Summer Student Job at the BCCPD
The BC Coalition of People with Disabilities (BCCPD) is seeking a student to join our team and provide administrative support for our office in Vancouver during the summer.
Our mission: For over 30 years, the BCCPD has been a provincial, cross-disability voice in British Columbia. Our mission is to support people with all disabilities to live with dignity, independence and as equal and full participants in society.
Duties and Responsibilities
– Providing administrative support to BCCPD’s different programs
– Assisting with basic case management for our Advocacy Access team
– Filing, data entry, faxing and photocopying
– Front desk reception, assisting staff and volunteers to answer the phones
– Responding to basic inquiries and information referral requests
– Greeting clients and providing excellent client service
– Researching funding opportunities and other initiatives
Desired Skills and Experience
– The applicant must work with people with disabilities in a respectful & inclusive manner
– Excellent verbal and written communication skills
– Strong customer service skills, experience answering a busy phone line is an asset
– Sense of humour, positive attitude and a willingness to learn
– Ability to work independently, to work within a team setting and to take direction
– People with all disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply for this position
This job is funded by the Canada Summer Job Program, applicants must:
– Be between 15 and 30 years of age at the start of the employment
– Have been registered as full-time students in the previous academic year and intend to return to school on a full-time basis in the next academic year
– Be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or in possession of refugee status/protection
– Be legally entitled to work in Canada
The salary for this position is $10.25 per hour. This position is 30 hours per week for 12 weeks from June 4, 2012 to August 27, 2012. Office hours are 8:30am to 4:30pm, with some flexibility for the successful candidate’s weekly work schedule. We are a dog-friendly office.
To apply: Please submit your resume and cover letter via email to Nicole Kiyooka at the BC Coalition of People with Disabilities: nicole@bccpd.bc.ca
Applications must be submitted by Wednesday, May 22nd 2012. No phone calls please.
New Initiative: Compliments and Concerns Phone Line Implemented by Vancouver Taxi Companies
May 4th 2012
Representatives from the BCCPD, Cerebral Palsy Association, CNIB, Vancouver’s Persons with Disabilities Advisory Committee and the Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of BC recently began meeting with Vancouver’s taxi providers. The companies that provide taxi service in Vancouver are:
– Black Top Cabs
– MacLure’s Cabs
– Vancouver Taxi
– Yellow Cab
These companies invited BCCPD to meet with them to hear our ideas about serving people with disabilities and we invited other stakeholders to the table.
A positive initiative that has resulted from our meetings is the implementation by the four companies of a central phone line for users to register their compliments and concerns about the service they have received. This will enable the companies to hear directly from people with disabilities and seniors about what is working well and what needs some work.
The phone number is 604-215-0472. If you want to comment about a particular ride please try and have as many details about the trip as possible such as the taxi license number, date and time of the trip.
Surrey Leader - HandyDart service not keeping up to demand: Critics
Article by Jeff Nagel
Published May 2nd, 2012
Rising demand for HandyDart rides from the elderly and disabled who can’t easily take regular buses is outstripping TransLink’s ability to deliver the custom transit service, advocates warn.
“There are always more and more people needing to use the HandyDart,” said Jane Dyson, executive director of the B.C. Coalition for People with Disabilities.
But service levels are frozen at about 600,000 annual service hours – likely until 2015 – and TransLink is simultaneously under pressure to carve savings out of the program after an efficiency review.
The result: more passengers being denied rides or offered a one-way trip only but no guarantee of a return trip.
“They may be able to get a ride from Richmond to Vancouver but when they want to get back it’s very difficult,” Dyson said. “A ride one way is pretty useless if you can’t get back.”
She’s heard complaints from passengers who say up to half of their trip requests are denied because the system is over-subscribed, and that trips are getting longer as dispatchers organize trips to pick up more passengers than before.
“For people who have health conditions like bladder issues, or bowel issues or breathing issues, that can be very challenging,” Dyson said, adding it is undercutting the reliability and usability of the system.
“We have to remember this is a service for people with disabilities and seniors. There needs to be some understanding of that built into a budget system.”
To read more, visit this link: http://www.surreyleader.com/news/149906135.html