Revelstoke Women’s Centre, the women’s outreach office run by Community Connections Revelstoke Society (CCRS) locked its doors April 15. Services previously held in the Orton Avenue space are now being offered at the CCRS main office and outreach centre.
There are no current plans to bring the women focused centre back, Barbara McInerney, CCRS’ new interim executive director told Revelstoke Mountaineer. Instead, the centre is now one of various programs across Canada that can’t find financial security post Covid-era relief funding.
“There was no funding pot that we could find at the time to keep the building open,” McInerney said. “We still have our base funding for our counseling for children, youth, adults and seniors. The staff that worked at the Women’s Centre are now working at the main office, people can still access those counselors and family support workers.”
The centre housed counseling resources, legal guidance, childcare supports and more with a focus on being a space for women, provided by women. Losing the building poses new challenges in terms of education and awareness, McInerney said, but stressed there is longer sustainability in place for the key programs provided there.
“Our core team has base funding, that’s the clinical counseling team, the child development team and the family supports,” McInerney said, explaining that Revelstoke’s food bank and community kitchen are working on projects that could see partnerships in Revelstoke and throughout the region help strengthen the program offerings in town. It’s a move needed with Revelstoke’s food bank breaking visitor records and servicing 164 families in one evening.
“We need to get creative in our sustainability. It’s something the team is really dedicated to right now.”
Creativity in sustainability would need to be a high priority if CCRS ever considered bringing the Revelstoke Women’s Centre back in a new brick-and-mortar. Long term plans and funding would need to be mapped out and secured to keep the centre from once again closing its doors, a hurdle other organizations in town are dealing with, McInerney said.
“That’s the hard part, creating that longer term sustainability.”
The loss of the centre space was one of the first challenges McInerney faced right after taking on the role of interim executive director, but it hasn’t hindered her excitement to be working in Revelstoke.
“The staff have been amazingly welcoming, and I’m just really excited to see what ways we can keep providing for Revelstoke,” she said.
McInerney noted that a key focus will be on connecting and strengthening relations with other organizations in town such as the Revelstoke Women’s Shelter Society.
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