Family & Community Support Services

Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) is an 80/20 funding partnership between the province, municipalities and Metis Settlements. Under FCSS, communities design and deliver social programs that are preventative in nature to promote and enhance well being among individuals, families, and communities. The programs depend on community resources, often involving volunteers in management and delivery.

The FCSS philosophy is based on a belief that self help contributes to a sense of integrity, self-worth and independence. The programs developed are intended to help individuals in their community to adopt healthy lifestyles, thereby improving the quality of life and build the capacity to prevent and or deal with crisis situations should they arise.

One of the key principles of the FCSS Program is local autonomy in priority setting and resource allocation. FCSS emphasizes local decision-making for programming, based on the belief that communities have the desire, energy and resources to build community capacity. Each municipality or Metis Settlement determines how the dollars they receive should be allocated to best meet the needs of their community.

Program Funding Guidelines

Family and Community Support Services funding is intended to:

• Promote and encourage voluntarism
• To be preventative in nature, in order to:
  • Enhance, strengthen and stabilize family and community life
  • Improve the ability of persons to identify and act on their needs
  • Help avert family or community social breakdown
  • Help prevent the development of a crisis
  • Provide citizens with information of its planning and operation
  • Provide for the development of services on clearly identified social needs and effective planning
  • Encourage cooperation and coordination

 Family and Community Support Services may offer:

• Services to promote the social development of children and their families
• Services that enrich and strengthen family life by developing skills in people to function more effectively within their own environment, such as
  • Parenting and family life education and development
  • Marriage enrichment
  • Retirement planning
  • Programs for single adults and single parent
  • Programs designed to enhance self-awareness and personal growth
  • Youth development services
  • Individual, family and group counseling services that are educational and not treatment oriented
• Services that enhance the quality of life of the retired and semi-retired
• Services designed to promote, encourage and support volunteer work in the community
• Services designed to inform the public of available services, such as:
  • Information and referral services
  • Community information directories
  • Newcomer services
  • Inter agency coordination

  Family and Community Support Services must not:

• Provide for recreational needs or leisure time pursuits of individuals
• Offer direct financial assistance to sustain an individual or family
• Be primarily rehabilitative in nature
• Duplicate services ordinarily provided by any government agency, or services which are reasonable accessible to the community

F.C.S.S. Documents:  (links to external document management site)

Click on the link below to open a pdf version of the application or report form.

F.C.S.S. Application Form
F.C.S.S. Year End Report

“Making a Difference” in the Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) Program

The Making a Difference (MAD) Project has been initiated by Alberta Children and Youth Services to measure the benefit of the many FCSS programs, services and projects offered to citizens throughout the province. This project will ensure the Province that FCSS funding is being allocated in the best interests of all Albertans by:

o encouraging voluntarism
o enhancing, strengthening and stabilizing family and community life
o improving the ability of persons to identify and act on their needs
o helping avert family or community social breakdown
o helping prevent the development of a crisis
o providing citizens with information of its planning and operation
o providing for the development of services on clearly identified social needs and effective planning
o encouraging cooperation and coordination

Tim Moorhouse, Director with Alberta Children and Youth Services, wrote recently “There is no question that knowledge of the outcome results of FCSS investments is of huge benefit in guiding program and service development and improvement in demonstrating the value and effectiveness of these resources in our communities.” The County will be implementing the outcomes measurement project in 2009, beginning with developing a Project Logic Model and reviewing our application and reporting forms to accommodate the collection of program outcome information. The program is targeted to be in place for submission of the 2009 FCSS report to the Province.