Partner Agencies
We fund and work closely with local innovative, knowledgeable and reputable agencies who
provide 45 necessary community programs and services. Together we are working towards creating a better tomorrow for everyone.
Our 2010 Partner Agencies and their funded programs are:
| Fiddlesticks Community Centre | ||
If you would like to learn more about any partner agency, just click on their name below to go to their website.
Argus Residence for Young People
519-650-0452 / 519-623-7991
Mobilizing Homeless Youth Toward Community Integration
This program amalgamates the essential services of food, shelter and 24 hour staff support with an asset-based, volunteer life-skill acquisition program which works to mobilize youth experiencing homelessness toward healthy and viable community integration.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cambridge
519-624-7655
Big Bunch Recreation and Activity Program
Group activities organized by adult volunteers give Littles the opportunity to meet other children in the same position as themselves, and still receive the benefit of interaction with positive role models.
One-to-One, Couple, and Family Match Program
Match programs provide children and youth with mentors outside their family circle who will assist them in reaching their highest physical, emotional and moral/spiritual development.
In-School Mentoring Program
The program contributes to the healthy development of children by providing quality mentoring relationships in a positive, encouraging environment within the child’s school setting. Mentees work on developing self-esteem, social skills, using appropriate behaviours all while sharing time with a mentor & friend.
Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank
519-622-6550
Emergency Food Assistance Program
Assist speople with low income who do not have the resources available to meet their basic needs for food security. The program also provides food to local agencies to help support their programs.
Co-op Program
Assists low income residents who do not have the resources available to meet their basic needs for food security and to become self-reliant through training and support services. Through co-op membership individuals and families can supplement their grocery needs while contributing monthly work hours that build transferable social and employment skills.
Mentor Training Program
Mentors gain insight into personal skills, job readiness and leadership capacities and learn appropriate ways to interact with peers and co-workers.
Cambridge Shelter Corporation
519-624-9305
Family Support Program for Refugees
The program provides services specific to the unique needs of refugee families staying in our three emergency family shelter units to help integrate them into our community and help them move forward in their new country. These services include programming that provides life skills training as it relates to our Canadian culture, support groups for families fleeing violence and persecution, and connecting children with appropriate mentors and supports to facilitate
Welcome Aboard Drop-in Centre Program
A drop-in centre that is open every day to serve individuals and families who find themselves homeless, and those living in poverty in our community. It offers many supports and groups to help people move forward and address the issues in their lives.
Canadian Mental Health Association
519-740-7782
Distress Centre of Waterloo Region Program
The central access point for support and crisis services for individuals and families living in Waterloo Region operating 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The services offered through the Distress Centre are confidential and anonymous providing support to all members of the community through the five lines: The Distress Line, Youth Line, Crisis Line, EARS (Male Victims of Sexual Abuse), and Community Links.
Canadian Red Cross Society
519-621-1840
Disaster Management
Provides emergency assistance to victims of natural or man-made disasters for up to 72 hours after the incidient. The service also teaches people to prepare themselves and their community for any large scale disasters.
Child Witness Centre of Waterloo Region
519-744-0904
Child Witness Program
For children who have been victims or witnesses of crimes, it helps children navigate the legal system in which they are required to participate while not subjecting them to further emotional trauma. This includes educating children on the courtroom and the role of a witness, helping them cope with fears and apprehension, helping parents to support their child, and accompanying children to meetings with the Crown Attorney and into the courtroom.
Family Counselling Centre of Cambridge and North Dumfries
519-621-5090
Community Support Services of Ayr and North Dumfries
Offers residents of Ayr and North Dumfries a seamless linkage to services such as counselling, Outreach Services, employment counselling, and police services. The services provided decrease the sense of isolation that community members in rural settings can often experience.
Personal Counselling
The goal of counselling services at a neighbourhood level is to strengthen individuals and families while reducing barriers to access the service. Providing decentralized counselling services reduces critical barriers for individuals and families by providing child care and counselling at no fee to the participant, eliminating potential transportation barriers, and providing a safe and non-threatening environment. Service users will be more resilient and supported in their neighbourhood.
Healthy Choices (Positive Steps to Dealing with Anger)
A prevention program aimed at addressing the issues underlying domestic violence. Designed for males 16 and older, the group provides emotion coaching, healthy coping strategies and empathy skills to individuals who express negative emotions (e.g., disappointment, frustration, anger, etc.) in destructive ways, or are at risk of engaging in abusive behaviours.
Individual, Couples, and Family Counselling Program
Serves clients seeking counselling for a variety of different reasons, all of which can be caused by several different factors, often in combination: sexual abuse, domestic violence, family violence (including F&CS involvement), clinical depression, and financial crisis. We believe that individuals able to feel a positive sense of mental, emotional and spiritual well being are capable to co-creating strong, caring families and by extension communities.
Greenway Chaplin Community Centre
519-623-4220
Personal Counselling Program
The goal of counselling services at a neighbourhood level is to strengthen individuals and families while reducing barriers to access the service. Providing decentralized counselling services reduces critical barriers for individuals and families by providing child care and counselling at no fee to the participant, eliminating potential transportation barriers, and providing a safe and non-threatening environment. Service users will be more resilient and supported in their neighbourhood.
Building Community Capacity
Building community capacity is the program Greenway Chaplin Community Centre (GCCC) uses to work with the neighbourhood residents through specific initiatives to identify needs/goals of individuals and the greater community. The program seeks to increase the ability and capacity of the neighbourhood residents by providing support and guidance where needed.
John Howard Society / Cambridge Career Connections
519-622-0815
Anti-Bullying
Prevention Workshops offer young people factual information and practical approaches when faced with difficult situations. Although a number of topics are available, the primary focus of this service is the Bullying Prevention Initiative that provides a multi-session, comprehensive anti-bullying strategy for schools and students. During the summer months, we provide puppet shows (Puppet Power) addressing bullying, theft and other social issues to children attending community based summer programming. These two services provide intervention at an early stage, when it can be most effective. The program reflects the essence of the John Howard Society mandate, which is to reduce crime through social and educational programs.
COPES
The COPES Programme (Communicating Our Perspectives and Emotions Successfully) is a psycho-educational help group, 8 - 10 weeks in duration, for grade 9 and 10 youth who are struggling socially in school. School personnel refer youth who typically present as socially marginalized and often with anger, depression or anxiety issues. Youth generate a list of topics of relevance to them and the COPES facilitator ensures sufficient meaningful resource material for the group to engage in directed discussions. With the participation of a resident school staff person (often a Child & Youth Worker), the youth learn new skills and become supports to each other.
Aftercare
The programme provides support counselling to people who have been incarcerated and require assistance to reintegrate successfully into the community. Part of that reintegration is both meeting their basic needs (e.g., housing, employment, food, clothing, etc.) and addressing the issues that lead them to struggle to maintain those basic needs in positive ways. Staff aid people by challenging problematic thinking patterns and in accessing the services and resources that they require to lower their risk of future offences.”Staff also provide discharge planning services to prisoners who intend to return to Waterloo Region upon their release. This is done in collaboration with social work departments in prisons throughout the province. Through correspondence and telephone contacts prisoners are assisted in setting up a practical plan for reintegration into the community so that their basic needs are met. After release our agency continues to provide counselling and support for these clients throughout their reintegration process. Housing is one of the most critical needs for these clients and thus we offer Aftercare services in parallel with our Housing programme.
Kids Can Play Association of Cambridge
519-651-2847
Kids Can Play
Kids Can Play of Cambridge is a community based volunteer organization. We help families with children living at or below the poverty line to participate in sports, music, and art. Through one program we provide financial support to enable children age 0 -16 to participate in activities which their families otherwise could not afford. We will pay all or part of the enrollment fee for lesson based cultural activities. Funding amounts are determined based upon the number of family members and monthly income. The parents choose the activity and monies are sent directly to the provider. We support the child in one activity every 6 months and offer a maximum of $500 per activity.
Kinbridge Community Association
519-624-3855 / 519-621-2930
After-School Adventures
The After-School Adventures Program is for grades SK-7 where participants have the opportunity to engage in homework, physical activities and variety of other activities, and enjoy preparing nutritious snacks five days a week in a fun, supervised environment. Participants engage in homework with homework assistance, participate in a variety of structured, teambuilding type physical activities, crafts, cooperative games, and scheduled special guests. The program aims to assist families in improving their well being and school success.
Community Development Program
Community Development at Kinbridge Community Association can informally be defined as a process that is used to work with neighbourhood residents, organizations and stake holders (through specific initiatives) to identify their needs/goals, identify their strengths, and identify actions to achieve their goals. For this project we are concentrating on 1) grass roots community development through the centre’s attempts to bring neighbourhood residents and stakeholders together and to seek to be responsive to priorities identified by volunteers and residents, 2) organizational development through the administration and development of community centre projects, programs and services, based upon need; and 3) collaboration and partnerships with other organizations through the centre’s attempts to work with other neighbourhood centres on projects of common need and interest, and through cooperative work with service providers in bringing services to the neighbourhood.
Volunteer Program
The Volunteer Management Program strives to reinvigorate and sustain community development and capacity building activity with our neighbourhood through volunteer leadership maintenance and development. The program focus effectively manages and supports our volunteers from recruitment through placement, evaluation and recognition. This Volunteer Management program links with the centre’s other programs and services to promote the neighbourhood opportunities for networking and leadership development which in turn builds towards our long-term outcome.
Personal Counselling
The goal of counselling services at a neighbourhood level is to strengthen individuals and families while reducing barriers to access the service. Providing decentralized counselling services reduces critical barriers for individuals and families by providing child care and counselling at no fee to the participant, eliminating potential transportation barriers, and providing a safe and non-threatening environment. Service users will be more resilient and supported in their neighbourhood.
Labour Program of Waterloo Region
519-744-8363
Labour Program
As well as assisting with the United Way campaign (during the Fall), the staff of this program deliver the Union Counselling Program. It trains union members about community resources and social issues so they can link union members and their families in need with the available social services, many of which are funded by United Way.
Langs
519-653-1470
Youth and Teen Centre Program
The focus of this program area is engaging youth aged 5-18 years in a continuum of recreation, social and educational programs and services. This diversity of program and service opportunities address a broad range of health determinants that positively impact the overall health of children and youth.
Seventh Inning Alternative Education Program
Seventh Inning is a community based alternative life skills, counselling and education program that serves 8-10 high risk youth in grades 7 and 8 who have serious mental health/developmental and educational challenges. The program is sponsored by and operates out of the Langs Farm Village Association Youth and Teen Centre. This program operates in partnership with the Waterloo Region District School Board. The school board provides a teacher and Langs Farm provides the child and youth workers and the program space. The objectives for this program are: to have young people become successful in school and work by increasing their resiliency; to assist young people to cope in their family setting by developing appropriate life skills and their understanding of how to access community supports; and to facilitate students’ re-entry back into the regular school system.
Lutherwood
519-623-9380
School-Based Counselling Program
The School Based Counselling program provides therapeutic counselling for children, youth and families and operates in eight locations: five public high schools (Galt Collegiate, Southwood, Glenview Park, Preston High and Jacob Hespeler); two Argus residences (young men and also young women); and also at Manchester Elementary School. Referrals are by teachers, guidance counsellors, vice-principals, police, public health nurses and self-referral.
Counselling Support for Resilient Families
The program provides therapeutic counselling to individuals, couples and families in Cambridge and North Dumfries in order to support clients to resolve issues and overcome challenges. Counselling is client-centered and strength-based, beginning with an open and positive relationship between therapist and client and striving to support the client’s self-efficacy (confidence that he or she can master the situation).
Ontario March of Dimes
519-579-5530
Assistive Devices Program
The March of Dimes Assistive Devices Program assists adults with physical disabilities who are in financial need to purchase needed assistive devices that will increase mobility and functional independence. Staff help consumers obtain prescriptions and link them to services.
Preston Heights Community Group
510-650-2971
Community Development Program
The program fosters a shared responsibility for a collective well-being of participants and encourages links within and between residents, neighbourhood centre and community services. The program is a collection of opportunities, activities and supports which are defined by the voices currently being heard and flexible when new input is offered. Community Development coordinates the program activities, leadership development, and partnership opportunities for the neighourhood participants.
Volunteer Management Program
The Volunteer Management Program strives to reinvigorate and sustain community development and capacity building activity with our neighbourhood through volunteer leadership maintenance and development. The program focus effectively manages and supports our volunteers from recruitment through placement and evaluation. This Volunteer Management program links with the centre’s other programs and services to promote the neighbourhood opportunities for networking and leadership development which in turn builds towards our long-term outcome.
Self Help Alliance
519-623-6024
Self Help Cambridge Recovery Centre
The Cambridge Recovery Centre provides opportunities for individuals experiencing a mental health/addiction issue to participate in peer education, training activities and groups aimed at enhancing and expanding individual recovery, pre- employment and personal development skills in the areas of: leadership, advocacy, and the development of an individual recovery plan. This level of individual support has a direct impact on the support available to families with complex needs. In the context of a changing community, this will also include recognition of the need and desire to respond effectively with multicultural populations generally.
Social Planning Council of Cambridge & North Dumfries
519-623-1713
Information Cambridge & North Dumfries
Information Cambridge and North Dumfries (Info CND) is an information and referral (I & R) program for human service (health, social, recreation, arts, culture, environment) organizations (mostly non profit or government). The program provides free and confidential information and referral to individuals, agencies and businesses regarding social services, recreation, government, housing, child care and other related community services. This program is operated by the use of telephone information lines, an online searchable database and also via in-person contact with visitors to Information CND.
Poverty Awareness and Action
The Poverty Awareness and Action program consists of three key areas of activities: research and awareness creation, community engagement, and community mobilization and action. The Social Planning Council (SPC) conducts research and produces an annual Community Trends Report Package which is broadly distributed to community agencies and stakeholders. The SPC also produces community and demographic profile reports with GIS mapping, research project reports, special issue papers and newsletters which highlight the issues related to poverty reduction. In addition, the SPC facilitates community symposiums, forums, meetings and workshops as well as taking a leadership role in facilitating planning and working groups and committees that have a direct impact on increasing awareness of poverty and taking action to decrease it. Finally, the SPC assists groups to create action plans and policy recommendations which address poverty and its root causes by recognizing that collective and collaborative efforts and many different factors and strategies play a role in poverty reduction.
St. John Ambulance
519-740-8895
Medical First Responder
The Medical First Responder program provides volunteer first aid services at public and private events upon request. This typically is two certified medical first responders, with first aid vehicle, and first aid supplies (oxygen and defibrillator as well). Our volunteers are also on standby in the event of an emergency or disaster to provide assistance to our own and other communities.
The Literacy Group of Waterloo Region
519-621-7993
Adult Literacy Training
We provide basic skills upgrading to adults 18+ who are not registered in credit programs. They must be fairly fluent in English. Skills upgrading is provided in reading, writing, math and computer technology. Developing essential skills needed to get/keep a job, upgrade training & education or increase self-management/independence is a key part of the adults’ learning path. Our one to one tutoring is provided by trained volunteer adult literacy tutors who are supported by a Program Coordinator. Small group training is provided by volunteers and staff members. Our tutoring services are free. All learners are assessed and a customized learning path is developed based on the goals they need to attain. We have 3 goal paths - employment, further training & education and independence.
Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region (Haven House)
519-653-8966
Residential Program
Residential Program includes 24/7 crisis line support, emergency shelter, and Child/Youth program. Women call the crisis line for a variety of reasons: to seek support, ask questions or to inquire as how to seek shelter. Safety planning is key to each crisis call, women are provided with support, options, resources and referrals. Each situation is assessed to determine how best to assist and/or facilitate admission to the shelter.
YMCA of Cambridge
519-621-3250
Drop-In Recreation Program (Z Beside the Y)
The Drop-In Recreation Program helps youth 12-17 years to stay in school, keep away from drugs and strive for success. The free programs are offered during after school hours and Friday evenings. Youth Workers engage youth in planning, carrying out and evaluating their activities. The Youth Centre provides a place to belong, a chance to grow as individuals and build a healthy lifestyle (body, mind and spirit).
Newcomer Youth Program
The Newcomer Youth Program is designed to facilitate integration into a new system of life. This is done by breaking down cultural barriers, bridging the gap to community resources and supports and building social competencies. Recreational activities, community "outings" and access to community resources create a sense of safety and belonging, reducing stress associated with new surroundings, therefore, bettering the health of participants.
YWCA of Cambridge
519-650-0800
Girls Leadership Program
The Girls Leadership Program (GLP) is comprised of a variety of programs and leadership opportunities for girls 9-18 years that are girl-focused, strength-based and girl-led focused on improving the lives of girls and building capacity for the future. A Girls Council will be developed that will guide the work of the GLP with the support of staff and volunteer mentors. It will be a youth engagement program that will be critical in guiding the development of programs, evaluation and projects for the GLP by identifying current interests.
Roots of Empathy Program
Roots of Empathy (ROE) is an evidence-based classroom program proven to reduce levels of violence and aggression among school children while raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. The mission is to build caring, peaceful and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and youth. The focus of ROE in the long term is to build the capacity of the next generation for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting.
