Joyce Schrader with the Portage Family Abuse Prevention Centre.

A recent international conference focused on womens issue will have a very important affect on future programs in the Central Plains.

Joyce Schrader, the Executive Director for the Portage Family Abuse Prevention Centre attended the 2nd Annual World Conference of Women's Shelters in Washington D.C. The event brought together more than 1400 advocates, activists and leaders from 96 countries to collaborate on such issues as violence against women.

Schrader says the summit has opened her eyes to several new ideas of what they could be doing here to improve services and reach more victims, more efficiently. One of interest was the Housing First project, which has been extablished in many communities in the United States, and in Canada, in Medicine Hat. She says it is a format Portage la Prairie will be examining in the future.  

Schrader says running a shelter can be isolating but that networking with people who work in a similar field has opened up many new bonds and partnerships.