Educational Program Innovations Charity

On November 5th in Toronto, Ontario–at the provincial Lieutenant Governor’s residence–EPIC took home the $20,000 William H. Donner Award for Excellence in the Delivery of Social Services, the overall award for the highest-performing agency. The organization also won the award for excellence in the delivery of services for children along with a $5,000 prize.

The Donner Canadian Foundation Awards are held each year. This year, EPIC was the best managed agency out of over 500 applicants from all over Canada.

Thank you to the volunteers, staff and management team of the Youth Peer Program, the staff and volunteers of Parents PEACE and Give Right Back and the EPIC volunteer Board of Directors for making this little agency the best in Canada!

EPIC has been named WINNER of the 2009 Donner Foundation Award for Excellence in Delivery of Social Services, Services for Children.

Founder, Barry N. Waldman will receive the award Friday, October 16, 2009 in Toronto. This national recognition carries with it a $5,000 cash prize. EPIC has been a finalist in its category for the last three years and won in 2007.

From the Donner Foundation Press Release announcing the finalists:

The Donner Awards are Canada’s largest recognition program for non-profit social service agencies, established in 1998 to recognize and encourage best practices in non-profit management and to increase public confidence and support for Canada’s non-profit sector. The awards, administered by the Fraser Institute on behalf of the Donner Canadian Foundation, will be presented October 16th at a celebration in Toronto. Additional information is available at www.donnerawards.org.

This year, 582 non-profit social service agencies from across Canada applied for the awards. Participating
organizations are ranked on their performance in 10 key areas, including management and governance, the use of staff and volunteers, innovation, program costs, and outcome monitoring.

The top organization in each of seven categories of social service delivery will be awarded $5,000 while the $20,000 William H. Donner Award for Excellence will be presented to the highest performer overall.

This award was presented to EPIC for the excellence of the Youth Peer Program and its adjunct projects: Parents PEACE and Give Right Back. Thanks to our outstanding staff who make it all happen: Barb Donovan, Elizabeth Broderick, Brian Dwyer, Noella Fitzgerald, Susanne Donovan, Emile Conn, Kayla Wood, Catherine Ross, and (last year) Jen MacNeill. We love our staff!

We never forget that the staff is there to support and facilitate the volunteers in their selfless service to the kids. The relationship between the high school and university youth and their younger peers is where the magic happens. Recognition also needs to extend to Barry Waldman who volunteers his time to make all of this happen. Thank you volunteers for the hours and hours of dedicated work.

Thank you, too, to The Law Foundation of Nova Scotia for its continued and vital financial support.

EPIC is happy to announce that Barry Waldman is the recipient of the third annual Harvey Webber Memorial Award.

The award was presented at the United Way of Cape Breton Annual General Meeting, held at Membertou on April 15, 2008.


The honour is awarded to individuals who 1) have a history of community volunteer experience in Cape Breton, 2) have devoted considerable time and effort in a volunteer capacity in the non-profit, non-governmental field, 3) have made an exemplary contribution as a community leader, and 4) epitomize the true volunteer spirit by choosing to give his/her time freely for no personal gain.

Barry, the creator of EPIC, serves as Supervisor of Programs and on the Board as Director of Finance, both volunteer positions. EPIC has managed over a dozen programs and projects since its inception, all focused on marginalized learners. During that time, over 98.7% of funding has gone directly to programs and initiatives, due mainly to Barry’s habit of donating time in all administrative capacities. It is conservatively estimated that the lives of over 1500 youth and young adults in Cape Breton have been favourably impacted by the programs fostered by Barry.

In accepting the Harvey Webber Memorial Award, Barry graciously drew attention to those who nominated him as well as the hundreds of other volunteers in Cape Breton who deserve this kind of recognition.

We who work with Barry are thrilled at his receiving this well-deserved honour and hope there are many more to come!

Dan Christmas, Chairman and Director of Planning for the EPIC Board of Directors and Senior Adviser to the Chief and Council of Membertou First Nations, is the winner of the National Excellence in Aboriginal Leadership Award for contributions at a regional level. This is one of two awards given by the National Aboriginal Financial Officers Association each year.

The award was presented to Dan in Montreal on February 14, 2008.

Dan was nominated by the Unama’ki Economic Benefits Office in Membertou. Criteria for the award include demonstrating leadership that motivates and inspires as well as raises the standards of aboriginal finance and management. The association is recognizing Dan’s vision for excellence and the highest standards of contribution to an effective, well-managed and governed community.

The EPIC Board and staff, who have known and worked with Dan for many years and who are always appreciative of his wisdom, intelligence, hard work and kind nature, are pleased to see others singling him out for this well-deserved recognition.

Congratulations, Dan!

In the fall of 2007, EPIC began a partnership with the Eskasoni First Nations School District to bring Youth Peer-style math tutoring to the students of Eskasoni.

With funding from the Eskasoni School Board, teacher and former Vice-Principal of Eskasoni High School, Newell Johnson—who has been tutoring students after school on a volunteer basis for several years—will oversee Eskasoni student volunteers as they tutor junior high and high school students in math.

In November, Newell brought 15 of her volunteer tutors to Sydney to attend a Tutor Training session provided by the staff of the Youth Peer Program.

Tutoring sessions will be held in the Eskasoni High School on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:30. There is limited availability for these tutoring slots and therefore students are selected by school referral.

EPIC provides financial management of this project as well as tutor education and on-going support and supervision.

On November 6, Blair Hill, Facilitator for EPIC’s Parents PEACE Program, brought together women—mainly mothers and their teenage daughters—to participate a workshop on Teen Sexuality.

Cathy Penney from the Cape Breton Centre for Sexual Health was the evening’s presenter.

Twelve adults and fifteen teens attended the candid talk and lively discussion that followed.

A similar evening was presented last spring to rave reviews and Blair believes there is continued demand for this kind of interactive and targeted information session especially as it occurs in a forum that encourages good communication between teenage girls and their closest female adult relatives or friends.

Another Mother/Daughter evening is planned for April 2008.

The news is just in—

EPIC has won the Donner Foundation Award for Excellence in Delivery of Social Services in the Child Care Category division.

Barry Waldman was in Toronto today to receive this recognition for EPIC’s Youth Peer and Parents PEACE Programs. The award comes with a $5,000 cash prize.

More soon on this national award and Barry’s trip to Toronto.

On August 13, 2007, The Cape Breton Post published an article about EPIC, Barry and the Donner Foundation award nomination.
Below is the photo and text of the article by Chris Shannon, CB Post reporter:
Society founded by North Sydney man is a finalist for a national award

North Sydney — A non-profit society that assists young, motivated learners by providing the resources and support system they need to enhance their education is getting national recognition.

Educational Program Innovations Charity (EPIC) Society, based at the Southside Learning Centre* in Sydney, is a finalist in the child care services category for the Donner Foundation Awards for Excellence in the delivery of social services. The awards will be presented in Toronto on Oct. 19.

North Sydney resident, Barry Waldman is the founder and supervisor of the society.

After wading through the award application process, he was pleased to hear the society had made it on to the short list when it was officially released Aug. 2.

“We’ve felt all along that there have been substantial results for the program,” Waldman said from his home, Tuesday.

“There are lots of tutoring programs out there and there are lots of mentoring programs, but most of the ones that we’re familiar with that try to combine both fall on the wayside. They just have a difficult time sustaining funding over a long period of time.”

EPIC, which used to be known as the Youth Peers Program**, at one time depended on federal government funding to provide its services to youth, but it now receives annual grants from the Law Foundation of Nova Scotia.

Waldman said the foundation has been a constant champion of helping youth through difficult times in their lives, whether its due to social or academic reasons.

“That’s our bread and butter support. It seems to be a pretty stable source (of funding) and they are very pleased with what we do so that looks like it’s going to be ongoing,” he said.

Young people between the ages of eight and 18 have to be referred to the society through 20 different agencies from Island Community Justice, the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board, the Children’s Aid Society of Cape Breton-Victoria, and Addiction Services among others.

During the school year, they attend an after school program one day a week at the Southside Learning Centre* where they are paired up with a slightly older person who acts as their mentor/tutor. The volunteers are high school and university students who the young person can look up to for guidance.

The 2.5 hour session begins with an hour of school work followed by an hour of socializing through educational games, art or music. A half-hour snack break is sandwiched between the two activities.

“We find there is an unusual level of receptiveness that develops in the kids because they are being helped by a cool kid, by someone else they look up to and that’s similar to them and talks something like they do,” Waldman said. “In the very least case it’s a positive experience for the kids. And for the most substantial case it seems to be life-changing.”

There are 28 non-profit groups nominated in nine categories for the Donner Awards, of which more that 600 groups applied.

The winner in each category receives $5,000 and the top prize given out is the William H. Donner Award for Excellence worth $20,000, which is presented to the highest performer overall.

EPIC is one of only two non-profits from Atlantic Canada nominated. The other is Alice Housing of Dartmouth, nominated in the provision of basic necessities category.

cshannon@cbpost.com

Thank you, Chris for an excellent article.

Corrections:
* EPIC is not based at the Southside Learning Centre. EPIC’s Youth Peer and Parents PEACE Programs are located in the Ashby Complex along with the Southside Learning Centre (run by the School District) and several other community agencies. This space is donated to EPIC as an in-kind contribution from the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board. Other than the location, there is no association between the Southside Learning Centre and EPIC or its programs.

** EPIC was never known as Youth Peers Program. EPIC is the umbrella organization that administers and supervises the Youth Peer Program (at one time called Youth Peers).

We are very proud to announce that EPIC has been recognized as a finalist for the 10th annual Donner Canadian Foundation Awards for Excellence in the Delivery of Social Services!

Youth Peer and the Parents PEACE programs are short-listed along with two other programs for a $5,000 Donner Canadian Foundation Award for Excellence in the Delivery of Child Care Services.

Barry is already busy compiling documents in order to complete the second stage of the award evaluation process.

If EPIC is chosen as winner of its category, it will be among eight other category award recipients to be considered for the overall William H. Donner Award for Excellence in the Delivery of Social Services. This winner is awarded an additional $20,000.

Applying for this award has been a strenuous but valuable process for this organization. We are very excited that EPIC has been selected as a finalist and look forward to hearing the results announced at a special 10th anniversary Donner Awards celebration in Toronto on October 19th, 2007.

More information on: The Donner Foundation