Media Release For immediate release November 24, 2021 25th Annual BC Child Poverty Report Card Finds 1 in 5 Children Poor and Dramatic Rise in Income Inequality (Vancouver BC) Today, First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society released the 25th annual BC Child Poverty Report Card finding that not much MORE
First Call is pleased to join with other organizations and our own Living Wage for Families BC Program in calling on Premier John Horgan and the BC government to bring in a 10-day sick pay program that is seamless, applies to all workers, replaces full wages and ensures sick workers MORE
Submission to Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services First Call’s September 2021 budget submission, highlighted five priority areas for children, youth, and their families, with recommendations for next year’s budget: Poverty reduction measures and income security for families Investments in early childhood development and prevention services Support youth MORE
The BC Government’s 2022 budget consultations are underway and First Call has developed an overview of our key priorities for your reference. First Call’s submission reminds government that we have a long way to go in ending child poverty with 1 in 5 BC children still growing up poor and MORE
Media Release For immediate release December 9, 2020 2020 BC Child Poverty Report Card Finds Little Change in Number of Children Growing up Poor (Vancouver BC) Today, First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition released the 24rd annual BC Child Poverty Report Card finding that not much has changed MORE
Media Advisory For immediate release December 7, 2020 (Vancouver) On Wednesday, December 9, First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition will release the 2020 BC Child Poverty Report Card on child poverty in British Columbia. The 2020 Child Poverty Report Card presents the latest statistics on child and family MORE
MEDIA RELEASE Former youth in care and allies “19th Birthday Party” WHO: Youth from foster care, alumni of care, supporters and allies WHAT: A celebration of the resilience of youth transitioning from government care WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, August, 22nd – from 12 noon to 3pm. Over virtual platform “zoom” MORE
On April 23 the BC Coalition to End Youth Homelessness issued a Special Report on COVID-19 and Youth Homelessness highlighting impacts of the pandemic, some promising practices and making nine recommendations for provincial government action. Click here to read their report.
Today, Fostering Change, issued a media release today praising the provincial government for responding to concerns about youth aging out of care in this pandemic. Yesterday, government announced that youth who turn 19 during the COVID-19 pandemic will have their care agreements extended, and that those on the Agreements with MORE
Too many families were living in poverty before COVID-19 so the challenge is two-fold; ensuring that the most vulnerable receive financial supports and access to services and ensuring that those who now face unemployment or reduced work hours receive timely assistance. This week the federal government announced a number of MORE
PROOF conducted research on household food insecurity in Canada between 2017-2018. Drawing on data for 103,500 households from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey conducted in 2017 and 2018, they found that 12.7% of households experienced some level of food insecurity in the previous 12 months. 17.3% of children under 18 MORE
BC Rent Bank is pleased to partner with a great number of organizations that are offering rent bank services in their community! If you are someone looking for services, please have a look here at the agencies currently offering rent bank services. Since each organization has its own set of criteria for MORE
Katherine McParland, Executive Director of A Way Home Kamloops, presented her newly-released report From Marginalized to Magnified: Youth Homelessness Solutions From Those With Lived Expertise to the March 11th First Call coalition meeting. The report was prepared in collaboration with her advisory group Youth Against Youth Homelessness BC and The Office of MORE
This week’s BC budget followed through on promises made in past budgets – including the BC Child Opportunity Benefit – but comes up short on new initiatives and investments that would assist children, youth and their families. “We need to invest more in upstream, preventative family supports,” commented Adrienne Montani, MORE
The Living Wage for Families Campaign is kicking off the recruitment phase of a participatory action research (PAR) project to better understand the experiences of those doing low-wage work. If you have lived experience with low-wage work OR you represent agencies, organizations, initiatives, communities, or families impacted by working poverty, MORE