BCAAFC - anpBC

The B.C. Aboriginal Non-Profit (ANP) sector is comprised of non-profit organizations whose mandate it is to service and support the Aboriginal community. There are hundreds of ANP organizations across B.C. providing services to Aboriginal populations in the areas of housing, employment, drug and alcohol treatment, health, sports and recreation, arts and culture, and child and family services.

Born out of a spirit of collaboration across this sector, the anpBC Strategy aims to support, sustain and uplift the ANP workforce so that the sector can continue to assist, heal and strengthen Aboriginal peoples and communities now and into the future.

About the anpBC Strategy

Background

Phase One

Phase Two

Project 1: Mentorship and Elder Guidance

Project 2: Culture and Wellness

Project 3: Sector Pension Plan

Project 4: Holistic Retirement Planning

Project 5: Promotional Materials

Background

If you work with, for, or in an ANP organization, you can likely appreciate the complex human resource challenges that this sector faces such as low wages and benefits, high worker turnover, and insecure funding. Though this is a common reality for Aboriginal non-profit organizations, ANPs are also incredibly rewarding, community-focused and culturally grounded workplaces doing important and meaningful work.

In 2010, leaders of ANP organizations from across B.C. gathered together to discuss shared HR issues and explore opportunities to strengthen the ANP workforce. This was the first time that ANP agencies came together as a cohesive sector in B.C. to discuss their shared strengths, challenges and hopes for the future. Another provincial gathering was held in 2011 to continue building a vision for the future of the sector. Out of these gatherings emerged an empowering sense of potential to strengthen all ANP organizations by building a unified voice and vision. Thus, the concept for the anpBC Strategy was born.

Phase One

Phase One of the anpBC Strategy was structured around four research projects exploring how a culturally grounded, healthy and robust workforce could be created. These projects were carried out from 2012 to 2014. The four different topic areas were: culture and traditional values in the workplace; workplace wellness and balance; mentorship and professional development; and pensions and benefits. These research projects were powerful and informative, yielding a number of recommendations and suggested activities to guide the next steps of the Strategy.

Each research project developed a final research paper and a quick facts sheet, all of which can be found below. Also found below is the anpBC Phase One final report which includes suggested activities for the ANP sector based on the research findings (links below to all Phase 1 products – the same ones that are on the current page.

Phase Two

We are currently in Phase Two of the anpBC Strategy. Phase Two was officially launched in January 2016 with a provincial gathering of ANP organizations. At this gathering, held in Vancouver, B.C. on January 28th, 2016, over eighty ANP representatives demonstrated their interest and investment in the work of the Strategy by travelling from all regions of the province to connect, build sectoral relationships and contribute to important discussions guiding Phase Two design.

Phase Two is structured around five central projects, which were designed to implement many of the recommendations and suggested activities identified through Phase One. Following the January 2016 ANP gathering, the BCAAFC issued a Request for Proposals for interested proponents to undertake these five projects. The successful candidates began working on their respective projects in April 2016 and their work has progressed rapidly since.

Project 1: Mentorship and Elder Guidance

Enhancing the roles of Elders and youth in ANP organizations

The purpose of this project is to promote thriving intergenerational relationships in ANP agencies and help organizations to build robust, dynamic, culturally grounded and sustainable teams. Building on the research done in phase one, this project will create concrete tools that can be utilized and implemented by ANP agencies across the province to support mentorship and Elder guidance and to support the recruitment and retention of Aboriginal youth. Guided by a series of community consultations in different regions of B.C., literature and practice reviews, the Indigenous Perspectives Society and Nota Bene Consulting Group will produce two sets of tools applicable to the sector.

This project is being undertaken by the Indigenous Perspectives Society (IPS) with support from Nota Bene Consulting Group.

Project Lead: Rachelle Dallaire, Indigenous Perspectives Society, rachelled@ipsociety.ca

Key project objectives:

Enhance strong and healthy roles for Elders and youth in ANP agencies
Increase mentorship opportunities for Aboriginal youth in ANP agencies
Increase awareness amongst ANP agencies of the importance of investing in both Elders and young adults, and including them in organizational decision-making processes
Increase the capacity of the sector to attract and retain young Aboriginal employees
Help organizations to be better prepared for succession planning
Increased awareness of good mentoring practice
Promote intergenerational relationships in ANP agencies through intentional business and HR practices

Project 2: Culture and Wellness

Strengthening connections to traditional values, culture and wellness in the workplace

In this exciting project, Nene Kraneveldt of Imagination FX is collaborating with 10 different ANP agencies to develop individualized Culture and Wellness plans and/or tools, designed to support each agency in embedding culture and wellness priorities into their HR practices and policies.

This project is being undertaken by Imagination FX.

Project Lead: Nene Kraneveldt, nenekraneveldt@gmail.com

Key project objectives:

Encourage commitment from ANP boards to forward-thinking HR practices aligned with culture and wellness priorities
Promote the inclusion of workplace culture and wellness goals in ANP HR practices
Increase awareness within the sector about how culture and wellness practices can be embedded into organizational culture
Improve the overall health of ANP employees and decrease lateral violence in workplaces
Increase the capacity of ANP organizations to attract and retain quality staff by improving workplace health and HR capacity

Project 3: Sector Pension Plan

Supporting a secure future for ANP employees across BC

Many ANP agencies like the idea of adopting a pension plan, but the practical implementation often seems out of reach. Lack of time, money, and knowledge about pensions are huge barriers for interested agencies. In this project, we aim to assist agencies in accessing pension plans by conducting research into the pros and cons of different pension plan options and creating a “pension plan package” designed to guide and assist ANP agencies in adopting a pension plans for their organizations.

This project is being undertaken by Lorna Eastman & Associates.

Project Lead: Lorna Eastman, lorna@lornaeastmanfinancial.com

Key objectives:

Minimize the amount of effort and administrative costs required by ANP agencies interested in adopting pension plans
Leverage sector buying power
Minimize administrative costs to any one ANP for adopting a pension plan
Increase the quality of life for staff who work in and retire from the ANP sector
Enhance the capacity of ANPs to attract and retain quality staff by increasing the benefits they are able to offer

Project 4: Holistic Retirement Planning

Indigenizing approaches to retirement

Planning for retirement is a tricky and often overlooked aspect of one’s career. Research conducted in Phase One of the anpBC Strategy highlighted that thinking about retirement in an Aboriginal context involves much more than just thinking about pensions and being financially prepared. The purpose of this project is to support ANP employees to plan for their retirement by creating a curriculum guiding a holistic approach to retirement planning and “financial living as an Elder” that centers Indigenous practices and worldviews, while also meeting the needs and pressures of mainstream modern society. This project will also produce a research paper looking at how the ANP sector can culturally support their employees as they become Elders.

This project is being undertaken by Roundtable Consulting in collaboration with Arrive Consulting.

Project Lead: Sebastian Silva (Roundtable Consulting), sebastian@roundtableconsulting.ca

Key objectives:

Support ANP employees to plan for their retirement in a culturally-relevant and meaningful way
Increase the quality of life for staff who work in and retire from the ANP sector
Improve the financial literacy of ANP staff, particularly as it relates to planning for retirement
Support ANP employees to discuss and address issues relating to retirement in culturally meaningful and empowered ways

Project 5: Promotional Materials

Inspiring career-changers and youth to join the ANP sector

Despite the human resources challenges that many ANP agencies face, ANP organizations have a huge amount to offer potential employees. Many incredibly fulfilling, empowering and meaningful careers and opportunities exist in ANP organizations, yet lack of time and resources makes it different for agencies to actively promote themselves.

This project will help ANPs reach out to a diverse array of individuals by developing materials and platforms that promote the ANP sector to potential career-changers and to Aboriginal youth. The materials targeting youth will focus on youth currently in high schools, universities and at the start of their careers. The promotional materials will include at a minimum two short videos (one for Aboriginal youth and one for career-changers), as well as but not limited to, pamphlets, posters, social media platforms, etc.

This project is being undertaken by TrueNorth42.

Project Lead: Joanne Veltri, jveltri@shaw.ca

Key objectives:

Grow the pool of qualified Aboriginal employees interested in working for the ANP sector
Increase the general awareness of the excellent career options that exist in ANP agencies
Strengthen the capacity of ANP agencies to self-promote and attract young talent

Documents - anpBC Strategy Phase One

Select the pdf button to download the full document, or the FactSheet button to download just the fact sheet.

Culture and Traditional Values in the Workplace

Workplace Wellness and Balance

Mentorship and Professional Development

Pensions and Benefits

The Aboriginal Non-Profit Workforce Strategy