, demonstrate resilience.

Staff and Facilitator Network

iris yong Co-Executive Director / Community DeveloperLydia Luk Community Developer / Co-Executive Director Robin McConnell Financial Coordinator and Interim Co-Executive Director Romi Chandra Herbert Co-Executive Director, on leaveSimran Sarwara Youth Community Developervanessa bui Youth Community DeveloperChelsea Belyk BookkeeperFacilitators Anita Shen, Ash Lake, Branka Vlasic, Carmen Contreras, Cheryl Hewitt, Cheyenne La Vallee, Dara Parker, Ellen Clague, Harpreet Gill, Hikmat Thermos, Ivan Leonce, Jim Sands, Jodi Klukas, Karen Lai, Kalendria Ann Nation, !Kona Rodney, Lauren Byrne, Morgan Switzer, Randi-Lee Taylor, Sam McCulligh

Board and Volunteers

Tara Taylor President, Board of DirectorsAnna White Vice President, Board of Directors Joanne Magtoto Board of DirectorsShayne De Wildt Board of DirectorsParker Johnson Board of DirectorsKira Yee Board of DirectorsSarah Dobson Board of Directors

We’re grateful for the wisdom and work of our out-going board members and our new directors that have supported our transitions and ongoing work.

A big PNBC shoutout to Tara Taylor who has been with our board for the past 8 years and is moving along to other projects. Thank you Tara for sharing your time and talents so generously over the years!

Funders Thank you to our funders who make this work possible:

Ministry of Justice

BC Gaming Commission &

Based upon the expressed interest and demand, we look forward to building our volunteer program over the coming few years, along with our facilitator networks. Something we will be doing at large and with a youth focus - stay tuned!

PNBC 2017 Staff Team: vanessa, iris, Lydia, Simran and Robin.

Project and Program Volunteers:Over the year, PeerNetBC’s volunteer engagement increased. We were supported by over 33 volunteers. Our volunteer teams were instrumental to the Bus Tours and Working Better Together Event. Thank you for all your amazing work!