COCHRANE— The Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area recently received a $75,000 grant from the Calgary Foundation to expand its outreach support services.
Nola Hume, manager of youth programs with the Boys and Girls Club, said the funding will help the organization provide critical services to the community.
“We are beyond excited for this one. It’s a really big grant that’s going to allow us to do some really great work in the community for the youth,” Hume said. “We are enhancing our support, specifically around LGBTQ2S+ youth in Cochrane and area, as well as addressing youth homelessness.”
Youth experiencing homelessness is a problem in Cochrane, Hume said, but the issue is one that is not always easily visible in the community.
“Teens are couch surfing, or they’re staying at friends, or friends of friends, or someone they know through someone else. So, maybe not necessarily always in the safest spaces,” she said. “They definitely don’t always know for sure that they’ll have a roof over their head that night, or a warm meal or any of the necessities that we all take for granted every day.”
Hume said roughly 80 per cent of the youth that take advantage of the Boys and Girls Club’s drop-in programs identify as LGBTQ2S+.
The increased outreach support will involve working directly with the youth who are struggling with homelessness or LGBTQ2S+ matters on a one-on-one basis, as well as working to provide education to families and the community as a whole on how they can support the youth in their lives who are dealing with these issues.
The reason youth homelessness skews toward the LGBTQ2S+ community often has to do with how families react to their kids coming out. Oftentimes, Hume said, the families are not supportive, or want to be supportive but do not know how.
“In a lot of instances, a young person might come out to their family and their family isn’t accepting to that, and it can cause a volatile situation at home. Of course, kids need to be and want to be where they’re accepted and loved and if they’re not feeling that in the home that grew up in, the chances of them leaving at a younger age, or quickly, just to get away without having a plan is really increased.”
Hume said that the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area will be working to tackle those types of issues by working directly with families, and the grant from the Calgary Foundation will aid them in that mission.
“We can work with the youth and we can work with the parents to support them through this journey that they’re going through with their kids. So, whether that be that their kid has come out to them, or whether it’s a volatile situation at home and they might be asking their kid to leave, or their kid wants to leave, hopefully, we’ll be able to work with that entire family and help them keep their family intact and help parents support their young person. Maybe they just need some new tools to be able to do that,” Hume said.
The Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area has a number of community health programs designed to give the youth in the community the support they need.
To find out more, visit the Boys and Girls Club of Cochrane and Area online at bgccochrane.ca.
