Cornerstone Family and Youth received praise-and a second grant- from the Canadian Women's Foundation on Tuesday, June 2 when Samantha Cochrane, CWF's manager of girls mentoring visited Gordon F. Kells High School to deliver the good news.
The pilot program, in which girls from grades five and six were mentored by their peers in grades 11 and 12, was “A chance for the younger girls to build relationships with the older girls, to increase self esteem, to add supports in their lives, and ultimately, to figure out who they are,” says Krystal Fehrenbach, community education liason for Carlyle schools.
“The Canadian Womens' Foundation was delighted to offer Cornerstone Family and Youth an extended, full grant to continue and expand their girls program,” says Cochrane. “We are continually inspired by the passion and talent of their team and have full confidence that their program will continue to engage and empower girls in their community. We are thrilled and honoured to be able to continue to collaborate in this work.”
“We've had the pleasure of working with Cornerstone Family and Youth since September 2014. Jenn (Sedor) attended our National Skills Institute on girls' programming in April 2014. Canadian Women's Foundation had been developing a girls group mentoring toolkit in partnership with Alberta Mentoring Partnership and under the direction of an advisory group. We had the opportunity to pilot the toolkit with five organizations to test how it worked in different community contects. Cornerstone Family and Youth submitted a solid proposal and was selected for the pilot grant, which ran from September 2014 to the end of April 2015.”
“Canadian Women's Foundation conducted an evaluation of the pilot process and had regular contact, feedback and collaboration with the team at Cornerstone,” adds Cochrane. “Throughout the process, Cornerstone Family and Youth has gone above and beyond in their use of the toolkit and their ongoing, open and valuable feedback.”
“We have observed the growth of their program, the dedication of their staff and the use of best practices-as well as the boldness to test innovations-in developing a girls group mentoring program that is engaging, meaningful and transformative for girls.”
“Through their feedback and input on the toolkit, CWF has had the opportunity to improve this resource and adapt it to be more useful and directive,” says Cochrane. “Their team has had a direct impact on the quality of this toolkit and as a result, will positively influence the future direction and impact of girls group mentoring across the country.”
“We're both grateful and delighted because this wasn't an overnight opportunity.” says Jenn Sedor, program coordinator for Cornerstone Family and Youth. “It was four years in the making. We were actively looking for ways to fill in the gaps in girls programming in this area; and funding from the Canadian Women's Foundation has enabled us to fulfill that dream.”
“We're so very pleased and proud to have their support and recognition.”
