About Us
We are a team of professionals dedicated to helping families in District 69.
The Family Resource Association is an Accredited Association through the Council on Accreditation (COA), something we are proud of.
COA's program of quality improvement is designed to identify providers that have set high performance standards and have made a committment to deliver the very best quality services.
Our Vision
Our vision is a community where all people believe in their own personal strengths and are developing to their full potential.
Our Mission
Family Resource Association is committed to providing early intervention, counselling, support and educational services. We support the development, independence and empowerment of individuals and families. We strive to work in partnership with the community to enhance the lives of people who live in our district.
Our Story
District 69 Family Resource Association (FRA) was founded in 1989 by a group of local citizens committed to creating the best possible future for District 69’s children, youth and families.
They had become seriously concerned about the growing number of children, youth and families requiring intervention services from agencies like the Ministry for Children and Family Development (MCFD), Youth Probation, and Mental Health.
They wondered about prevention. Were there opportunities that needed to be explored?
The work of District 69 Family Resource Association began.
Initially, the focus was on providing families with information, based on the latest research, and support so they could meet the developmental needs of their children.
FRA Today
Our initial focus has blossomed into a comprehensive effort to provide quality, professional services to children, youth and families in need. We achieved accreditation in 2004, which ensures we meet the highest international standards for professional performance. Currently, we have 14 programs which focus on specific community needs, for example:
- infants and children with delays or special needs;
- children that have been exposed to family violence;
- child sexual abuse prevention and treatment;
- children at risk of being placed into out of family care ;
- youth at risk of addictions, school drop out and crime;
- parents in need of parenting support.
Our services work to enhance the knowledge, skills, confidence and capacity of individuals and families in our community, therefore, decreasing the potential need for future, more expensive, interventions and services.
In fact, today, nearly 1 in 3 Canadian children under the age of 6 have a social, emotional or learning problem. In addition, while only constituting about 6% of the population, multi-risk-factor families use about 65 to 70% of the social, health, education and correctional service funding. Many of these problems can be correlated with the lack of early intervention and lack of knowledge surrounding the complex task of positive parenting.
Today, we are at the centre of a community campaign, both creating awareness about the diverse needs of many children, youth and families in our community and raising funds to support the solution.
There are a significant number of children, youth and families in our community living with debilitating issues such as poverty, limited education, children with special needs and family violence. Although we are currently reaching some of these children, youth and families, much more effort is needed.
Our goal is to provide services to children, youth and families in need that will increase their capacity to reach their full potential. A lofty vision? Maybe. Achievable? Absolutely.
Our Programs are funded by:
- Ministry of Children and Family Development
- Ministry of Community Services
- Human Resources and Social Development Canada
- The Vancouver Foundation
- The United Way
- School District 69
- Coastal Community Credit Union
- Regional District of Nanaimo.
For more information, please call us at (250) 752-6766.
