Calgary needs coordinated programs for family and sexual violence.

CALGARY -- Calgary's family and sexual violence shelters and programs need to work together to address social service downloading and to make governments aware of the adverse effects of such policies on the services offered by the family and sexual violence sector says a recent report on the sector and its programs, released by a group of funding agencies.

In particular, authors of the report, Calgary Family and Sexual Violence Sector Review: Building A New Vision, say the funders should also encourage "governments to consider solutions that go to the source of the problems, such as social assistance and minimum wage rates," even though these are longer term solutions.

The wide ranging report, which was produced by D. Gaye Warthe, Irene Hoffart and Merrill Cooper, was contracted by the City of Calgary Strategies, the united Way of Calgary and Area and the Calgary and Area Child and Family Services Authority to assess the overall capacity of the sector to prevent, reduce and ameliorate the effects of family and sexual violence. The authors were charged with developing recommendations to improve the overall response of the sector to violence through improved service delivery, increased service co-ordination and enhanced co-ordination of funding and investment strategies.

In their review the authors identified and examined 77 programs that are delivered by 23 agencies, including shelters, treatment, counselling and peer support programs as well as programs for Aboriginal people, for immigrants and services for service providers.

Some of their multi tiered recommendations are:

* a co-ordinated 24-hour crisis line to replace the existing multiple lines along with staff dedicated to the crisis line;

* that Aboriginal organizations develop and share their own programs rather than "trying to apply 'mainstream' models within their programs";

* the creation of a new co-ordinating body to "enhance co-ordination within the sector" along with providing a "common voice when advocating for the overall sector"; and greater, long term investment in a number of areas, including more second-stage beds for women leaving emergency shelters.