Family comes first at the CFEC
Centre fills in any ‘gaps’ in support to break down barriers to education
For Harmony and Lorrie Forseth, graduation is a family affair.
Seventeen-year-old Harmony earned her Dogwood certificate from Britannia Secondary in June, the same month her mother Lorrie earned her credentials as an early childhood education assistant from the Canucks Family Education Centre.
“Until now I had a cleaning job, just one day every two weeks, but I keep busy volunteering (at the CFEC),” Lorrie said. “I hope that my ECE is the beginning of a career. I am really excited. I’m just waiting for my licence to come in the mail.”
Daughter Harmony’s experience as a volunteer at the centre has also made an impression.
“I got involved about a year ago when my mom started coming here. On my days off of school, I came down to help out with the younger kids,” she said. “Everything is really energetic and fun. It has made me want to work with kids more.”
She plans to attend college this fall in a liberal arts program.
“Graduation feels weird and exciting at the same time,” she said. “It feels like I started Grade 8 just yesterday and they say it’s going to fly by, but I had no idea how fast it would be. I’m really excited now to see what the world has in store for me.”
Lorrie’s first choice would be to continue to work in a familiar environment.
“I would like to stay with Canucks Family Education Centre and I plan to apply this fall and see what happens,” she said. “I will explore all my avenues, but I know I want to work with children. It’s a lot of fun.”
To help make that dream come true, Lorrie also earned a Red Cross first aid certificate and Food Safe certification.
“I was nervous at first and I wondered if I would pass ECE, but I did,” she said. “They saw my ability. I’m eternally grateful for what they offered me and the opportunity that gave me. They are so caring. They really go out of their way to help.”
But it’s more than that. The CFEC mission is to remove all barriers to success.
The centre is supported by the Vancouver school board, the Canucks for Kids Foundation, The Vancouver Sun’s Raise-a-Reader program and other community donors. The CFEC makes education a family enterprise, with multiple supports for adult learners who want to complete high school, improve their English and gain employment skills.
“The idea was to create an integrative services approach to families and learning,” CFEC founder Jean Rasmussen said. “We look at where the gaps are in support.”
If that means serving meals, they serve meals. If adult learners need preschool for the kids while they complete classes, there is preschool.
It works. The CFEC has trained
87 ECE assistants during the past three years and at least half are now employed, Rasmussen said.
“Many of those moms are recent immigrants, so we are giving them a hand up so they don’t have to start work at $10 an hour. They can work for $14 or $15 an hour and support their families,” she said.
Gemma Martinez, 36, is a twin graduate this year, emerging from CFEC with her Grade 12 and an ECE assistant qualification. An elementary school teacher in Mexico, Martinez is starting over in Canada.
She left the Mexican border town of Monterrey four years ago for a better life. Her son Aaron Castillo Martinez was born in 2014, and though a blessing, he presented an impediment to her educational aspirations.
“When I come to class, I can drop my son off at the preschool and know he is safe, so I can focus,” she said. “They provide food, books, bus tickets, so all you need to do is sit down and learn.”