The Hub is all about one stop shopping

Mayor Vic, Miss Lowe and Hub Director Kim Bergeron cut the ribbon to officially open the first area hub at Ecole St-Vincent.

Students, staff and parents at Ecole St-Vincent celebrated the official opening of the first Nipissing Best Start program Thursday.

The Carrefour francophone Meilleur départ de North Bay also known as the ‘hub’ will serve the Best Start needs of francophone families.

“For us it is a community thing, in this case this hub is directed specifically towards the francophone population,” says St-Vincent Principal Michel Pagé.

“So for us it’s a no brainer to be able to participate in the fact of getting all the francophones together in one place and having all the services in one place, so people aren’t running all around town not knowing what’s existing.”

“Now we have a chance to know what’s there for the kids and have it all in one spot ... for us (St-Vincent) we were just too happy to house them within our school and be part of the community in a bigger way,” he adds.

Pagé also notes that having the hub housed in the school allows parents and kids to see and live within a school setting.

“Whether they are going to be coming to St-Vincent or one of the other schools the fact is that they will be better prepared to be living within the school for the next 8 to 10 years depending on the school.”

“So it gives them a chance to get used to the whole school setting whether it be here or elsewhere.”

The Best Start program is a provincial program administered by District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board that brings area child service organisations (One Kids Place, Early Years Centre and Community Living North Bay) together with a one stop shop approach for child services in the community.

“We are very excited about today,” said area Best Start Coordinator Karen Cobb.

“Many dedicated individuals representing a wide variety of organizations have been working for a very long time to reach this point. This is the start of a great new beginning for children’s services. Today is a fabulous best start for Best Start.”

Officials were also excited to launch the new logo for the Nipissing Best Start logo and slogan developed by TWG Communications. The look of the logo is clean and inviting. The figures are representative of everyone and anyone, regardless of gender, age, culture, linguistic heritage, religious belief and so on.