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40 care workers laid off from YWCA In-home support program transitions to other organizations this month
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Friday, September 6, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Some Yellowknifers with developmental disabilities and mental health issues and the staff who work with them are being shuffled between care agencies this month.
In-home support programs are being transferred from the YWCA to the Yellowknife Association for Community Living (YACL) and the Salvation Army.
The Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority (YHSSA) tendered a request for proposals in February for agencies to bid on providing the services. The YWCA had been offering the services to vulnerable Yellowknifers for the past 27 years. That's all coming to a close at the end of this month.
YACL was awarded an $8.3-million contract to provide services to 20 individuals with developmental disabilities over four-and-a-half-years. The Salvation Army won a $3.35-million contract to provide for 28 people with mental health services over the same time period.
Les Harrison, chief executive officer for the YHSSA, said the contracts were tendered because the YWCA had been providing services for those with mental health issues and developmental disabilities for the past eight years without competition.
"These were programs that we realized we should be doing an RFP (request for proposals) to give them all an opportunity," Harrison said.
He said the transition from the YWCA to the other two agencies might be bumpy for staff and clients, but it's being done with the clients' best interests in mind, he said. "At the end of the day, we're trying to create the best support for our clients."
Harrison said the YWCA had done well in the past providing for its clients, but it didn't make the cut this time.
"They've done an excellent job. But, at the end of the day, when you put out an RFP there's criteria that you put out and it comes down to the best proposal," Harrison said.
Lyda Fuller, executive director of the Yellowknife YWCA, said the organization chose not to bid on the services for those with mental health issues because she said the Salvation Army has better facilities. She added the YWCA assisted the Salvation Army with its proposal.
Fuller isn't clear on why services for adults with developmental disabilities will be transferred from the YWCA to YACL, however.
"YHSSA had their own reasons for putting this out to tender and making this change," Fuller wrote in an e-mail to Yellowknifer. "After 27 years of providing services for this group, of course we are concerned about the outcomes."
Fuller said she's optimistic the transition will allow the YWCA to better focus on its core services - providing for the homeless, families in need and reducing the impacts of violence.
As a result of the transition, the YWCA will have to lay off about 40 staff who were involved with the in-home program this month. Harrison said the contract was awarded to the Salvation Army and YACL in April. Since then, many YWCA workers have left their jobs to pursue other work or work with the Salvation Army and YACL.
Ruth Gillingham, executive director of the Salvation Army in Yellowknife, said she originally expected the transition to take place Oct. 1, but the organization has already had to begin because of the amount of staff who have left the YWCA.
"Many of the staff secured other employment after hearing of the transition," Gillingham said.
YACL has faced similar difficulties. Lynn Elkin, executive director of YACL, said the association started taking over from the YWCA on Sept. 1 and expects to be finished by Sept. 23.
"We knew going in it might be challenging to keep running things the way they were. People have decided to look for other jobs, some people decided to leave the field," Elkin said.
Both Elkin and Gillingham said their organizations have hired ex-YWCA staff to fill their new positions, but did not say how many of those staff have found jobs with the two organizations. While there may have been an exodus from the YWCA following the news, both YACL and Salvation Army are ready to take on the job, according to their directors.
Both organizations say they intend to keep programming and services the same but YACL expects it will be able to provide space for additional clients.
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