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In this way, Centraide promotes
voluntary and social involvement, develops
community action, and builds caring
communities.
About 500,000 needy people in Greater Montreal are helped
by the agencies and projects supported by Centraide.  To
oppose exclusion
Social exclusion affects people of all ages:
- children who are living in difficult circumstances, which hinder
their development;
- youth
who have dropped out of school, and become homeless and resourceless;
- adults with mental health problems that have trouble making
a place for themselves in our society;
- seniors who are isolated and lonely, without family or
friends to turn to.
The agencies supported by Centraide oppose social
exclusion by: - meeting immediate needs and responding to crises;
- using preventive measure to stop the vicious cycle of poverty;
- addressing a variety of problems associated with social exclusion:
homelessness, mental health problems, substance abuse, housing problems, indebtedness,
violence, disability;
- helping children to develop their physical, intellectual,
artistic and social skills;
- encouraging youth to stay in school by promoting mediation among
peers to counteract violence and doing street work;
- helping
seniors by providing them with meeting places, support activities, and continuing
education courses.
To find out which agencies oppose social exclusion,
click here.
 To
help families
When a family is resourceless, everyday — problems —
which other families often overcome fairly easily — can become
insurmountable. That’s when social distress sets in.
- Families, and women in particular, often
have to care for elderly or sick relatives.
- If a family has a child with
a disability, or a physical or mental illness, the burden becomes even heavier.
- Single-parent families, which have become more numerous, have
a harder time coping with financial difficulties or problems in
the parent-child relationship.
- Low-income
families have less access to services, so they have to be very creative and resourceful
in order to cope.
- Very often, parents simply don’t have enough time or the
knowledge to help their children and with no one to teach them
or help them, they find themselves at a loss.
- Socially distressed families have more
difficulty transmitting knowledge and know-how to their children.
The
agencies supported by Centraide help families, by: - developing parenting
skills;
- establishing parental respite groups;
- preventing children
from dropping out of school by providing homework assistance and conflict-resolution
programs;
- promoting children’s well-being;
- organizing parent-child
workshops and intergenerational activities;
- forming self-help groups
for young fathers.
To find out which agencies help families,
click here.
 To
recreate social bonds
In our rapidly changing world, many poor and
socially distressed people find themselves increasingly isolated. They have a
great need to develop ties and form self-help networks. Creating social bonds
is essential to their survival. The agencies supported by Centraide recreate
social bonds by forming groups for people with common interests and shared values.
For example :
- a youth group, which pursues a common interest or project;
- a
centre for the family, women or seniors;
- a self-help group for persons
with disabilities;
- neighbourhood action on an issue of common concern.
To find out which agencies recreate social
bonds, click here.
 To
support the integration of immigrants
For integration to be successful,
the host society must be welcoming and supportive. Immigrants need special support
in order to fully participate in the life of society.
When people arrive
from another country, they are at an initial disadvantage in the host society.
Immigrants are unfamiliar with local practices for meeting their basic social
needs, such as finding a suitable place to live, putting their kids into school,
and gaining access to health services. Community-based agencies welcome
new arrivals and help them to integrate successfully into their new society. The
agencies supported by Centraide promote the integration of immigrants by:
- encouraging the host society to be welcoming and supportive of immigrants;
- organizing activities to facilitate integration and familiarize
immigrants with the host society and neighbourhood resources;
- making community workers more aware
of the special problems experienced by immigrants;
- offering services to
immigrants while promoting closer ties between our various cultural communities.
To find out which agencies support the integration
of immigrants, click here.
 To
help communities to act
To help a community is to exercise one’s citizenship.
It involves working together to improve the circumstances of people who live within
a same geographical territory. More and more, individuals, agencies and institutions
are joining together and taking concerted action to solve the special problems
facing their neighbourhood or municipality. In several Greater Montreal
neighbourhoods, Centraide supports concerted action initiatives to foster the
well-being of young children, make services more accessible to members of the
cultural communities, promote social development, etc. The agencies supported
by Centraide improve living conditions by helping communities to act, especially
with regard to : - neighbourhood safety,
- food security,
-
housing,
- access to transportation.
To find out which agencies help communities
to act, click here.
For information on all the agencies and projects funded by Centraide
of Greater Montreal (type of service offered, geographical area
served, address and telephone number, etc.), consult the Agency
and Project Directory.
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