Foundry is where kids and families are forged together, after the heat of life tests their mettle.
British Columbia has 15 Foundry locations already operating. One of the first pilot locations was Prince George. The others in the north are Terrace, newly opened Williams Lake, and Burns Lake just broke ground.
This week, an application was made for Quesnel to be next on the provincial list.
A Foundry is like a headquarters for youth - especially at-risk youth - to get better focus on services like mental health, education, social pressures, family dynamics, and many other tough topics.
An attempt was made by Quesnel in previous application rounds (Foundry is an autonomous organization, operated by a collection of partners, but underwritten by the provincial government) but it was not one of the ones chosen. The YMCA-BC has stepped forward, this time, to be the necessary lead (one of the main rules for application) organization. They were the successful leaders of the Prince George application, and have been spearheading that multi-partner operation in the years since.
The YMCA’s Prince George-based chief health equity officer, Amanda Alexander, and director of community health programs, Melissa Cailleaux, went before Quesnel city council to ask for their support in the application.
“We would bring our lead agency experience in Prince George as a strength to the application,” said Cailleaux. “We really understand the Foundry model, and have relationships in that network. But we want to be clear that Foundry Quesnel would be its own unique site, certainly not a replication or an extension of a Prince George site, or any other site.”
Foundry locations are a benefit to a host city’s local economy is a pair of ways. One is the investment of outside (fundraised and government) dollars to build and operate the facility. Cailleaux and Alexander noted that the current funding opportunity would mean $1.5-million in capital support, $200,000 towards development support, and “as well, it would bring into the community an annual operating budget of between $600,000 to $1-million, and that is scaled by community based on size, based on need, based on the numbers of young people and families being served in the community. This is long-term funding,” said Cailleaux.
The second way a Foundry helps a local economy is by helping local people. Kids who have fallen through the cracks, or are about to, are pulled back by Foundry. Families that are broken or in danger of breaking are mended. It is unique in how it heals people and prevents economic strife by preventing human strife.
“It’s a great idea, I love the idea,” said Quesnel city councillor Martin Runge, but asked if this round of applications was the wisest time to try again. Alexander and Cailleaux replied that the parts of the application that were not fully defined for Quesnel were not the parts that would hold up the acceptance, the process was built to evolve; what was needed now was strong leadership commitment.
Councillor Laurey-Anne Roodenburg remembered the first attempt, and agreed that it had plenty of Quesnel organizations in support, but lacked a beacon-like leader organization. The YMCA’s agreement to step into that role would likely be very helpful.
Councillor Mitch Vik asked about which partners have already been approached. Cailleaux replied that there was an initial large-scale meeting recently held, attended by about 20 Quesnel agencies and organizations, led by the Ministry of Children & Family Development. YMCA was specifically approached by the group, and additional meetings and outreach had happened since then. YMCA officials spent time to ask around about any other in-community agencies that were interested in being the lead on a Quesnel Foundry before going forward when none stepped forth.
Mayor Ron Paull suggested the Cariboo Regional District might also be a helpful voice of support.
Councillor Scott Elliott then formally made the motion for the City of Quesnel to express its backing of the application, saying “this is so needed in our community…thank you so much for everything you are doing.”
The vote passed unanimously. Submissions were due Nov. 7.
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