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Setting the Stage to reduce violence against women in Prince Albert

Mar 23, 2012 | 11:59 AM

The Government of Canada has announced that they will provide funding for a community based project to help address the issue of violence against women in Prince Albert.

Prince Albert’s Catholic Family Services will be receiving $298,368 from the Government to help with a project called Setting the Stage which will help meet the specific challenges faced by women in the community.

Setting the Stage will be a three year multi-phase community project designed to reach out to women and girls affected by violence by providing them with the various services they need.

Setting the Stage will help build effective working partnerships between community agencies and the women and girls who need them to help reduce violence against women and girls in Prince Albert and area.

“This project will make a significant difference in our area. When we see our women come in and their experiencing violence, one of the biggest challenges we have is coordinating services for them. A project like this bringing the services to the forefront and bringing agencies together will defiantly make a huge improvement in the services we provide to the women and girls,” said Donna Brooks, executive director for Prince Albert’s YWCA.

“If you look at an organization like Prince Albert Catholic Family Services and the services they provided in the community and other areas, they have an excellent track record of helping people in need. And this is identifying a group of people that need help and assistance that we can provide funding too and they can provide the service. It’s a win-win situation for the organization and the organizations that will work with Catholic Family Services,” said Prince Albert’s MP Randy Hoback.
Hoback said the investment will do two things.

One is that it gets funding to the people who can provide the proper services and two it helps bring awareness to the issue and lets people know they have the support they need to get out of a situation of violence.

Executive director for Prince Albert’s Catholic Family Services, Louise Zurowski said they still have a lot of research to do in order to be able to fully help women and girls in violent situations.

“This funding is huge for our organization. We are a non-profit corporation and we do not have funding readily available to do these kinds of programs. So when we apply for funding for these programs it permits us to do them right, to set them up properly, to do the curriculum development and then to actually carry out the program. So it’s huge for us, a major program,” said Zurowski.

swallace@rawlco.com