Assiniboine expanding programs to CFB Shilo

Assiniboine College and the Shilo Military Family Resource Centre have signed a memorandum of understanding to bring post-secondary education to military families and the wider CFB Shilo community.

The agreement, announced by the college late last week, doesn’t specify what classes will be offered.

“It’s very exciting, and we want to work with the community to make sure that we’re offering programs that are suited to their needs,” Rob Lavin, Shilo MFRC’s executive director, said in an interview Friday.

Lavin said he hopes training could start as early as this year.

There are barriers for education for some families in and around the military base as the college is headquartered in Brandon. These can include being a single parent or a family having only one vehicle.

“I think it’s great for us as a resource (and) for the community, it’s huge,” Lavin said.

“This is almost unheard of. I don’t know of any of the other military family resources centres in Canada that are working directly either with a college or university.”

Shilo MFRC will provide the college with the primary space for training purposes, while Assiniboine will be able to conduct training at other parts of the base, the college said in a news release.

“This flexible approach allows for hands-on and specialized training in areas such as business, culinary arts and automotive technology, among others,” the release said.

The next step for the Shilo MFRC, Lavin said, is to conduct a needs assessment to determine what programs, workshops or training might be of interest to people in the community.

The aim is bring in programs that are in line with community needs.

“From there we can actually put together an action plan,” Lavin said. “At this point, it’s really just the first step to providing some type of satellite-type training or opportunity in Shilo.”

Assiniboine’s dean of community development said the education expansion to Shilo is important as the base is set to expand.

“The Military Family Resource Centre has an obligation to help the people that come in to support them, and we want to be there to ensure that we can help them with that,” Michael Cameron said on Monday.

Last month, the federal government announced it plans to build about 180 homes at the base at a cost of $84 million.

Cameron said whatever the response is from Shilo MFRC’s assessment, the college will be able to deliver.

“I think we can respond to that need — to what we have to offer, to our current programming, or even if we have to develop new things for them,” he said.

The college wants to be able to provide education to everybody, Cameron said, and this expansion will help people in the rural area.

He wasn’t able to say how large the expansion would be, adding that it would depend on the community’s needs.

“I think the important thing is that someone is there to work with the MFRC to provide those opportunities for everybody,” Cameron said.

He also couldn’t say how the expansion might impact staff, but that Assiniboine is well established when it comes to staffing.

“If we can expand, great. If we can’t, you know, same thing,” he said.

» alambert@brandonsun.com