Join us for a free 4-week program

Poverty is not only about money, it is also about not having access to the skills, resources, information, and choices necessary to get and maintain self-sufficiency.

If you are living on a low income or receiving disability benefits, you may have well-developed money management skills. You may know how to stretch a dollar and juggle bills. But if you want to know more, where do you get objective information not designed to sell you anything?

Often, financial language can be difficult to understand and link to your own life. Money is a sensitive and private subject for many people, so many of us don’t feel comfortable asking friends or family.

The Money Skills program at Family Services of Greater Vancouver works with community groups to offer a workshop series on money. The workshops are free of charge and provide a fun, interactive environment to share information and learn new money skills.

Budgeting: Track your earning and spending and be in control of your money.

Banking: Choose the options that are right for you, reduce fees and save money.

Credit: Build and maintain a good credit history and deal with debt.

Consumerism: Buy buy buy! Examine the role of advertising in our spending choices and how to be in charge of your own spending.

Cost:     Free
When:   Four sessions in January 19 – February 9, 2012
Where:  BCCPD, #204 – 456 West Broadway, Vancouver
Time:    1:30 pm to 3:30 pm

Call Val at 604-875-0188 or email feedback@bccpd.bc.ca for more information.

A Scientific Advisory Board to the World Future Council http://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/ , consisting of eleven leading European experts from the disability rights movement, academia, human rights institutions and foundations has chosen the Representation Agreement as the best policy in the world for recognizing the right to support in personal decision-making and avoiding guardianship.

The World Future Council has also recognized the Nidus Personal Planning Resource Centre and Registry as the leading expert on the BC law and system, and as the organization which has been the main driver behind the creation of the Act. Nidus and the Representation Agreement will be featured in a Bulletin issued by the World Future Council and promoted as an example of best policies at an upcoming conference in Vienna in January 2012, which Christine Gordon, Nidus’ Board President has been invited to attend.

BCCPD continues to work closely with the Woodlands survivors in their struggle for justice and compensation. As of the end of 2011, the Province continues to exclude former Woodlands residents who were at the institution before August 1, 1974. These oldest survivors have not been given the opportunity to have their abuse recognized through the settlement agreement that has been signed by the Province. The compensation process for survivors who were at Woodlands after August 1, 1974, is extremely slow: as of October 2011, only 8 claims have been filed, out of the approximately 850 survivors who have come forward.

See more on our ongoing work on Woodlands.