Women Creating Change

Working together for economic opportunity to end working poverty
Women Creating Change was a 3 year project that the Skills Centre partnered on with Trail Family and Individual Resources Society (Trail FAIR). Its objective was to support women in low income or precarious employment, and it had a strong focus on transformational change. Status of Women Canada provided $272,000 in funding for the project.

Outcomes include:
We developed 2 bursary programs:

• The Stepping Out Bursary supports up to 6 women each year living in poverty with up to $1,000 each to access whatever training and supports they identify (child care, food, books, tuition) that will enable them to develop careers that will allow them to step out of poverty.
• The Youth in Community Bursary is given to two graduating students from low income families who also volunteer in the community. Each receives $1,000 towards tuition in the post-secondary program of their choice.
• Mining and Refining for Women was a 2 year mentorship program in collaboration with the Trail operations of Teck Metals Ltd. that trained 2 cohorts of women for non-traditional jobs at Teck.
• Working Options for Women was a 6 month research project designed to develop opportunities to support women to be more successful securing and retaining employment in jobs that pay at the living wage or higher.
• Thriving for All became the official poverty reduction strategy for 5 local governments in the region.
  A new $2 million extended hours day care – the Unicorn Day Care – is in development.
  The Skills Centre is still responsible for calculating the annual Living Wage rate for the region.

Key elements of the research, identified gaps and, outcomes of Women Creating Change, and the projects that have flowed from Women Creating Change, continue to be incorporated into the Skills Centre’s core work: our skills development and training programs.