A SNAP® Update From Dr. Leena Augimeri
(Director, SNAP Scientific & Program Development)
& The SNAP Research & Implementation Team
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To all our SNAP Affiliates, clients, families and partners, the last five months have been extremely challenging as the world  experiences a major pandemic.
COVID-19 has affected daily life across the globe by bringing about stressors and changes no one could have imagined. Please be assured that by working together and utilizing our innovative skills as a community, we will be able to continue to deliver quality SNAP programs to our children and families who need it now more than ever.
In recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement, we are standing in solidarity with our Black Canadian and international communities. We are actively listening, learning, reflecting and adapting as best as we can. We share our collective outrage and sadness at the violent incidents of anti-Black racism and acknowledge that these events are only the most recent manifestations of systemic anti-Black racism that has existed for generations. We have a responsibility to be active allies in making the changes required to create a just and equitable society. To read more about our agency’s commitment to action on anti-Black racism, please click here.
Learning. Listening. Reflecting. Adapting.
Working and coming together to build a better tomorrow for our
children, families, and communities.
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Bringing Digital SNAP Materials
Most families and children are isolated at home due to the pandemic. Like many organizations, we are working remotely to ensure that our SNAP Affiliates and CDI SNAP team stay safe while continuing to support our children and families. Life as we know it may have taken a pause but we are working diligently to maintain our level of support and services to the best of our capability. To help maintain and continue our work remotely, the McConnell Foundation has given a generous donation to help us adapt our materials for virtual use when conducting training, implementation, and clinical services.
In response to helping SNAP clinicians deal with virtual  programming challenges, we have launched a new e-bulletin called “SNAP Virtual” to help mobilize SNAP Affiliates. As sites face new issues such as delivery over virtual means, we wanted to make sure we can all learn and share together. On the SNAP Virtual e-newsletter, we address areas such as how to keep client confidentiality, adjusting SNAP sessions to keep children engaged with the activities, and techniques to maintain meaningful communication with families.
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SNAP Community of Practice:
City of Toronto Partnership
SNAP is pleased to announce a partnership with the City of Toronto to develop and support a GTA SNAP Community of Practice with our five SNAP licensed Affiliates in the city: Delta Family Resource Centre, The Jamaican Canadian Association / Caribbean African Canadian Social Services, The Tropicana Community Services Organization of Scarborough, and CDI SNAP East and West sites. By working collectively, SNAP children and their families can have access to culturally responsive and safe services in their community in a timely manner. Approximately 300 children and families in Toronto are waiting 1-1.5 years to access SNAP services in their community.
With this partnership, we will be working together to revitalize the SNAP centralized referral protocol to manage the SNAP Toronto waitlist and referrals. It also allows SNAP HQ at CDI to support the SNAP Toronto Affiliate sites with the use of SNAPiT, the SNAP implementation Tool - a monitoring system tracking the implementation process across the various stages of pre-implementation, implementation, and service delivery.
The partnership between the City and SNAP facilitates a collective approach for promoting positive relationships and culturally safe solutions for our communities in need. We believe that children and families in Toronto will benefit from our partnership by establishing a seamless aligned system.
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Coming Soon!
More details to come in the next newsletter regarding:
- SNAP for Schools App and Parent Portal
- SNAP for Youth App
- SNAP Coaching App, and
- The National SNAP Community of Practice
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SNAP Success Story From A
SNAP Affiliate Site
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Eliza* is a young girl in Grade 3 with diagnosed Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and ADHD. She was referred to SNAP by the Juvenile Service Department as a first-time offender after her teacher felt verbally threatened and called the police.
As an advocate, the SNAP Family and Child worker conducted numerous home and school visits to help the family adjust. Eliza showed significant progress in her ability to control her anger and impulses by creating good plans of self-control. Eliza’s mother attended the SNAP Parent groups and actively participated in sessions by building her parenting skills and supporting her daughter succeed in SNAP.
Eliza has not re-offended since completing the program and said that her favourite part of group was participating in role-plays. Her teacher has commented that Eliza seems to be a happier, more positive child and shows great improvement in completing her school homework. Her teacher also remarked that Eliza shows great talent in writing and loves the art projects assigned to her. She’s developing her acting skills through play and would one day like to become an actress in the future.
*Name has been changed for confidentiality.
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