The Maple Ridge Resilience Initiative Strong Kids Team was formed to ensure that children and youth in our community have the best environment to grow up and thrive in. The team is inviting the community to participate in two surveys that will provide the foundation for a community forum to take place in the spring of 2016.
“This is about having a dialogue that focuses on what we need, as a community to build resilience in our youth. We need to hear from you; parents, caregivers, teachers, coaches, youth and the community as a whole. How can we engage you in this conversation? What is important to you?” said Strong Kids Team lead and School District No. 42 Board Trustee Susan Carr. “To be successful our response must reflect our community, it must be made in Maple Ridge, unique to Maple Ridge and cutting edge. Together in partnership with our young people we can make sure that our kids have what they need to thrive in our community.”
This exciting initiative will roll out in four phases with the first phase of this project being an online survey intended for parents, teachers, community leaders and service providers to inform us through their own lens what is needed to support youth in building resilience. This survey is available now and will close on December 20, 2015.
The Strong Kids Team Survey can be found at http://fluidsurveys.com/s/Strongkidssurvey/
Phase two of the project will be a survey geared to the young people in the community and will be launched in February 2016. Both surveys will give us a valuable starting point and understanding of the similarities and differences of each demographic.
Your responses will create a foundation for phase three, which is the Strong Kids Team Community Forum, to be held on Monday, March 7, 2016, at the ACT Arts Centre on the Mainstage. Your participation and input is extremely valuable and the Strong Kids Team is committed to working hard to ensure that this event is completely barrier free.
Phase four will be the final report of the Strong Kids Team to Maple Ridge Council with recommendations on what steps, initiatives or programs we need to put into place to ensure that Maple Ridge has a coordinated and ongoing approach to building a strong environment of care and that youth in our community have every possible opportunity to meet their potential.
For more information about the Strong Kids Team please contact Susan Carr by email at Susan_Carr@sd42.ca or Tony Cotroneo at tcotroneo@mapleridge.ca or by calling 604-463-5221.
For more information on the Maple Ridge Resilience Initiative please contact Kelly Swift at kswift@mapleridge.ca or by phone at 604-467-7337.
Susan Carr
Board of Education School District 42