Combining Our
Strength™
A Partnership of Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal Women
Since its inception
in 1999, the Minerva Foundation for BC Women has made a commitment
to diversity: this includes diversity in age, ethnicity, discipline,
field of study and sexual orientation. As part of this mandate, the
Foundation has actively sought to engage, recruit and award Aboriginal
women as beneficiaries, leaders and teachers in its programs.
In 2005, the Minerva
Foundation recommitted to assisting Aboriginal
women meet the challenges currently facing their
communities and open the door for future generations.
The Foundation’s role is to act as a catalyst in creating awareness
of the cultural traditions, governance, strengths and challenges
of the Aboriginal women’s community. The Foundation has initiated
a dialogue between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
women, to create a trust relationship from which
both can benefit. Open communication,
resource sharing, networking, mentoring and skill
development will assist in the goal to build capacity
within this community of women
and will produce systemic change with sustainable
results.
History
In the fall of
2005, the Minerva Foundation launched a program to initiate community
dialogues on leadership among Aboriginal women leaders in British
Columbia.
Four regional dialogues
were held among Aboriginal women only across BC on their leadership
needs and challenges. Input from these sessions was provided to a
final joint dialogue, conducted by the Minerva Foundation among Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal women and girls, various community service organizations,
corporations and government, in Vancouver on January 27, 2006. Participants
in the final dialogue developed ideas for potential new programs
to assist Aboriginal women in developing and enhancing their leadership
skills and capacity. This group produced tangible ideas for expanding
and/or enhancing existing programs, and developing partnerships and
new program delivery in areas not presently addressed.
The Combining Our
Strength™ initiative has been developed from this research
and input. It is a joint partnership of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
women with the objective of creating capacity within the Aboriginal
women’s community of BC and effecting some systemic change
with sustainable results for this community. The
initiative is led by a Council of well respected Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
women
from throughout the province.
Combining Our Strength™ programming
and new initiatives occur in the four key areas of the Minerva Foundation’s
mandate, which include education, leadership development,
economic security and safety for women and girls.
Education
- An
additional $56,500 in COS Education Awards were
awarded to Aboriginal women in 2007.
- Cross
Cultural Awareness Learning project
- Focuses
on the culture and impact of history and historical
decisions on Aboriginal people through the
eyes and stories of Aboriginal women
- Describes
the differences in –and the effects of
colonization on –indigenous social organization
and governing structures, lifestyles, culture
and communication in order to provide a greater
understanding of the actions and decisions
of the Aboriginal people with which corporations
interact.
- The
intent of CCAL is to capture the hearts of
the participants, lead them to connecting with
the Aboriginal communities and promote an understanding
of Aboriginal cultures so that they are recognized
as valid in the workplace. The program will
be interactive and include art, music, food
and language, with a mix of traditional and
contemporary, including brief traditional ceremonies. The
training will be story and relationship based
in order to highlight the unique circumstances
of Aboriginal women. The overall message
is to develop respect based on understanding. Connecting
people will develop stronger communities.
Leadership
Development
- Learning
to Lead™ Combining Our Strength™ leadership
development program
- This
program is held annually at St. John’s
College on the UBC campus over a weekend in
the Spring. While Aboriginal women are
the majority of the attendees, a number of
non-Aboriginal women attend as well. Our
participants are women with a variety of leadership
experience from across the province. In
2008, women joined us from the lower mainland,
Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, Cranbrook and
Fort Nelson.
- This
program is unique from other leadership development
programs in that there is a “Continuing
Education”component. The leadership
learning does not end with the weekend; participants
return to their communities and meet for 8
sessions over the 6 months following the weekend
in facilitated community talking circles. The
facilitators are women that we have trained
from the communities and in 2008, three of
our community circles are being co-facilitated
by an Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal woman.
Economic
Security
- Minerva
Helping Women Work™ Combining Our Strength™
- This
program focuses on assisting women to develop
their skills and assets to foster self-sufficiency
and economic independence.
- Our
research indicates that Aboriginal women often
face significant barriers once they complete
their education and start looking for work. Although
many of these women have the credentials, they
often end up underemployed or unemployed for
various reasons.
- This
program was tailored to assist Aboriginal women
in their search for meaningful and rewarding
work. Professional assistance in a supportive
environment is provided to the program participants
to enable them to formulate a work plan.
Safety
The Minerva Foundation
provides community grants to other non-profit societies
who provide services in the area of Safety for women. The Combining Our Strength™ initiative
just recently awarded a grant to the Downtown Eastside Women’s
Centre for a project that will provide crisis counseling and emotional
support to women around multiple issues that impact on women’s
safety and vulnerabilities to victimization, particularly
Aboriginal and First Nations women.
The Minerva
Foundation for BC Women thanks our strategic
partners for
generously supporting this program:
Click here for
a News Release from Bell Canada and the Minerva Foundation.
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