Christian Horizons Foundation Funding Outcome Report

Transcription

1 Christian Horizons Foundation 2014 Funding Outcome Report

2 2014 CH Foundation Outcome Report Summary of Total Funds Received The following report provides a summary of outcomes achieved as a result of funding from the CH Foundation. Your investment in these programs and projects help bring hope, opportunity and long term sustainability to many people in several communities living in Canada and across the world. CH Entity Funding Received Proposal Focus Christian Horizons Ontario $20,000 Christian Horizons 50 th Jubilee Christian Horizons Ontario $15,000 Church Relations/Communication Christian Horizons Canada $16,000 Guest Assistance/Vacation Model/Family Retreat CH Global $35,000 SNE Education Program Ethiopia Total Grant Funding $86,000 CH ONTARIO 2014 OUTCOME REPORT Jubilee Funding $20,000 Funding provided through the CH Foundation has helped Christian Horizons in our planning and preparation for our 50 th Jubilee celebrations. Promotional materials such as Jubilee posters, a 2015 calendar, a video documentary, the historic planning for a commemorative book and the launch of our Jubilee celebrations on November 29, 2014 have all been made possible as a result of the CH Foundation grant. The 50 th Jubilee celebrations will continue in 2015 which will increase the profile of Christian Horizons and enable us to share our vision and work with stakeholder, increase giving opportunities and build new partners in ministry. Jubilee events are posted on our main website with an open invitation for people to join us in our anniversary celebrations. Our grand Jubilee finale is scheduled for December 3, We are grateful to the foundation for the investment into this most significant milestone in our history.

3 Church Relations/Communication $20,000 Resource Development: Nurture. Christian Horizons is actively involved in nurturing relationships within the Christian Community. With the support of Christian Horizons Foundation funding, we have moved forward in multiple initiatives to help build communities of belonging. This has resulted in strengthening church relations, developing resources on Accessibility including brochures that share our story, an online tool kit which contains multiple videos and training materials and hosting a conference. Churches and Christian organizations strongly value our faith based roots resulting in the development of long-term partnerships with a shared focus. As we share our vision and our resources, disability awareness and accessibility ministries in churches are growing within the Christian community. As we have opportunity, we walk alongside our partners to help Inform, Equip and Facilitate their desire to serve the person with exceptional needs. Christian Horizons Conference. On May 3, 2014, Christian Horizons, in partnership with Harvest Bible Chapel-Oakville, hosted our first Building Communities of Belonging Conference. The focus of this one day conference was to share practical strategies to develop and strengthen ministries of belonging, integrating people affected by disabilities within church communities. Three keynote speakers shared strategies and experiences to bring support meaningful inclusion. Workshop sessions Next Steps in Disability Ministry and Faith, Family & Friendship and a Panel discussion provided learnings, interactive discussion and networking opportunities for the 122 people who attended the conference. High ratings scored on a responsive survey with overall positive feedback on multiple levels. Paul Eastwood, Senior Pastor of Compass Point Bible Church, (who coled a workshop) shared his feedback about the conference and partnership with Christian Horizons: I believe that this commitment to partnerships is a key initiative for Christian Horizons. In the last two years, Christian Horizons commitment to develop partnerships with local churches has had a large impact on me personally. I have felt supported and valued, and I have even had the opportunity to share my experience with other Pastors. I look forward to the partnership that is continuing to develop. Christian Horizons has been supportive and has encouraged us to continue this partnership. This demonstrates that Christian Horizons is committed to developing the infrastructure to support those with exceptional needs across the province of Ontario regardless of the organization or affiliation. I believe that churches (or Christian organizations) at their best are the most effective and natural places to develop communities of belonging because of the deep theological commitment to value all people as created in Gods image. I believe that developing strong churches who understand and who are committed to developing communities of belonging should be a high priority. Our motivation to develop these inclusive communities is important in their effectiveness. Wanting to help, or even wanting to include is different than understanding the need to connect, or the need to value all people, because of who we all are before God!

4 Partnerships: Christian Horizons partnered with Friendship Ministries to host Brian Doerksen in Concert on June 14 at The Meeting House (Oakville) and June 15 at the Christian Reform Community Church (Kitchener). Funding from the foundation helped support the opportunity to bring multiple organizations together with a shared vision, to strengthen relationships and to raise the level of awareness for people and families affected by disabilities. Both organizations look forward to working together in the future. 850 people attended the concerts. Nurture Tool Kit: Christian Horizons developed a Nurture Relations Tool Kit to help equip the broader Christian community with resources to support them in Accessibility ministry. Several training materials and videos promoting our partnerships with churches and faith based agencies can be viewed on the Christian Horizons website, under About, Media, scroll down to select. Capturing stories of people and their families living with disabilities is a powerful resource for our stakeholders and provides a supportive network for many people on accessibility issues. Some new partner videos that were created and/or added to the tool kit include: (1) Doerksen Family Journey Brian and Joyce Doerksen share their life journey, both joys and challenges of raising multiple children with exceptional needs (2) Ubuntu Series: features partner church The Meeting House, interview with Keith Dow, Chantal Huinink and Amanda Miles on People Living with a Disability. Christian Horizons is passionate about our vision, where People with exceptional needs belong to communities in which their God-given gifts are valued and respected. Churches and faith communities are some of the most important relational and spiritual connections in the lives of people with exceptional needs, and we are excited at the prospect of partnering with churches and faith communities in this journey of welcoming people with disabilities. Faith communities are discovering they are blessed by the presence of people with exceptional needs and the God-given gifts that they have to offer.

5 CH Canada 2014 Outcome Report Guest Assistance/New Partnerships/Models/Locations $16,000 Guest Assistance $6,000 In 2014 Camps and Excursions was awarded a grant of $6000. These funds were used to subsidize costs for 10 guests who otherwise may not have been able been able to enjoy camps without this assistance. Additionally funds were used to keep overall costs at a more affordable level. In 2014 Christian Horizons provided vacation at a camp setting for 381 registrants. This included 298 registrants at Two Rivers in Paisley, 69 registrants at Fair Havens, and 14 registrants at Countryside camp in Cambridge. Developing New Partnerships/Models/Locations $10,000 Further developing partnerships is key to the future development of our Camps and Excursions Programs. CH Vacations continues to develop vacations that do not rely on the Paisley site. Since our relationship with Paisley (Two Rivers) ended as of November 2014 our transitional plan is a multi-year project that takes into account developing innovative partnerships, enhancing current and new service models and an increased commitment to excellence in service delivery as we create inclusive vacation opportunities. It is anticipated that the development of innovative sustainable partnerships with sound business plans will place the future of CH Vacations on a strong foundation. The funds allocated in 2014/15 have aided in providing added leadership to the program including the temporary secondment of an Area Manager to focus efforts on building such partnerships and sets the framework to Onward priorities for this area of ministry. The focused attention has enabled Camp and Excursions to focus on some of the following initiatives: Sustainable business model encompassing new partnerships Risk management and policy development Employee/volunteer training to ensure service excellence

6 CH Global Outcome Report SNE Special Needs Education $35,000 The Program is in its earliest phase and is on track. Upon securing the needed support to begin the program. CH-E in cooperation with Bale Zone Ministry of Education has finalized implementation of SNE in six districts and two towns; Robe, Goba Rural, Goba Town Medawolabu, Barbare, Sinana, Agarfa, and Gasera. The implementation will begin in January2015. The following activities will be carried out in January and February 2015: Providing school supplies to be used by teachers in classrooms Renovation of 8 SNE units Purchasing SNE scholastic materials such as Braille, Slate/stylus, etc Training supplies and teachers' manual Train 34 teachers for five days. The training for SNE teachers will be conducted over five consecutive days according to agreement with districts education office and schools. The training will strengthen eight SNE schools through awareness training, inclusive education, basic communication skills to work with students with impairments and other pedagogical topics. The second and major part of this project will be implemented during the school closure holiday in July/August Other components of the SNE project are being discussed between management of CHE and the Government of Ethiopia. We are still on track for projected outcomes and budget. We appreciate the generosity of CH Foundation which helped make this project possible.