We are pleased to announce and launch the Early Bird Contest Prizes for those individuals who set up their Walk for Down Syndrome webpage by March 21.  All those participants who have created their personal fundraising page and registered for the Walk for Down Syndrome event will receive one entry for the early bird prize of a $200 gift card to Canadian Tire and one of our new EDSS branded picnic blankets. Click here to register now! 

Important ADAP Advocacy Action for Families shared by St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud:  

“Learn to Advocate, the YouTube Live event I hosted yesterday evening with disability advocate Zachary Weeks and Michelle Kristinson of the Alberta Ability Network. It was a great beginning to the conversation about how we can all work together to stop the dangerous cuts to disability services being made by the UCP government.” 

If you want to watch the recording of the event, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEA8MuVqg_M 

Here are more links to help you keep on top of what’s happening in the legislature, and links and tools for how you can do your own advocacy. 

Alberta Urgently Needs Accessibility Legislation 

https://win.newmode.net/barrierfreea/albertaneedsaccessibilitylegislation 

I have also attached information on how to lobby your local municipality to call on the province to pause ADAP and consult with the community before making changes. Councils in Edmonton, Lethbridge, Claresholm and Camrose have already passed motions.  Read the attached materials to learn more!  

EDSS has the required paper petition in the office for you to sign, and here is a link to an online petition to stop ADAP: https://www.change.org/p/protect-albertans-with-disabilities-stop-the-transition-from-aish-to-adap 

Municipal Government Notice of Motion can be found here.

Sample Letter to Mayors & Councillors can be found here.

Also, in celebration of the upcoming World Down Syndrome Day, you can visit the new link here and help us again on our $10,000 goal for 2026!    World Down Syndrome Day 2026 #TogetherAgainstLoneliness by Edmonton Down Syndrome Society 

Read more in the newsletter about how we will be celebrating World Down Syndrome Day at a new location this year in partnership with the Castle Downs YMCA. 

Updates

Thank you to those who attended our Board Community Meeting on Monday evening.  Our Board of Directors Chair, Karen Stone and the majority of our Board Directors were in attendance.  Karen and I shared the highlights of the progress EDSS has made over the past 4 years in both programs, services and financial growth.  We also shared the strategic direction and advocacy strategy direction we are taking.  Here are a few of the highlights from the presentation.  If you have any questions, please reach out to me by email at janet@edss.ca or the office at 780 944 4224 

The Board's Strategic Priorities for 2025-2029 include:

• Enhance services to our Down Syndrome community 
• Elevate Growth and Sustainability 
• Advocate for System Change

We have worked with the Canadian Strategy Group to support us to determine the best way to approach advocacy for our community and organization.     

• Build the brand awareness about EDSS.... Who we are and Why it matters! 
• Relationship building and policy level engagement
• Critical alignment with government partners towards achieving long term outcomes for the Ds community. 

 CSG developed and distributed a survey to our members. 

•  41 members completed the survey 
• 73% were from the city of Edmonton 
• 93% identified as a parent or caregiver to an individual with Down Syndrome 
• 61% have been connected with EDSS for over ten years 

  We heard from our members what the top priorities for the advocacy strategy should be, and our Board selected these top 3: 

•  Health Care & Service Navigation
• Education & Inclusion 
• Adult Services and Transitions 

Stay tuned here each week, and I will share more about how we are progressing on each of these priorities throughout the coming months. 

Our Walk for Down Syndrome Committee is off to a great start, and we would like to acknowledge those who have already made their commitments as partners.  Thank you to Tacada, Radke Professional Corporation, Mullen Leadership, Integra Technologies, GC Custom Metals, The Ice Cream Depot, Canadian Brewhouse for your support.  If you would like to learn more about how you and your company can get involved, please review the attached partnership package.  Also, for those who are getting your teams ready to launch your fundraising page on March 21 World Down Syndrome Day, there will be an extra prize draw just for you. Please take a look here and contact us as soon as possible to be eligible for the most partner benefits.  

We have just received notice of our next Casino to support the important work we do at EDSS.  The next Casino will be September 22 & 23 at the Grand Villa Casino.  If you are interested in volunteering please watch for our call to go out in Early May. 

Thank you in advance for your support! 

Our team has been busy during these first weeks of January meeting and onboarding the newest students from the University of Alberta who are enrolled in the CSL (Community Service Learning) courses.  These students come to us with an eagerness to learn new skills and meet people they have not yet had the opportunity to work with before.  They will be supporting EDSS with projects from the upcoming World Down Syndrome Day, the Walk for Down Syndrome and various program related activities to directly work with our participants in our drop in playgroup and the Adult Day Program or Centre Stage Musical Theatre.  We are pleased to welcome these enthusiastic young people to EDSS, and we are looking forward to seeing them develop their projects over the next few weeks.  

Cold Weather Policy Reminder: 

In the event of temperatures, including wind chill, reaching -30°C or below, according to Environment Canada’s website, all programs will be canceled to prioritize safety. This excludes programs that run during office hours at the Edmonton Down Syndrome Society building. 

The office will remain open, and programs and services that are delivered at our centre will continue unless you are otherwise notified. 

Thanks to funding support from Canadian Tire Jumpstart Foundation, we are very pleased to share that we will be starting a new Floor Hockey Program March 16th. Registration  NOW OPEN Like Jumpstart, we understand the importance of sport for the health and well-being of kids and are proud of the work we do to provide sport and play for the community. Email Meghan Schritt, our Program Manager meghan@edss.ca to register.

Volunteer Opportunity – Part-time Administrative Assistant 

We are looking for someone who would be interested in working a few hours 1 day a week to support the office with a variety of administrative duties.  Please share your resume with admin@edss.ca if you have skills and interest to learn more.   

Did you know?

Through the Eye See…Eye Learn program, children in kindergarten are eligible to receive free glasses and frames. Be sure to ask your optometrist about it!