2008-2009 Annual Report - Alberta Council of Women's Shelters

Shelter Systems Information
Committee Report
The 2008-2009 year has been one of
significant change and evolution for the
Shelter Systems Information Committee
(SIC). We said goodbye to one of the
founding members of the SIC, Penny
Giacommoni. Penny was instrumental
in the creation of the SIC and
standardizing training on the HOMES
database. Penny’s hard work toward the
creation of a user-friendly, customized
HOMES site for Alberta Shelter use has
resulted in excellent data collection
provincially and contributed to the
advocacy work ACWS engages in. We
also said farewell to Sharon Gamblin,
former Executive Director of Columbus
House of Hope, who served as the
board designate on the committee. We
will miss her dedication to the work
of the SIC and the clarity of thought
she brought to the group. We also
said goodbye to Dr. Kate Woodman
from ACWS who coordinated the SIC.
Kate’s hard work and dedication to the
work of this committee will be greatly
missed. Kate’s vision of shelters’
capacity to represent themselves as
centres of excellence in service delivery
and accountability was an inspiration
to everyone who worked with her. We
wish her the best of luck in her journey
ahead. Despite the sadness of so many
SIC members’ resignations, we are
happy to announce that Patti Smeenk,
Coordinator of Residential Services
with the Peace River Regional Women’s
Shelter, has joined the SIC. Patti has
been with PRRWS for five years and
brings a rural perspective to our group,
and is eager to bring her experiences to
SIC.
14 ACWS 2008-2009 Annual Report
Significant time and effort was
spent this year by SIC in supporting
completion of the ACWS Danger
Assessment project with Dr.
Jacquelyn Campbell. In March
2009, representatives from the nine
participating shelters met in Edmonton
to explore the findings from the
research. It proved to be an interesting
and inspiring meeting for all involved.
ACWS has been invited to present at
the first Annual Canadian Conference on
the Prevention of Domestic Homicides
in London, Ontario from June 14 to
16. ACWS is a proud supporter of this
conference that will bring together
experts in the field of domestic violence
including Dr, Peter Jaffe, Dr. Jeffrey
Edleson, and, of course, Dr. Jacquelyn
Campbell.
Level 1 HOMES training was offered in
Calgary in November 2008, with strong
attendance and positive feedback.
However, due to scheduling issues
with the World Conference of Women’s
Shelters, the annual Fall HOMES
training typically held in Edmonton
was rescheduled for April 25 and 26th.
The format was slightly revised from
previous years, with levels 2 and 3
being condensed into a single session,
focusing on program logic models and
reporting, and level 1 still offering
training on basic data entry. The SIC is
also scheduled to present a condensed
one-day training in April 2009 for
shelter executive directors to introduce
them to HOMES and its many features.
Lissa Samantaraya-Shivji,
Committee Chair