We are often asked "who is FNDC". In a nutshell, we are a non-profit society supporting deaf and hard of hearing 'signing' children, their families, and their communities throughout B.C.

Our Board of Directors are all parents of deaf children. The board is a 'policy and direction' board. When FNDC first began the board was a 'working' board. We found that over the years, the workload increased and increased to the point that Board members became overwhelmed and overworked. Through the use of Gaming funds, donations and our deaf youth contract we able to hire part time staff to manage the day to day affairs and bookkeeping.

Yes - it is confusing. Our organization primarily focuses on deaf and hard of hearing children that use sign language or are learning sign language. Recently, there have been many hard of hearing teens wanting to learn sign language. It's great to share a community: deaf, hard of hearing and hearing. Our core belief is that it's the communication that brings us together.

We tend to not capitalize the word "deaf". Some deaf children and youth make a decision to refer to themselves as Deaf. By using the capital "D" Deaf, they are stating their identity as a member of the Deaf Community. We respect that. Generally, we use the term 'deaf' when referring to children and youth. Our organization is open to anyone with a deaf or hard of hearing family member. Many d/Deaf adults with hearing children subscribe to our newsletter.

Absolutely not. Although, from time to time, if an organization or program requests us to send out information that is valuable to our readers, we will ask them to provide postage-paid envelopes. We will then place our mailing labels on the envelopes and put them in the mail box ourselves. This ensures that you receive the information, but that the mailing list remains confidential. At the same time, this saves us money as we don't pay the postage costs.

FNDC manages a contract called "Deaf Youth Today" or commonly known as DYT. DYT is a social/recreational and leadership program for signing deaf and hard of hearing children and teens. Our primary focus is summer programs for deaf and h/h teens. During the school year, we focus mainly on leadership training for deaf teens or young deaf adults. We are successfully meeting the goal of training deaf youth to be in leadership roles during our summer programs.

Forrest Smith DYT Summer Program Manager for the Deaf Youth Today program. Forrest is Deaf. Forrest is passionate about giving deaf children experiences that will build a stronger community in the future.

Can you share confidential information with us? You bet you can. Forrest’s involvement with ensures that each and every parent can contact DYT and be guaranteed confidentiality.

Being that our Board of Directors and some staff are parents of deaf children, it isn't appropriate for any other parents to know the business of other parents of deaf children. Forrest’s involvement with DYT and FNDC guarantees your right to privacy.

DYT has a process in the Spring time asking for signing deaf and hard of hearing youth to send in their resumes. Watch for this information through FNDC's e-news and our website etc. We focus on hiring signing deaf/h/h teens and young adults. After resumes are collected, Forrest, the DYT Summer Manager will then set up an interview process. The Board of Directors and FNDC staff have absolutely no input into this process. This is our way of ensuring that favoritism does not interfere with the selection process.

I suppose the question is an interesting one.... How many hearing social/recreational programs out there hire deaf and hard of hearing leaders? It's a thought provoking question, isn't it?

DYT is a fun social/recreation program for deaf and h/h children, but its also an AMAZING training program for deaf and h/h teens. Our Board feels strongly about the need to train more and more young deaf adults and offer them opportunities that will make them more employable in the future.

The Tribune Bay Outdoor Education Centre is managed by Gord Campbell, who has a deaf child. Gord has worked with Deaf Youth Today in beginning a training program for young deaf teens/adults. Each year, the Deaf Youth Today staff work along side the Tribune Bay staff during the Deaf Youth Today 5 Day Residential Camp. As well, the DYT staff stay on to work at the Deaf Family Camp for the long weekend in July. Because Gord has a deaf son, he feels strongly about empowering deaf teens, and teaching them to become future leaders. His personal philosophy, and that of the Outdoor Education Centre, was a great fit for DYT.

Your input, and ideas are ALWAYS welcome. We are always on the prowl figuring out how to improve things. Phone or email us. For example: if communication, finances etc. are problems - we need to hear about that. We are trying to be creative in meeting the needs of EVERY single family. If we are doing something wrong - tell us. If we are doing something right - tell us that too!

In order to keep costs to a minimum, our part time staff work out of their homes. We had a FNDC line that was attached to a home phone. Unfortunately, quite often, the phone would ring in the middle of the night or during dinner time. It was decided we have a FNDC and DYT cellphone. We no longer have a tty number, as the cellphone takes voice calls and texts messages.