From: Cathy Paul, President and CEO, Kinark Child and Family Services and Christine Gaitens, President, OACYC.
To: Community Partners
This past May marked the 25th anniversary of the awards celebration and once again, we had the pleasure to honour the work of CYWs from across the province, and in particular, the incredible work and dedication of all 21 nominees and the two Award winners for 2016.
With the achievement of such a significant milestone, you’ll recall that we administered a survey to CYWs and other child and youth service agencies regarding ideas on changing the awards to better reflect the current environment. Feedback from that survey indicated both a need to engage more CYWs throughout Ontario in the awards process and to consider a different body of oversight. Kinark and the Ontario Association of Child and Youth Care (OACYC) are excited to announce that we will be working together over the coming months to transfer the stewardship of the Krista Sepp Memorial Awards from Kinark to the OACYC.
The OACYC is the provincial association representing all Child and Youth Care Practitioners in the province, and has been a key partner with Kinark in the establishment and administration of the Krista Sepp awards from the beginning. The OACYC has also established their own provincial excellence awards for child and youth care practitioners and they are happy to assume stewardship of the Krista Sepp awards as a continuing category within their own larger ceremony.Beginning in the 2017 season, the Krista Sepp Memorial Awards will be included in the OACYC’s bi-annual conference and recognition event. Further information will be coming shortly about the 2017 nomination process from the OACYC. We are pleased that this change will enable us to reach even more CYWs and organizations across the province and to continue to promote the essential work that they do for children and youth in Ontario.
Kinark will continue to be involved and participate in these significant awards as a participating child and youth service agency and we encourage you to continue to nominate your colleagues.
In the coming weeks, you will receive information about the 2017 Awards nomination process and celebration from the OACYC. Kinark will continue to be involved and participate in these significant awards as a participating child and youth service agency.
We look forward to working with all of you to celebrate this partnership and to recognize the important contribution that CYWs make to our work with children and youth.
How to Stay Informed
Information about the nomination process and ceremony will be made available on the OACYC website.
To continue receiving information about the Krista Sepp Awards nomination process and ceremony, please refer to the OACYC’s Facebook page.
You can learn more about the Krista Sepp Awards on Kinark’s website.