Useful Tools and Techniques: Building On a Strong Community
"We have incredible resources right here in the community and, as a community, we can use them to help our children," says Penny Spence of the Brokenhead Aboriginal Head Start Program on the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation in Manitoba.
Members of a community are often not in a position to make the best use of resources when they work alone, she explains. They may not know the resources exist; they may not be able to afford to go certain places; they may be afraid to contact the people involved.
"The Head Start program has given us a tremendous tool," says Spence. "We go on an outing, we have a bus, and the whole family can go. Many parents can now take their kids to places they could not have otherwise gone to."
This is an example of social support, a key part of the Head Start program. And the lesson is not in one person telling others how to do something but in a group of people doing it together, supporting one another together.
"We have a rule that everyone brings a bag lunch on outings: no money," says Spence. "That way there is no inequality. Someone else may be richer than me, but I don't have to feel that because I have the same kind of lunch they do."
Spence has found a clear professional role she can play supporting the needs of parents to make use of resources. She is a source person, the person who can find out where the resources are and who parents have to talk to to use them and make things happen. "We have a bison ranch here in the community. That is a good thing; it puts the kids in touch with their history. And I can call up and ask whether we can bring the children down - we meaning all of the parents. But I call from the centre and that is different from each parent having to call all by themselves."
The Brokenhead Ojibway Nation now has a weekly resource meeting. "I can go to that meeting on behalf of my parents. I don't have to play a political role because I'm supporting others."