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CPF BC & Yukon Chapter Representatives,

Enclosed is the August 2013 CRU. As always please forward this important information to your local chapter mailing lists, school contacts, local media, and partners. We encourage you to include additional stories and activities from your local chapter. One of the best ways to promote membership and recruit new volunteers is by effectively communicating the good work of our organization (at all levels) and the many resources available to support students and parents.      

We hope you are busy enjoying your summer and here at the office we are already busy getting ready for September! Membership Drive, Back to School , Sociocultural Grant Applications and the Provincial and National AGMs are some of the things coming up in the near future. Looking forward to working with all of you in the coming school year!

A Bientôt,                                                                                                                   

Kirsty Peterson,CPF BC & Yukon Outreach Officer (outreach@cpf.bc.ca)

Port Hardy - Prince Rupert ferry 

Kirsty in Prince Rupert

Terrace Library French section

BC Outreach Tour

In the last 2 weeks of July, Kirsty and her two French Immersion-loving daughters set off to meet with chapter reps across BC. In total she visited with 29 chapter reps in 14 communities. She started in Sooke for lunch and a discussion about how to to recruit new volunteers then coffee in Victoria where she met a French Immersion teacher looking to re-open their chapter.

Day two in Parksville began with a nice lunch with chapter reps at one of the gorgeous resorts in their area discussing the common issue of attrition at middle schools. She then headed to Campbell River to discuss (among other things) chapter visibility and promotional materials. The day ended in Comox with a delicious BBQ and many suggestions about ways for the branch to support capacity-building for our many chapters. Off to Port Hardy for the night before catching the ferry back to the mainland.

Chapter reps in Prince Rupert had questions about partnering with business, gaming grants and other sources of chapter revenue, and what other chapters are doing to raise money. (If your chapter has a great money generating idea, we encourage you to share it with outreach@cpf.bc.ca to be passed on to other chapters!). In Terrace, Kirsty got a tour of the local library where they are putting up a cool 3-D French cafe mural to house their French book collection and they also have a French summer reading club! (Prizes donated by CPF Terrace). 

In Vanderhoof (after a brief layover in Smithers, where they saw a bear much to the excitement of the girls......ok.....and Kirsty who was driving and woke them up screaming LOOK, A BEAR!!) the girls ran in the spray park while Kirsty chatted with a local parent who wants to get a chapter re-established and start advocating for their program to extend through grade 12, where it currently ends in grade 7. Over coffee in Prince George, plans were made to establish a new chapter with a mom who recently moved from Maple Ridge and was surprised at a PAC meeting to find that there is no chapter in PG. 

A picnic lunch at a Quesnel park brought up the common issue of a shortage of qualified teachers that is seen across BC and was idntified in our 35 years strong roadmap as a priority area for improvement. In 100 Mile House, over coffee Kirsty was de-briefed on their plans to develop a French Immersion youth mentorship program to help deal with highschool FI attrition. She then headed to Kamloops where she met with chapter reps and the CPF BC/Yukon Board Director Patti Holm at the spray park where the chapter president's son came wearing his CPF t-shirt! 

The next morning over coffee, Salmon Arm president spoke of socio-cultural ideas, such as musical performances and outdoor activites. The journey ended that afternoon in Revelstoke where Kirsty was updated on all that has happened since her last visit there in April to meet with the school board about implementing French Immersion in their community.

Thanks to all the chapters who organized meetings along the way. It was a pleasure meeting those chapter reps that I hadn't already met and getting to see some familiar faces from Ottawa and the regional conferences. Merci!

Chapter Reporting

All Chapter reporting was due August 1st.

We are currently going through all documents and will let your chapter know if you are missing anything. If you do not get your reporting documents in, you will not be eligible to receive your August rebates. Next rebate deposit is scheduled for December. 

For more information about what documents we require, please visit: Chapter Reporting

Membership Drive

CPF – BC & Yukon’s Annual Membership Drive is September 1st to October 31st, 2013!

Renew your membership!  Ask others to join!

And do it before October 31st because during our membership drive you can win wonderful prizes!  Remember 80% of your membership fee goes right back to your local chapter. That means more fun events in schools, more resources for parents, teachers and students, and more extra-curricular activities in French for our kids!

Check out some of the great prizes 2013 new and renewing members are eligible to win:

  • Air North return flights for two! (some restrictions apply)
  • $600 toward a confirmed spot at BC Family French Camp
  • $500 Greyhound voucher
  • Playland Vouchers

More to come! Winners will be determined by draw.

2013 Annual General Meeting

This year's Annual General Meeting celebrates 35 years of Canadian Parents for French BC & Yukon! Our theme this year is Looking into the Future. Some of the focus areas we're looking at this year are visioning, visibility, fundraising, planning, and accessing grant funding. CPF BC & Yukon is sponsoring 1 delegate per chapter.

For our website and Registration beginning August 12th, click here: http://bc-yk.cpf.ca/agm/

2013-2014 Sociocultural Grant Applications

Applications Open: September 10 - October 16

Visit our: How to Document

For All Information, please see: Sociocultural Grants

2012-2013 2nd Round of Funding for Grants

If your chapter proceeded with an event but you have not yet applied, there are funds available in a 2nd round of funding. Submit the evaluation, surveys and receipts. You will only be eligible if your Chapter is up to date with your reporting!

Email Heather with your request: projects@cpf.bc.ca

Submit your online form 

Building Partnerships

The Delta Chapter partnered with l'Association francophone de Surrey and the Delta School District to put on French Summer camps this year. Developing strong partnerships in your communities are so important to increase capacity, visibility and creating future opportunities. 

In Bulkley Valley, the strong partnership between CPF and l'Association francophones et francophiles du Nord-Ouest (AFFNO) has brought AFFNO Executive Director out to school board meetings to show their support for extending the French Immersion program in Smithers. In a similar show of solidarity, the President of L’Association francophone de la vallée du Fraser attended the school board meeting in Chilliwack and spoke in support of the creation of an Early Immersion program.

Merci aux associations francophones, and bien fait to all the chapters who have built such strong partnerships!