In the spring of 2006, the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) selected the Victoria Foundation to host and administer a $10M Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Action Fund. The purpose of the Fund was to support activities throughout the province in the areas of FASD prevention, public awareness, caregiver education and research initiatives aimed at developing a better understanding of the disorder. Overall, the focus of the Fund was to improve outcomes for children and youth in BC.
The Foundation formed an Advisory Committee made up of representatives from the community to be served by the Fund who promoted its availability, evaluated funding applications and made recommendations on granting.
A complete listing of the funded projects is posted below.
Throughout the terms of the Action Fund projects, the Foundation received and reviewed numerous interim and final reports from the organizations and agencies involved in their delivery. This enabled the Foundation to track the progress of the various initiatives and provided an incentive for ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of each project. In December 2010, the Foundation issued a Report to the Community to provide an update on the FASD Action Fund.
Fund Evaluation
In order to ensure that the results of the FASD Action Fund were fully documented and the overall impact of the initiative understood, the Victoria Foundation commissioned researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC)/University of Northern BC (UNBC) to conduct a comprehensive review of the Fund and the 22 demonstration projects that it supported. This independent evaluation consisted of project monitoring, data collection, site visits, and interviews with project grantees and participants.
The evaluation was prepared over a period of 4 years and was submitted to the Foundation in the summer of 2012. The evaluation and its conclusions were shared with the FASD community in BC and representatives of the provincial government.
Overall, the evaluation concludes that the FASD Action Fund met its primary objectives: increased public awareness, improved caregiver knowledge, and promotion of prevention strategies. It is estimated that over the life of the Fund, over 470 individuals directly affected by FASD benefited from the initiative and over 3000 service providers, front-line workers, and teachers were trained on FASD related issues. In addition, four FASD conferences were organized by funded agencies and nearly 100 presentations respecting the results of various projects were made at a variety of meetings and workshops in BC and internationally. Another 28 publications – mostly describing new knowledge – were released.
The Title Page/Acknowledgements, Table of Contents, Executive Summary, and Conclusions from the evaluation can be accessed through these links:
Copies of the full evaluation report can be accessed by contacting Rory Grewar at 250-381-5532 or rgrewar@victoriafoundation.bc.ca
FASD Action Fund Projects - 2007-2011
| Organization | Location | Amount | Project Length | Project Title | Project Backgrounder |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Support Against Poverty | Prince George | $51,500 | 15 months | Star FASD Production | This project will see the development and presentation of a short video designed to educate teachers about FASD challenges and strengths and how best to support such children in their classrooms, as well as a short claymation video designed to educate children, youth, parents and volunteers about FASD challenges and strengths. Children and youth will be involved in the development and production of both videos. |
| Alberni Valley FASD Community Action Group | Port Alberni | $77,500 | 14 months | Youth Peer Education FASD Prevention Project | This project will see the Alberni Valley FASD Community Action Group working with Alberni Valley youth to develop peer-led community based FASD prevention strategies for the region. |
| Alberni Valley FASD Community Action Group | Port Alberni | $110,042 | 28 months | Youth Justice Project | Project to increase awareness and favourable response to (Aboriginal) youth with FASD who are charged with violating of the law through education on a case by case basis. 2) Reducing continued involvement with Justice, by empowering youth affected with FASD in understanding their own disability. 3) Develop and build the capacity of an outgoing FASD Youth Justice Committee which will continue to function beyond the project end date. 4) Influence case management for youth affected with FASD through clinical training of professionals - CYMH and CLBC have already indicated a willingness to participate. |
| Asante Centre (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Society for BC) | Maple Ridge | $97,000 | 24 months | FASD Training Curriculum | Development of a specialized FASD training curriculum for service providers of at-risk youth ages 12-18 with FASD and an underlying language disability and development an adapted version of the curriculum for parents and caregivers of these youth. |
| Beacon Community Services (FASD Community Circle) | Victoria | $270,000 | 36 months | Healthy Steps Women's Program | The Healthy Steps Women's Program is a pilot clinical research intervention program to investigate outcomes for women who are at risk of having a prenatally exposed child when the mother may also have FASD. |
| Circle of Eagles Lodge Society | Vancouver | $143,322 | 36 months | The Circle of Eagles Sleeping Gifts Training Program | An adult Aboriginal FASD "toolkit" will be developed to provide offenders and their families with FASD specific information, life skills and practical tools. In addition, staff will receive formal education, specialized FASD training and tool kit facilitation to enhance thir practical experience and improve thier ability to support clients. |
| College of New Caledonia, Nechako Lakes Region | Burns Lake | $446,126 | 36 months | Support and Advocacy for Vibrant Youth | An innovative demonstration project, SAVY will increase knowledge and understanding of FASD and improve quality of life for those living with FASD through intensive advocacy and support. |
| College of New Caledonia, Nechako Lakes Region | Burns Lake | $148,254 | 15 months | Nechako FASD Dialogue Centre Project | This FASD Dialogue project puts prevention as the number one priority in bringing about change for a healthy productive lifestyle. It engages advocacy in prevention activities and provides a foundation for ongoing FASD initiatives in Vanderhoof, Fraser Lake, Fort St. James and adjacent First Nations communities. |
| Community Connections (Revelstoke) Society | Revelstoke | $11,720 | 36 months | Helping the Community Learn More About FASD | A project designed to educate the local community about FASD, its prevention and its impact. The target audience will be community professionals, parents, high school students and the community at large. |
| Cowichan Valley FAS Action Team Society | Duncan | $380,324 | 36 months | Inclusive Communities: An Integrated FASD Support Strategy | Using the "Inclusive Walk About" people with FASD, caregivers, and professionals will work together to build a comprehensive FASD support strategy across four BC regions. |
| Cowichan Valley FAS Action Team Society | Duncan | $185,006 | 36 months | Leaders in FASD Prevention | This project is designed to provide youth with an understanding of the complex issues associated with alcohol use during pregnancy and provide concrete activities for vulnerable youth, including those with FASD, to help reduce the likelihood of community exclusion. This project will also develop and deliver youth-led educational messages to promote FASD awareness, understanding and prevention among youth and the general community. |
| Cranbrook Women's Resource Society | Cranbrook | $88,000 | 24 months | Creating Links, Building Action for FASD | This project will see the development of a regional FASD Action Network to increase the coordination, collaboration and visibility of FASD issues in the East Kootenay region. This network will link relevant agencies and individuals to address the complex components of FASD, identify gaps in regional services, bring forward the voice of those affected and enhance parent-to-parent support. |
| FASD Community Circle | Victoria | $37,785 | 12 months | Moms Mentoring Moms | A project to develop a model of support for high-risk women, both pregnant and those who have already given birth, where addiction has been identified as a barrier that relates to their ability to parent. |
| Gitxsan Child & Family Services Society | Hazelton | $100,000 | 12 months | Ayookhl ga nit'iitsxwim ahl haa'nakthl gabiswit | Gitxsan Child and Family Services Society will design community-based housing and other services for families affected by FASD using strategies rooted in Gitxsan cultural traditions. |
| Healthy Aboriginal Network | Vancouver | $105,000 | 17 months | Living with FASD Comic Book and Animated Short Project | To offer youth living with FASD the opportunity to tell their stories using a comic book and animated short. If we can help create literacy about FASD, perhaps we can help prevent it. |
| Hey-Way'-noqu' Healing Circle for Addictions Society | North Vancouver | $120,615 | 24 months | Education Youth: The Dangers of Consuming Alcohol During Pregnancy | Aimed at reducing the myths and misconceptions surrounding FASD, this project will provide educational presentations to youth ages 10 to 18 who attend schools in BC. Presentations will be delivered by a birth mother who has a son living with the effects of her teenage drinking and will attempt to discuss FASD without shame, blame or judgment. |
| Inter Tribal Health Authority | Nanaimo | $210,000 | 36 months | Expanding the Circle | ITHA will provide trained mentors for women with FASD who are parenting with the goals of providing support and education to women and their support networks and preventing FASD. |
| John Howard Society of the Central and South Okanagan | Kelowna | $219,168 | 48 months | Gateway Mentoring Project | Working with the RCMP as well as potentially other professionals working on the front-lines, education will be provided in the form of user friendly information cards/pamphlets and presentations that will assist in identifying and responding to potentially afflicted individuals.By educating members and raising awareness regarding FASD, individuals eligible for the program will be identified early in the process and immediately referred to the mentoring component of the service instead of getting caught up in the system unable to address their needs. Once registered an individualized service and support plan will be developed and a skilled and well trained mentor will be assigned to start working with the individual and implementing the plan. |
| Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society | Kelowna | $69,691 | 12 months | Okanangan FASD Project | This project will build capacity within the urban Aboriginal community in the Okanagan by educating and enhancing the knowledge of Aboriginal social service delivery personnel about FASD issues, developing culturally effective support strategies for individuals with FASD, adapting mainstream FASD prevention and education resources to be more effective in reaching aboriginal clients, developing team approaches in addressing FASD in Aboriginal families and providing individual education and prevention support for clients coping with FASD. |
| Ktunaxa Independent School System Society | Cranbrook | $50,000 | 8 months | FASD photography and entrepreneurial skills project | This photography and entrepreneurial project will allow our youth with FASD to explore their artistic abilities, develop their business capacity, will empower them with employable skills and increased self-confidence. |
| Ladysmith Resources Centre Association | Ladysmith | $25,365 | 12 months | Born Healthy Fathers Group | This project is intended to reduce the use of alcohol by pregnant women and new mothers by providing education and support to the male partners of these women to increase their sense of belonging and purpose within their family and their community as a whole. These men will be part of a group that the organization will work with in conjunction with, but separate from, its mothers group. |
| Northern Health Authority | Prince George | $28,823 | 24 months | Building Community Capacity for Famillies Affected by FASD | This project will expand to three northern rural communities, the use of a neurocognitive model for services that is designed to minimize the impact of the disability for individuals affected by FASD and their family members. The project will assist these communities in facilitating partnerships that will serve as a foundation for building independent FASD programming in each community. |
| Northern Health Authority | Prince George | $8,050 | 12 months | Bringing the Community to the Table | A project to provide community education to lawyers, judges, foster parents, landlords and governmental and medical system staff, on the neurocognitive model for services that target the environment in order to minimize the impact of the disability for individuals affected by FASD and their family members. |
| Norther Society for Domestic Peace | Smithers | $12,040 | 13 months | Substance Use During the Childbearing Years - Developing Best Practices for POP | This project is intended to educate and empower staff as well as to develop new protocols and better practices for dealing with clients' substance use issues. This will, in turn, assist these clients to reduce or stop their use of substances, particularly while pregnant and breastfeeding. |
| Pacific Community Resources Society | Vancouver | $552,656 | 36 months | FASD Collaboration Roundtables: And Inter-Sectoral Capacity Building Demonstration Project | An FASD Resource Centre will support inter-sectoral capacity building initiatives by partner systems and community organizations on the Surrey and Vancouver FASD Collaboration Roundtables to provide competent, respectful, coordinated services for children and youth with FASD and their families. |
| Pacific Community Resources Society | Vancouver | $179,610 | 48 months | Aboriginal FASD Prevention Initiative / Criminal Justice System | To move from the planning phase of this project to proactive, strategic actions that improve the chances of preventing FASD and support real change in the responses for people with FASD. Through 1) Aboriginal Prevention Initiative 2) Criminal Justice System Knowledge Development Initiative. |
| PLEA Community Services Society of British Columbia | Vancouver | $750,000 | 36 monnths | The Bridge Project | The Bridge Project assists young people living with FASD make the transition from adolescence to adulthood a positive healthy experience. |
| Port Alberni Youth Health Society | Port Alberni | $12,000 | 12 months | Youth Health Care Strategy for Preventing Unplanned Pregnancy | Because early prevention and intervention can have a significant impact on alcohol-exposed pregnancies, this program will assess the barriers women in Port Alberni face in accessing contraception, specifically Emergency Contraception and early diagnosis of pregnancy. |
| Prostitutes Empowerment Education Resource Society | Victoria | $324,014 | 36 months | FASD Collaborative Family Care Homes | PEERS and FASD Community Circle will pilot a Foster Home for FASD sex workers (or ex-sex workers) making transition with their babies/children to a mainstream lifestyle. |
| Prostitutes Empowerment Education Resource Society | Victoria | $320,640 | 36 months | Sex Worker Integration Model (SWIM) | The purpose of this project is to develop a provincially coordinated network of resources to address the FASD crisis in BC's sexually exploited youth/sex trade workers. |
| Qqs (Eyes) Project Society | Waglisla | $37,000 | 36 months | Kaila-Holding Upright in the Palm of our Hands | Working in partnership with Kaxla Child and Family Services and the Bella Bella Community School, Qqs Projects will train staff and operate 6 weeks of residential camps over the next 36 months to serve up to 36 families living with FASD. The camps will be followed by intensive community support from the partnering agencies which will build on the skills, insights and bonds built at the residential camps. |
| Representation Agreement Resource Centre Association | Vancouver | $26,205 | 18 months | Representataion Agreements as a Tool for Personal Planning for Adults with FASD | The goal of this project is to improve public and family/caregiver knowledge about the use of Representation Agreements as a tool for personal planning for individuals with FASD and their support network. |
| School District No. 23 (Central Okanagan) | Kelowna | $1,000 | 15 months | FASD and Student Achievement Project | Four all day conferences on FASD and school discipline will be provided to school administrators to change the way they view kids and affect their practice and leadership in schools. |
| Seabird Vancouver Island Education Society, Lalme'Iwesawtezw | Agassiz | $150,000 | 15 months | Taking Away the Barriers to Healthier Living | To provide residential support, education and awareness to youth affect by FASD within a caring supportive and culturally sensitive environment to improve the quality of life and sense of belonging for those living with FASD and to reduce the incidences of FASD in the future. |
| The Board of School Trustees District No. 57 Prince George | Prince George | $103,442 | 36 months | Students with FASD: Adapting Environments, Instruction and Curriculum | This project intends to assess the effects of demonstration project classrooms in which the focus is adapting environments, instruction and curriculum to better meet the needs of the students with FASD. |
| The Board of School Trustees District No. 57 Prince George | Prince George | $180,000 | 24 months | Carney Hill FASD Lifestyle Project | Using a four pronged community approach we hope to improve the lives of students challenged by FASD and help their families support these students' academic and social development. |
| The New Beginning Community Society | Lilooet | $24,259 | 5.5 months | Learning for Change, Creating Chances | This three-part program will provide FASD education for parents, caregivers and community professionals (education, health, employment, governmental, social service and law); individual follow-up consultation and review with educational professionals; and environmental assessments for schools. |
| Tlingit Family Learning Centre | Atlin | $150,000 | 36 months | FASD Counselor Mentorship Project for High Needs Communities | An FASD professional will mentor our community front line service providers and support members' specific FASD needs. This knowledge transfer from the professionals to our community will be the catalyst for us to build upon and increase every aspect of our community's health and well being. |
| University of the Fraser Valley | Abbotsford | $360,152 | 36 months | Toward Exercise Intervention for Children with FASD | Our program is an innovative, strength-based intervention for children with FASD. The philosophy behind the project is that by focusing on the individual strengths of each child, we will directly and indirectly improve numerous areas of that child's daily life. |
| University of British Columbia - Faculty of Medicine | Vancouver | $225,000 | 30 months | FASD and Sleep Disturbances; The Burden and Interventions | With our novel multidisciplinary focus on sleep disturbances in children with FASD we aim to describe the burden of sleep disturbances and work out tailored therapeutic interventions. |
| University of Victoria, School of Social Work | Victoria | $57,860 | 18 months | Substance Using Women with FASD and FASD Prevention | This project will identify the support needs of women with FASD who have substance use problems and are at risk of having a baby with FASD, as well as develop effective practices in providing substance use treatment and care for women with FASD. |
| Vancouver Island Health Authority - Queen Alexandra Centre | Victoria | $249,750 | 24 months | Community Respite Service for Families | Carefully screened and oriented respite workers will provide daytime and or evening respite care for families raising children with FASD. |
| Vancouver Native Health Society | Vancouver | $311,732 | 36 months | Circle of Elders | A Circle of Elders will provide support, understanding, and caring for Vancouver's urban aboriginal peoples who have been impacted by FASD. |
| Wachiay Friendship Centre Society | Courtenay | $255,000 | 36 months | Ateemak Siberian Sled dog Skool | A culturally based program for youth ages 10-24 years, working with sled dogs, to develop and improve social and life skills to increase quality of life for those living with FASD. |
| Wachiay Friendship Centre Society | Courtenay | $192,753 | 24 months | Strengthening Communities - FASD Mobile Prevention Project | This project will connect with Aboriginal communities and organizations in the North Vancouver Island Region and, in particular, isolated areas and remote communities that are in need of support services, resources, training and education. The team will assist the communities in developing their own FASD action plan to meet specific needs within their community. |
| Westcoast Genesis Society | New Westminster | $110,480 | 12 months | Community Employment Experience and Placement | CEEP Employment provides structured and supported community employment experience and place with supportive employers for unemployed male youth living with FASD. |
| Whitecrow Village Camp Society | Nanaimo | $913,750 | 36 months | Initiatives in the areas of Independent Living, Employment, Education, Addcition Recovery Programs | The Whitecrow Village FASD umbrella initiatives address specific concerns in five social domains: Community & Family Stability; Interdependent Living (Housing); Employment; Education and Addictions Recovery Support. Collectively, the Whitecrow Village projects demonstrate an effective working model that promotes a sense of belonging and purpose for all peoples and enhances the quality of life for those who are affected by FASD. Specifically the projects increase community awareness and education about FASD, establish and link community resources, and point toward reduced incidence of FASD in our communities. |
| Women's Health Research Institute | Vancouver | $156,300 | 48 months | Healing Ourselves: Mothers Recovering from Grief and Loss on the Downtown Eastside | The goal of Healing Ourselves is to improve the capacity of health professionals and peer-driven community programs in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, to support mothers with substance use problems who have permanently lost their child(ren) and who are at risk of having a future child with FASD. With a focus on developing or adapting tools and strategies women can use to heal from grief and loss when they lose children through the foster care system and through death. |
