The Voice - Candora with Rebecca Steinhubl

Join VAD as we speak to Rebecca S from Candora about the programs and resources available to the Community in North Edmonton.

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Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Welcome to the Voice of Albertan with Disabilities podcast for December 2023. I'm Teresa Makarewich, your host and VAD’s program and service manager. Thanks for joining us today. Voice of Albertans with disability gratefully acknowledges that what we call Alberta is the traditional and ancestral territories and gathering place for diverse indigenous peoples whose histories, languages and cultures continue to influence our vibrant communities. We make this acknowledgement as an act of reconciliation and gratitude to the many First Nations, Metis settlements and the six regions of the Metis nation of Alberta and Inuit who have lived in, and cared for these lands for generations. 

In today's podcast, I'll be talking to Rebecca Steinhubl from Candora. Their website opens with working today for brighter and better tomorrow. For over 30 years, Candora is the positive change serving Edmontonians living in Beverly Abbotsfield and Rundle area. By providing community based programs, we strive every day to end the isolation of poverty and reach out to those in need. VAD has been talking with local agencies to learn about the resources that are available to the disability community, and I thank Candora for coming on the podcast to discuss resources this organization provides. Together, we hold the power. Please welcome Rebecca. Can you take a moment to introduce yourself?

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

Hey, thank you so much for having me, Teresa and VAD. I appreciate it so much. My name is Rebecca Steinhubl. I'm the marketing manager at the Candora Society of Edmonton. Been here for just a little bit over a year. Lots of changes going on and exciting things upcoming. We're actually in the middle of our 35th anniversary  Here we're kind of 1 foot in 2023, one foot in 2024. So a lot of exciting things coming up and some growth in our program. So I'm excited to chat with you today.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Perfect. I have a few questions about Candora to gather information for our listeners and to start with, we'll ask, who is Candora as an organization?

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

So Candora actually started with a need in the community for women who wanted to kind of get out of their shells, get out of their homes, and help support the community and see the vibrancy in it. And so that's kind of carried through and up until today we   Cater mostly to women, children and families in the northeast Edmonton area  You mentioned in your intro. And that's with different programs and services all the way from adult learning programs to parented programs, family and community events, and just really a safe place where people can come and access resources, talk to a resource worker, get involved in a program maybe  Get involved in volunteering and giving back to the community and it's all about, Yeah, that piece of really breaking the isolation of poverty.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Nice. Can you give some history  About your organization for us.

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

Yeah. So it was started in 1988 by a couple of women. One I believe was from the City of Edmonton and one was from a grant McEwan program and they were looking at areas in Edmonton that maybe needed some extra support and some extra resources. And they found the Beverly community and kind of made their home here. And after canvassing the neighborhood in the area, it was very apparent that the community wanted to be involved in this and wanted to  Kind of build this up and make it their own. So it's a very grassroots community organization  It remains so today, 35 years later, and it all began with  Yeah, that that want for women to kind of get out into the workforce, get into the community. So we were able to employ some women right off the bat into  Our newly incorporated Community org back in  The late 80s. And then it really it became a home, I think for a lot of people and for a lot of women and children and families and  We kind of have carried on those traditions. We have some very long standing employees. We actually just had a big staff reunion, which was really amazing to see all of these faces come together in one place. We had four generations of executive directors there, 3 generations of accountants there, so  I  think that's just a testament that once you kind of join Candora, it's hard to leave. You're in there in some capacity and you want to stay in touch. So yeah, just always been building that community and that sense of belonging, which is really important. And we went through, as many people did through the pandemic. It was really difficult, right, Because our mandate is really being questioned at that point of how do you pull people out of isolation when  The world is asking people to isolate. So We made it through, thankfully, as many other organizations did, and we are kind of, yeah, trying to get really get back to that grassroots. Really  Get back to that connected community as we move forward and with these 35th year celebrations.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Do you know which month you were incorporated in?

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

I want to say  April, I feel like it was the spring, so that that's when we made it  Official don't quote me on that. I may get Flack from our, from our alumni.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

How does Candora help people in the community?

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

So a lot Of ways I think, and it's really been a beautiful organization to kind of grow and be a part of over this last year because there are a lot of changes, the community grows, the needs change. So currently again, like I said, focusing on women, children and families. So those are programs Like maybe parenthood program, So baby and me, crawlers and cruisers, things like that where the whole family can come out and get involved, maybe parent or caregiver support groups. So we're really proud of our Neurodivergent parenting coffee chat, where parents can come and just get the support and encouragement they need with their kiddos. And then there's other things like our community lunch. So that's a weekly thing that we've been running for decades where the community can come out, get connected, have a nice hot meal and it's just something that's always there, always be stagnant. And then our adult learning programs  Which are  Kind of our flagship programs with the employment preparation, their English language learning and the financial literacy element. So we've got a lot going on, including our Resource Center as well. So we try to break  It up the  Best that we can when we talk about it, but you can pretty much be rest assured that if you come through our doors, You will be supported in some way.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

You kind of touched on this already, but what are some projects that Candora has done in the community?

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

Yeah, so community lunch I think would be a big one, a long standing one for sure. We actually just launched a new social venture. It's called Aunty Bev’s frozen meals and that is for our employment preparation students. So through the employment program, they actually go through  un paid and paid work placements with the hope that they will end up with a job at the end of the program. And with the students coming in, they often have little to no work experience. So as much as we  Can teach them In the classroom, it's really hard to then send them out into the working world, which may be different from what they're used to. They may be newcomer families, so this may be a whole new market  for them. So we thought we'd try and fill some gaps and add in some skills. So that's where the Aunty Bev’s frozen meals social venture came from.  So  This is a program where the students can come  They can help with prep. They can help  With ordering the food making. The menu packaging, the food marketing, advertising, customer service. So really honing those skills before we send them out into roles, into our community. And that program can also help us fill  Gaps and needs in the community as well, where we are finding that people are, you know, looking for something alternative to the food that they are normally consuming and food prices are going up so much. People are so busy and so we really wanted to yeah be able to provide something both for the community and for our employment prep students so. That's probably one of our most recent projects and exciting projects to date. I'd love for you to try them Sometime.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

I'm up for that. Just please share your thoughts on how Candora contributes to the disability community to help better people's lives.

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

Yeah, that's a great question and something I've kind of been mulling over because it's certainly something that has come up over the last I would say six months when we're doing our community feedback nights and doing our listening campaigns and things like that and is that People are more  And more looking for services like that and so We are doing our best to  At least when people come in seeking  Services, If there's not something that we can Help provide them. That's when we introduce our partners like VAD, Like other organizations in the community that that may be more well equipped. So we like to do a warm handoff if we can, if we cant offer the services, but otherwise we do have a Community resource worker  They all kind of specialize in different areas. So we do actually have A resource worker who specializes in disabilities so they are our go to for any kind of individuals looking for specific support. Our Community definitely is one  That is, I would say lacking In like an actual physical standalone space that that is where we can go for support our specific small community  Of course, you guys are in the greater Edmonton and can help all across the province. So it's something that we are definitely looking at with our partner organizations is how we can better be there and look out for and give a hand up to our people with disabilities, so there's different things  That we have done and that we can continue to do. We've had individuals like in our preschool program who need an assistant or assistance throughout the program. So they're obviously more than welcome to come. We don't have any stipulations or anything on which kind of children can enter our doors. so  We are we do try to be as inclusive as possible and we will make those changes kind of with the families on a case by case basis as we go. We're very open to learning more, to exploring more and how we can be more outwardly supporting the community of people with disabilities.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Throw a plug in for VAD there, we have Michelle, who is our education coordinator, That could come out and do the disability awareness presentations for newcomers or anything like that. She has a team of people with lived experiences and they do a free presentation on myths and etiquette  And so on. And then Sam is our Accessibility coordinator, and she could help you with accessible, inclusivity; Everything from built environment to websites to tips on how to host an event.

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

Yeah, that's amazing. I love  That absolutely we would be  Extremely open to.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Back to you. Tell us how to someone get a hold Of you at Candora.

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

Yeah, absolutely. So we're open Monday to Friday, pretty typical hours 9 to 4 just closed through the lunch hour. So you're more than welcome to stop by people drop into our Resource Center all the time. So that's number 262, 3210 118th Ave., that’s the second floor of the Riverview Crossing building. Drop in anytime. You can also give our receptionist a call 780-474-5011 or e-mail reception reception@candorasociety.com. We're also all over social media. I try to keep our presence up as much as possible, so just at the Candora society, wherever you Wherever you scroll, mindlessly, we Will be there. We have a website of course www.candora.ca. I lag to mention that because it is very much under construction right now, so hopefully it will be done very soon and it will be much easier and much more accessible for people to scroll through because right now I do apologize, It's a bit of a mess.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Tell us an interesting fact about Candora that everyone should know.

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

This is maybe a good one. I think this  Is really cool and not a lot of organizations can maybe say the same, but we actually employ a lot of students and past participants from our programs. So I would say a good chunk like probably at least 50% of our staff  Is either some past program, so like adult learning programs or even other parented programs. And they just liked what we did, and we found a place for them or very integrated into the community, Former volunteers, things like that. So it's very cool to have a staff so involved and so connected to the community and to the people that we're serving, right.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Thank you again for your time and energy today. Rebecca, Candora’s support of the community is of value to all. Is there anything else you want to say today that I haven't asked you?

Rebecca Steinhubl, Candora

I don't think so. I just, we're always here, so don't hesitate to reach out and thank you so much for your time. And yeah, I hope we can stay connected and do some more soon.

Teresa Makarewich, VAD Program & Services Manager

Awesome.  Voice of Albertans with disabilities is across disability, nonprofit organization of and for people with disabilities, and we thank you again for joining today's podcast. We are guided by the principles of accessibility, equity and inclusion. You can learn more about VAD services on our website at vadsociety.ca, Or call us at 780-488-9088 For more information. If you have a topic you would like to hear more about in a podcast, please e-mail myself at vad@vadsociety.ca with topic ideas, speaker suggestions or your feedback. Signing off for the day together, we hold the power.