Agencies strategize to tackle social issues from floods

A vehicle is submerged on a flooded out street in the city's downtown core.

The United Way Calgary and Area along with other leaders of local organizations got together to discuss how to handle an increased demand for social services resulting from the floods.

Leaders from more than 30 agencies met at the Kahanoff Centre in Calgary on Monday to talk about four main issues; mental health, domestic violence, housing and support for seniors.

“We know there is an increased demand for need in several areas during times like this,” said Lucy Miller, President and CEO of the United Way Calgary and Area. “We really talked about the importance of coming together to respond to those needs and providing a coordinated response especially around the vulnerable like seniors, like people who need housing.”

They are looking at what will be needed in the coming months and are devising a strategy to respond to social issues and the demand for assistance.

“Critical for us now will be to make sure we maximize those resources and there’s a big commitment on the part of anyone whose been doing fundraising around the flood to really work together to make sure the money goes where it’s needed and in a timely manner,” said Miller.

Miller says the agencies that attended the meeting expressed how easy it was to apply for and get the funding they needed to provide basic needs.

“One example, the community association in Bowness. They’re already on their fourth round of knocking on doors to make sure people have what they need, so talking about what’s working really well and how do we duplicate that in other areas,” said Miller.

The group wants to make sure they aren’t duplicating services and are making the best use of flood recovery funds and resources.

“For families that don’t have a lot of resources, when you come to a time like this, where your resources are being used and then there’s no where to turn or it’s difficult to turn, because maybe English is not your first language and you don’t understand, or for people who don’t know how to go about accessing the materials that were available to them because they don’t speak the language, so right away today we know what we have to do to support those people,” said Miller.

Miller says affordable, appropriate housing will be a critical piece of the puzzle as the city moves forward in the recovery process and meetings like this are imperative to get the non-profits, private sector and government working together to deliver services to affected Albertans.

For more information, visit the Recovery Check page.