Community Update #4 - February 2021
We want to take this opportunity to share how remarkable support was from the community during our most recent appeal. We started back in October with Dress Purple Day then continued to the Tree of Hope Campaign and the CHYM Tree of Hope Radiothon and through the month of December. By the end of the year the community generously donated

$391,522

to support year-round programs and services that help prevent child abuse and neglect.
Thank you - we couldn't have done this without you! We are especially grateful to the entire team at CHYM 96.7 for making the CHYM Tree of Hope Radiothon a huge success in a very different year.

Also thanks to The Seltner Family, our Radiothon Matching Donor, and to our campaign sponsor, Strassburger Windows and Doors. Your commitment to helping children, youth, and families shone through and we are grateful for your support as we face the challenges of the pandemic.
Join us on February 18-19, 2021 for the second Resilience Summit, presented by The Resilience Project. This year's event brings together experts in collective resilience, including those with lived experience. The event will be a platform for creating connections, networking, and learning about the great work being done to empower and support communities right here in Waterloo Region and around the world.
Philanthropy & Indigenous Communities in Canada

We are honoured to have been selected for The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples (The Circle) Partners in Reciprocity Fellowship. The goal of the program is to reorient settler philanthropy toward equity and justice. Alongside a diverse group of foundations and philanthropic organizations from across Canada, we will be taking the next year to reflect and learn so that we can continue on our journey towards equity and justice in our actions and practices. We look forward to sharing more as we move through this amazing opportunity.

To learn more about The Circle,
visit their website.
Black Communities Overlooked by Canadian Foundations

Unfunded is a recent research report that provides the first in-depth examination of the relationship between Canadian Philanthropy and Black communities. For example, "across all community foundations we reviewed, grants to Black-serving organizations represented a meagre 0.7 percent of total grants during the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years. Grants to Black-led organizations were only 0.07 percent of total grants made in the same period."

Click here to read more about the findings of this important report.
Did you know?
On Giving Tuesday, we launched two funds to offer support for Indigenous and Black children, youth, and families. You can learn more about the Out of Many One People Fund and Truth and Reconciliation Fund here.
How you are helping to support families this year

While there is a light at the end of the tunnel as the COVID19 vaccine rollout begins, we expect there will still be many challenges for the families we serve. Here are some of the things we are focusing on as we support children, youth, and families through the months to come:

  • Continuing to work towards equity and justice in our relationships with Black and Indigenous communities
  • Supporting families in the ways that they need support be it emergency financial assistance, programs for children, or facilitating community connection
  • Planning for how to support youth who are hoping to pursue post-secondary this fall
  • Promoting community resilience and collaboration as we work to build back better in Waterloo Region

We are able to do these things because of your support. Whether you follow us on social media, share our content, or donate your time, talent or money, we are grateful for your care and kindness.

With gratitude,
Karen, Jill, Christine, Jennifer and Sydney - The Family & Children’s Services Foundation Team
P.S. Did you catch our Q and A videos with Agency staff? They responded to commonly asked questions from the community about how we support parents to keep kids safe and keep them where they belong....with their families. You can watch the videos on our YouTube Channel.
If you have received this update at multiple email addresses, please help us avoid this in the future by emailing us at foundation@facswaterloo.org and letting us know which is your preferred address. It is important to us that we honour your communication preferences, so please get in touch!
Family & Children's Services Foundation www.facsfoundation.org