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It’s almost time for our Annual General Meeting!

by Director on

It’s that time of year again – when we look back on what we’ve been up to over the past year, when we kick off a summer full of awesome events, and when we make important decisions about the future of Head & Hands.  That’s right, it’s time for the Annual General Meeting!

This year’s AGM will take place on Wednesday, June 12 from 7 – 9pm at St. Raymond’s Community Centre.  A few important things happen at an AGM: staff members present all the great stuff that has gone on over the past year, organization management is discussed (staffing, finances, etc.), board candidates present themselves, and members vote on a new Board of Directors and by-law changes.

This year, something has changed – you might be a member, and members can (and should!) attend the AGM and cast their votes.  Clients, volunteers, and donors are all considered members now – if you’ve accessed a service, volunteered your time, or donated money in the past year, you are a member.  To attend the AGM, we need to make sure that you’re on the list of members.

To declare your membership:

  • If you were a donor in the past year, you’re already listed as a member. Just show up!
  • If you’ve been a client or volunteer this year, get in touch with the Coordinator of the Head & Hands program you access or volunteered for, by sending an email (listed here: http://headandhands.ca/about-us/staff-board/) or talking to the Coordinator themselves.

In classic Head & Hands style, this year’s AGM will be a dynamic and entertaining show – not to mention there will be delicious free food served, and childcare will be provided.  It’s going to be a party, and you’re invited!

Head & Hands Annual General Meeting
St. Raymond’s Community Centre
5600 chemin Upper Lachine
June 12, 2013 from 7pm – 9pm
St. Raymond’s is a wheelchair accessible space

 

AGM

We’re hiring a Summer Events Coordinator!

by Director on
 Head & Hands, a non-profit community organization dedicated to youth empowerment, is looking for an Summer Events Coordinator for a full time 6 month contract.  This person will be the coordinator of several fundraising and cultural events this summer, including our Annual General Meeting, indoor and outdoor concerts, program fundraisers, and our team’s participation in the “Ca Marche” AIDS walk.
Requirements: organized, strong communication, time management and networking skills, bilingualism, comfort working autonomously, as well as fundraising and event planning experience.  Familiarity with Montreal business & cultural sectors and Head & Hands’ mission and approach are assets.This position is dependent on Emploi Quebec subvention salariale funding.
Candidate MUST qualify for the subvention salariale program and be available to start in early May.  To apply, email your CV and cover letter to admin@headandhands.ca  or by fax to 514-481-2336 by April 22 2013 at 10:00am (Attn: Summer Events Coordinator Hiring Committee). Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.
Head & Hands welcomes the unique contributions that individuals from marginalized and oppressed communities bring to our organization, and invites these individuals to apply.  We encourage applicants to describe the unique contributions they, as individuals with diverse experiences, would bring to Head & Hands in their cover letter.

We made it – thank you!!

by Director on

PM10-FINAL

Dear community – thank you!!

The official announcement has just been made – we are finalists in the Aviva Community Fund competition!  Having taken a few days to recover from last week’s big push, we have a few thoughts we’d like to share with you…

“WE MADE IT!!”  (BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, ACTUALLY?)

Thanks to your amazing support, Aviva has awarded us $5,000 and our project is moving forward to the final round of this competition. For this to happen, our project needed to be in the top 10 within our budget category, and after a very tight struggle we ended up in 6th place yesterday when the voting ended!  Again – thanks to Aviva and THANK YOU!!!

In this next round, there will be no voting.  Instead, the top 10 projects in each budget category (small, medium, large) will be evaluated by a panel of judges according to the contest’s scoring criteria.  The Aviva judges will rank projects in each category, and then distribute the $1 Million prize money from their top choices downwards until the cash runs out. By our calculations, 3-5 projects in each budget category will receive full funding… meaning our chances are pretty good!  Decisions will be announced in late January, and we promise to keep you in the loop.

HOW DO WE FEEL ABOUT ALL THIS?

So many emotions!  Grateful, for being part of a community that supports our work with such strength and love. Encouraged, and committed more than ever to bringing this service back.  Humbled, after being told by so many people to “stop apologizing!” for our frenzied outreach, because this cause belongs to the community and we are all in it together!

This competition was a bit of a rollercoaster, but more than anything else it was a demonstration of truly beautiful community solidarity.  There were many moments during the campaign that we felt deeply moved by your gestures of support, and we will carry that forward with us regardless of what the judges decide.

WHAT ARE WE DOING NEXT?

Our efforts to bring Street Work back to NDG go far beyond this program.  We’ve built a prioritized list of potential long-term funders for this program, and we are already engaged in conversations with several of them.  We believe this incredible outpouring of community support is something they should know about, and so we’re inviting you to sign this open letter which we’ll share with potential funders.

Also, if you’re part of an organization that stands behind this campaign, we’d love to get an official letter of support from your team!  Please get in touch with Cynthia if you’re interested: streetwork@headandhands.ca

As always, donations from our community allow us to support thousands of Montreal youth year after year.  If you want and are able to give, we invite you to make a donation of any size here:

DonateNowinterior_over

Why I’m voting for Street Work: Rhonda

by Director on

“Without the Street Work team, I have lost contact with many very important clients and have not been able to reach out to others who do not know I exist.” Rhonda, Head & Hands Counselor

Vote for us every day between December 3 and 12 to help us win $87K and bring back Street Work!

Vote for us and bring Street Work back to NDG!

by Director on

TO VOTE NOW: http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf16385

Vote for Head & Hands and bring Street Work back to NDG! from Neal Rockwell on Vimeo.

Between December 3-12, vote for us once a day in the Aviva Community Fund’s online competition and we could win $87,000 to bring two Street Work back to NDG!

25% of NDG’s population is living below the poverty line, and many of its youth are falling through the social net and struggling to meet basic needs. Until government budget cuts stopped the program in August 2011, Head & Hands Street Workers went out into the community to connect with youth, provide a listening ear, and support them in identifying their own needs and taking steps towards filling them.

Our Street Workers supported youth with the basics like finding emergency food and shelter, accompanying someone to an abortion, getting tested for STIs, and other urgent needs.  They also worked with youth to find long-term solutions like finding an apartment, getting into pre-employability programs, leaving abusive relationships, finding support with addiction, etc. – always at youth’s own pace and on their own terms.

Street Workers reached youth who might otherwise never have walked through the doors of Head & Hands or of other service organizations. They also did HIV and Hep C prevention by distributing clean needles, crack pipes and condoms to youth, and talking about safer drug use and safer sex. The loss of Street Work left NDG without any clean drug gear distribution program, and hundreds of young users without easy access to clean materials and support.

Vote every day!  Tell your friends!  Bring back this essential service!!

How to vote:

  1. Register on the Aviva Community Fund’s website (you can connect via email or Facebook, it takes just a few seconds.)
  2. Go to our Aviva page and VOTE FOR US!!!
  3. Vote for us everyday between December 3 and 12!!!
  4. If you’d like us to send you daily email reminders about the competition (it’s so easy to forget!), email: streetwork@headandhands.ca .

Resources to help us win votes:

Resources are available in French here.

Our main strategy:

  • Get in touch with “boosters,” – aka people you know who could reach out to a big audience such as local celebs, Facebook and Twitter personalities, etc. – and ask them to promote our campaign!

Other ideas on how to help us win daily votes:

  • Send an email to your networks and encourage people to vote DAILY! Use this email template!
  • Are you a student or a teacher? Make an announcement in your class, set up a voting booth on your campus, and/or get permission to put up posters and flyers in your school’s computer lab!
  • Make an announcement in a staff meeting and get your coworkers to vote for us daily!
  • Do you have any relevant media contacts? Send them this press release!
  • Will you be attending or organizing a related event next week? Hand out flyers, make an announcement for Head & Hands and/or set up a voting booth!

Hot social media tips:

  • Send a chat message to your online Facebook friends who have more than 1000 friends and ask them to promote our campaign!
  • Use this image as your profile picture.
  • Like and comment on every Facebook post you see about our campaign! Complement any incomplete post with the missing information, e.g. the link to vote, let people know they can email streetwork@headandhands.ca for daily email reminders, etc.
  • Invite your friends to this Facebook event. If you want to invite all your friends at once, let us know – we have a little trick for you!
  • Share our “Why I’m voting for Street Work” daily photo-testimonials.
  • Use these hash tags when tweeting about us: #cdnndg #rockaviva
  • Got any social-media-savvy-friends? Pick their brains and share their secrets with us!

Hot messaging tips:

  • Stay positive (e.g. We’re so close! Competition is tight but we can do it!)
  • Share updates on where we are in the competition (e.g. We’re only blank# votes away from the top 10!)
  • Share our strategy with the world (e.g. Know anyone who has a big network? Ask them to promote Head & Hands’ online campaign to save Street Work in NDG!)

Much love,
The Head & Hands team.

Getting Crafty at NDG Arts Week

by FRDC on

Guest post by the fabulous Robyn Fadden, member of the Head & Hands Board of Directors

The neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grace is as creative as it is cozy – and the upcoming NDG Arts week, August 18-26, proves the case. Along with artists of all stripes, photographer, crafter and organizer extraordinaire Melinda Carrière contributes to the arty happening with a second edition of the wittily named All the Rage Craft Fair, on August 19.

With an expanded fair this year – Montreal artisans and designers will be selling everything from hand-made jewelry and beauty products to children’s clothes and vintage items – located at a new venue, Le Manoir (5319 Notre-Dame-de-Grace), a big turnout is expected. The proceeds from table rentals at this summer’s craft fair will all go to Head & Hands, as they did from last year’s holiday craft fair, also organized by Melinda.

Presence in the neighbourhood was one reason Head & Hands stood out as the obvious choice, but personal experience was also a factor: “I’ve had friends who had volunteered or worked there previously. One of them said to me that he realized how much of an impact he made as a volunteer there – kids would come up to him on the street and say hi and tell him how awesome he was for them.”

Before heading into a BFA in Photography, Melinda had thoughts about becoming a teacher – she aligns that interest in education and youth with her appreciation for Head & Hands: “The fact that there’s an organization like this available to young people is amazing. I come from a small town and there just aren’t programs like that around. The Sense Project as well – that wasn’t done years ago, and it’s so necessary. I just want to support that.”

Melinda was supported in organizing this year’s fair by friend, fellow crafter and NDG-dweller Jessie Evans, who co-curated the fair via submissions from crafters in NDG and other Montreal neighbourhoods. “Ideally we want to bring NDG crafters to the forefront,” says Jessie. “Once you start networking with other crafters, you realize how some of the bigger craft fairs are quite hard to get into,” adds Melinda, “especially for newer crafters and those outside the Plateau and Mile End – there was still an opportunity for another craft fair of a different sort.”

All the Rage is a far cry from shopping at the mall. “A lot of the crafters we have also do up-cycled and recycled work and clothing, making new things out of discarded but perfectly workable objects,” says Melinda. “It’s a positive trend right now, a part of being a conscious consumer.”

In another nod to NDG’s family-friendly atmosphere, events and workshops for kids and teens will be going on at the same time as the craft fair in different rooms at Le Manoir, so parents can peruse the tables while their kids are otherwise occupied.

All the Rage Craft Fair, Sunday, August 19, 12-5 p.m. At Le Manoir (5319 Notre-Dame-de-Grace), up the hill from Girouard Park.

Melinda makes feathered creations as Mielcoeur (http://www.wix.com/melindacarriere/mielcoeur)

Jessie’s vintage clothing and button jewelry can be found at Crime Is Beauty (http://www.etsy.com/shop/crimeisbeauty)

AGM 2012: Proposed Bylaw Changes

by Head & Hands on

Check them out! We’ll be voting on these at our AGM on June 13th!

Article 3.00 - Membership Qualifications

Current BylawProposed Changes
The following shall be Members of the Association:
a - The Applications for incorporation;
b - Any person or persons who may be appointed Members by a resolution passed by the Board of Directors or by the Members at a properly constituted Special or Annual General Meeting		Replace with:
There shall be the following types of Members of the Association:
a - Donor members;
b- Staff members;
c- Volunteer members;
d - Client members.
Eligibility for the above types of membership shall be as follows:
Donor members: any person who has made a personally significant financial contribution to the Association within the preceding 12 months.
Staff members: any person currently employed by the Association.
Volunteer members: any person who nominates themselves as a volunteer member after making a personally significant volunteer contribution to the Association during the preceding 12 months, and whose nomination is confirmed by the permanent staff member who they worked with most closely. Such memberships are valid for the current fiscal year.
Client members: any person who nominates themselves as a client member after having one or more personally significant client experiences during the preceding 12 months, and whose nomination is confirmed by the permanent staff member most connected to their client experience. Such memberships are valid for the current fiscal year.
Rationale:
Currently, the only way to be a Member of Head & Hands is by making a personally significant financial contribution. This aims to reinforce the importance of taking collective responsibility for Head & Hands’ financial health, but does so at the cost of excluding important voices from our democratic process. We hope to develop additional means of involving all members in supporting the organization financially, while reducing barriers to participation in membership discussions and decision-making. In terms of tracking membership duration: it’s easy to pull a list of all donors for a given 12-month period from our database, and we will hold an annual client/volunteer ‘membership drive’ to encourage self-nominations for this membership type one month or more before each AGM.

Article 4.00 - Membership contribution

Current BylawProposed Changes
The annual fee is to be determined by the Board of Directors and confirmed by the Members at a General Meeting, which fee is compulsory for all Members and must be paid within 60 days of joining the Association or by December 31, of each year as the case may be.Strike this article
Rationale: Maintaining a universal membership fee is inconsistent with our new system of multiple membership classes.

Article 6.00 - Renewal and Termination

Current BylawProposed Changes
The membership of each Member of the Association shall be automatically renewed from year to year unless and until:
a - The Member notifies the Secretary or the Board in writing before the end of the year that he or she is terminating his or her membership;
b - The Member has not within 60 days of its becoming due, paid an annual membership contribution for that year;
c - The membership of the Member has been terminated by notice of a resolution to that effect passed by the Board of Directors for any act or conduct which the Directors in their absolute discretion, deem to be detrimental to the best interests of the Association.		Rename to: “Termination”
Reword: All individuals satisfying one of the requirements set forth in Article III shall be considered a Member of the Association, unless:
a- The Member notifies the Secretary or the Board in writing before the end of the year that he or she is terminating his or her membership;
b- Their membership has been terminated by notice of a resolution to that effect passed by the Board of Directors for any act or conduct which the Directors in their absolute discretion, deem to be detrimental to the best interests of the Association;
Rationale:
Membership is now defined according to time-sensitive conditions. Any further bylaw around renewal would be redundant.

Article 8.02 - Meetings

Current BylawProposed Changes
Every Annual General Meeting shall be called by a written notice mailed or otherwise delivered at least twenty-eight (28) days in advance to each Member at the address inscribed for him or her on the membership list, or at least five (5) days in advance for Special General Meetings; however, meetings of Members, both Annual and Special, may be held without previous notice if all of the Members be present or if all of the Members sign a written waiver of notice of the time, place, and purpose of such meeting.Strike: “written notice mailed or otherwise delivered at least twenty-eight (28) days in advance to each Member at the address inscribed for him or her on the membership list”
Replace with: “public notice posted at least twenty-eight (28) days in advance”
Rationale:
Sending personal mail to all members will become unfeasible in terms of time and cost as we dramatically expand our membership. Other channels – such as posters, flyers, our website, social media, and e-newsletters – should be enough to reach everyone.

Article 9.08 - Composition of the Board of Directors

Current BylawProposed Changes
When a Director resigns or is removed, the remainder of the Board may elect from the Members a person to fill the vacancy until the expiration of the term.Add: “A call for applications must be publicly posted at least twenty-eight (28) days in advance of such an election.”
Rationale:
Require a broad call-out for interim Board elections, to make the process more transparent and democratic.

The Sense Project is looking for a new fearless leader!

by Sense Project on

Head & Hands is seeking a new Health Educator to join our team!

The Health Educator aims to empower youth through health education.  The main responsibilities of this position include the coordination of the Sense Project (Head & Hands’ peer-based sex education program); animating health-related workshops with youth in a diversity of settings; providing one-on-one support and information to youth accessing our services; and establishing and maintaining partnerships with schools and community organizations.

For full posting, please see the Join Our Team page on the (brand new) Head & Hands website.

Please note that the deadline to apply is Monday, May 14th at 10am.

A deux mains est présentement à la recherche d`un(e) Éducateur(trice) en matière de santé.

L’Éducateur(trice) en matière de santé fait la promotion de la santé auprès des jeunes  avec une approche d’autonomisation, pour les aider à prendre en charge leur sexualité et leur santé globale. Les responsabilités de cette position incluent: la coordination du Projet sens (le programme d’éducation à la sexualité de A deux mains); l’animation des ateliers portant sur la santé dans une variété d’environnements accueillants aux jeunes; counseling, références et suivi en matière de santé; et la liaison avec les partenaires, y compris les écoles secondaires et les organismes communautaires.

Voir la page d`Emplois sur le nouveau site web de A deux mains pour plus de renseignements sur ce poste.

Veuillez noter que la date limite pour cette position est le 14 mai à 10h.

More condoms!

by Sense Project on

I’m sure you’ve eard of or seen this video before, and if not, you’ll see how wide a condom can stretch! Don’t forget condoms come in various sizes, colors, flavors and shapes so that the pickiest person can have their favorite. :)

On the other hand, don’t give credit to statement like :”The condom is too small for me!” It is true it can be a bit incomfortable if a person that buy large size has to wear a medium one. Its not ideal because there is a slightly higher chance the condom can rip, but it is nonetheless better than no protection at all! Don’t be fooled by those who try to smooth talk you out of protection! It is a condom or nothing… Finally, there is a lot of places where there is free condoms, like here at Head and Hand, or in CLSC, youth  center and some college or university school’s bathroom etc.

how_far_will_a_condom_stretch