199 search results for
Accessible services and technology
Recommendation 3:
The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction must make immediate changes to BC’s Income Assistance and Disability Assistance programs including:
- increasing income assistance rates to the Market Basket Measure and indexing them to inflation;
- reviewing the processes that are currently in place for reporting “welfare fraud” to provide greater accountability and ensure that people receiving income assistance are not denied survival income without due process;
- increasing access to in-person services for income assistance and disability applicants; and d. ensuring that people living with disabilities can access disability support by:
- simplifying the application process to reduce wait times and lessen reliance on advocates;
- providing provincial guidelines for doctors/service providers on how and when to fill out disability forms; and
- ensuring that hospital social workers are resourced and directed to work with patients in need to apply for disability benefits.
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Recommendation 94:
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs in collaboration with the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Division at the Ministry of Attorney General should support and fund translations of the BC Newcomer’s Guide into the most predominantly spoken languages amongst People of African Descent – Swahili, Amharic, Somali, Igbo, Twi, Zulu, Arabic, and Spanish. This will deepen the needed sense of connection and community for a broad segment of newcomers of African descent and constitute an effective model to expedite their integration into the mainstream. and easing transfer for beneficial information to those experiencing language barriers. It is further recommended that this work be delegated to People of African Descent community organizations to ensure adequate volumes of production and broader reach for each sub-group.
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Recommendation 95:
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs in collaboration with the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Division at the Ministry of Attorney General should fund advisory services to help grow the capacity of People of African Descent-serving settlement services organizations, so that they can effectively deliver on services including, but not restricted to, employment transition support, language training, mental health services, financial literacy, and youth mentoring programs etc.
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Recommendation 5:
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing should develop a neutral, easy-to-use process for tenants to identify and voice their tenancy and assistance needs, with a focus on clients that might experience disability-related barriers doing so on their own (for example, clients in supportive housing arrangements). The service should be contracted out to be delivered by a low-barrier community-based organization where people with disabilities already access services
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Recommendation 38:
The Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation should invest in advisory, consulting, and mentoring services for People of African Descent businesses accessing loan programs. This should come through both a centralized funding stream through People of African Descent business organizations and a separate stream directly accessible by People of African Descent business owners.
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Recommendation 37:
The Ministry of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation must commit to creating dedicated and adequate funding pathways, including grants and concessionary loans for business owners of African descent, that are less complex to access and have clearer criteria than the federal-level Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund under the Black Entrepreneurship Program. Considering historical and structural risks and biases People of African Descent businesses have to contend with, It is also critical for these programs to reduce or attenuate emphasis on collaterals by Banks.
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Recommendation 30:
The Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs must immediately improve the number and accessibility of shelter options to ensure that everyone in BC always has access to a physical location where they can sleep, store belongings, and attend to personal care and hygiene in safety and without threat of displacement or sanctions. To do so they must:
- work in partnership with BC Housing to reinstate nightly turn-away counts at shelters and use data to ensure that there are adequate shelter beds to address the level of need in each municipality;
- with the exception of temporary Extreme Weather Response shelters, recognize that overnight-only shelters are untenable for residents and provide funding to expand shelter hours; and
- provide shelter residents an accessible and independent complaint process.
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Recommendation 25:
The Ministry of Health should fund and promote the creation of mental health hubs and free People of African Descent-led counseling and clinical mental health sessions that are easily accessible for Peoples of African descent across the Province.
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Recommendation 11:
The Ministry of Health in partnership with health authorities and the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction should integrate the modified CE program within primary care networks and specialist mental health teams to ensure clients receive wrap-around supports that meet their needs.
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Recommendation 4:
The Legal Services Society of BC must provide legal support for appeals where a person has been denied income assistance or disability assistance.
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