What happens when families need support, but accessing it becomes one more barrier to navigate?
Rising costs, transportation challenges, and increasing pressure on time and energy are changing how families participate in community life. For many families, programs are becoming difficult to access consistently. Reporting shows that many families continue to face barriers accessing community and early learning supports, “…including affordability, scheduling challenges, and limited availability within their local communities (Statistics Canada, 2021). At the same time, the hourly wage needed to meet basic living costs remains well above Alberta’s minimum wage, creating additional financial pressure for many families (Calgary Social Policy Collaborative & Enough for All, 2024).
When resources are stretched, even low-cost or well-intended programs can become difficult for families to access consistently. This is where barrier-free programming becomes critical for families and communities as a whole. Accessible programming is not simply about offering free activities, it is about reducing the number of obstacles families must navigate before they are able to participate in community life at all.
Carya’s Families In Community programming is creating spaces where families are realistically able to participate, remain connected, and access support when, where and how they need it, at no cost. There is a growing need for these types of spaces across our city.
As Shauna Pivarnyik, Supervisor of Families in Community, explains, “Families thrive when they feel connected to the people and places around them.”
The programming is intentionally designed with this reality in mind. Programs are not only offered at Carya’s community hubs locations, but also within neighbourhood spaces such as community halls, partner organizations, and local hubs, so that families across the city can access support closer to home. Childminding is offered for several of our programs at our Village Commons and Bowmont Commons community hubs to better facilitate access for families participating in programs not suitable for children to attend, or who have additional children needing care while they attend with another child. By removing the barriers of transportation and cost, families are more able to participate consistently and build relationships that continue beyond a single program or service.
“Our goal is to help families build natural supports,” Shauna says. “When families meet others in their neighborhood, those relationships often continue long after the program ends.”
That continuity matters. When programs are designed with flexibility and accessibility in mind, caregivers can engage more fully, children are able to form connection, and providers are better positioned to identify when additional support may be needed.
Families in Community programming focuses on caregivers and children from birth to age six, a period that plays a critical role in early childhood development and attachment. Programs such as Drop-In play, Parent-Child Mother Goose, Infant Massage, and a variety of parenting groups that evolve with the unique needs of the community, are all intentionally designed to support connection through everyday interactions and shared experiences.
“Sometimes it looks like we’re just singing songs or playing with toys,” Pivarnyik explains. “But there’s a lot of thought behind it. These activities help children build social skills, emotional awareness, and confidence.”
Equally important is the environment these programs create. Families in Community aims to foster welcoming, non-judgmental spaces where caregivers feel safe asking questions, sharing experiences, and learning alongside one another.
“We don’t see ourselves as the experts on families’ lives,” says Pivarnyik. “Parents know their children best. Our role is to walk alongside them, provide tools and information, and create spaces where families can support each other.”
At Carya, barrier-free access is not simply about increasing attendance. It is about creating conditions where families increase skills and knowledge, enhance early development and attachment, and remain connected to community – before isolation deepens or support systems begin to break down.
Accessible community programming is not peripheral work. It is part of the preventative social infrastructure families increasingly rely on to stay connected, supported, and well.
Statistics Canada. (2021, August 25). Patterns of participation in early learning and child care among families with potential socioeconomic disadvantages in Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2021008/article/00002-eng.htm
Calgary Social Policy Collaborative, & Enough for All. (2024, November 6). Calgary’s living wage 2024. https://enoughforall.ca/resources/living-wage-outcomes-harvest