MACDONALD YOUTH SERVICES 2016-2017 COMMUNITY REPORT Macdonald Youth Services (MYS) is a United Way member organization that receives private donations and public funding. MYS employs over 700 MISSION STATEMENT casual, full- and part-time employees, and is governed by a volunteer board MYS fosters hope and opportunities to empower children, youth, adults of directors. This community report covers agency activities and financials and families throughout Manitoba to grow and heal through safe, caring, from April 1, 2016, to March 31, 2017. respectful and collaborative relationships. ON THE COVER The cover features our new building at 175 Mayfair Avenue in Winnipeg. ACRONYMS APH Alternative Parent Home Service ARCH Adolescent Resources in Community Homes CONTENTS CSU Crisis Stabilization Units › A Message from the President 4 ICS Indigenous Cultural Services › A Message from the CEO 6 › Agency Overview 7 ILS Independent Living with Supports › Clinical Services 10 MYS Macdonald Youth Services › Indigenous Cultural Services 12 OCN Opaskwayak Cree Nation › By the Numbers 14 PAY Positive Alternatives for Youth › Placement Services 17 SIP Specialized Individual Placement Service › Community Services 20 › A Year to Remember 28 TMC Therapeutic Model of Care › Sponsorship and Donors 34 YCSS Youth Crisis Stabilization System › Grants 35 YRC Youth Resource Centre/Shelter › Financial Report 36 › Board of Directors 38 3 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT It has truly been a pleasure and a privilege to for Winnipeg—it has been our honour to be associated with him. Thanks serve as Chair of the MYS board over the past also to our building team: Joe Bova and Giselle Macdonald of Resolve; our three years. I have worked with wonderful people. architects Ray Wan and Michael Chan; and Stuart Olsen Construction. They I salute my fellow board members and the staff delivered “on time and on budget”—we just love that phrase. at the agency. You all have good hearts and One of our most important undertakings over the past two years has been wonderful spirits. Your service makes a difference in our community. reflecting on the calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission The mission of MYS and the services we deliver every day to youth, families, report. In Manitoba, we are all treaty people. We need to more truly know and our partner agencies is essential. There are not many opportunities what this means and bring new perspectives into our institutions. At MYS in life to noticeably make the world a better place; without question this is we are doing the analysis, gaining a better understanding of the needs of the what MYS does through every young person and every family we help. On youth and families we serve, and adapting our programs to honour all our the front line, it is hard work but it can also be incredibly rewarding. I can’t relationships in a better way. This is an epic journey that we have begun well. say enough about how much I admire the work that all the MYS employees, This journey will test our capacity to listen, understand, and change for years families, and volunteers do. to come. At the end of the 2016-2017 financial year I can state that we have a small Finally, we are working on relationships with our partners: our sister financial surplus supported by a clean letter from our independent auditor agencies, all three levels of government, the United Way, the Winnipeg MNP. We are also in compliance with all laws and regulations. Foundation, and the many businesses and individuals who support what Our most visible accomplishment over the past year was the construction of we do. We share a common wish—that every young person who has our new building at 175 Mayfair Avenue. The therapeutic space is a superb experienced deep trauma and dislocation has the chance to heal and grow resource for our clinical and counselling services. Too often, social services to be their best self. To make that wish come true, our relationships need are the poor cousins of the community health care system. Our therapy to be better—more respectful, more trusting, and more positive. “It takes a space will raise the level of our performance. village.” This achievement happened because people in the community came Meegwetch. I will continue to serve and support MYS as a Past President. It together in an exceptional way. There are many heroes here but I would like is a wonderful organization. to particularly thank Edward and Stella Kennedy, who provided leadership for our capital campaign; Brad Wolfe, who chaired the campaign committee; and Stuart Murray, whose astute navigational skills and amazing network of Ian Gillies people were essential to our success. Stuart has done so many great things Chair, Board of Directors 4 New therapeutic and administrative centre This state-of-the-art, 33,000-square-foot facility replaced three older buildings and centralized staff who were spread throughout six locations in Winnipeg. One-third of our new space is devoted to therapeutic programs such as art, music, and cultural activities, as well as individual and family counseling. The centre was completed in March 2017. We are pleased that amalgamating staff to one location is helping to save costs for the agency. MESSAGE FROM THE CEO Our 2016-2017 fiscal year opened with optimism accomplished without the amazing support of so many donors and our and closed with a sense of accomplishment, yet capital campaign team, led by Honourary Co-Chairs Stella and Edward with much left to be done. Kennedy and Campaign Chair Brad Wolfe. They worked to help us surpass April began with a call from the provincial our initial fundraising goal. government confirming that a four-year wage As with most projects of such scope, the relationships that were built over increase had been approved for employees in our sector, retroactive to the year form a lasting legacy for those involved, while the facility itself will April 2015. This was fantastic and long-anticipated news as MYS staff had have an incredible impact on the many, many families who will benefit from waited several years for a wage increase. Alas, the provincial government our services. changed before the wage increase could be mandated officially, leaving all Throughout the year, our organizational structure continued to evolve within employees—frontline youth care practitioners, office workers, supervisors, the values of our Therapeutic Model of Care (TMC). With support from an therapists, and managers—with more years of stagnant, eroding anonymous donor and from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Foundation, compensation. Even a two-week strike by a small, certified bargaining unit we have been able to move forward with the development of relevant client could not budge the new government to provide the means for a wage outcome goals to measure the effectiveness of our service within the tenets increase that was equivalent to those approved before the change in of the TMC. I look forward to sharing our first results with you as part of next government. year’s annual report. At the end of March 2017, we continued to wait for the results of an MYS has continued in our efforts to prevent youth homelessness. Our Youth arbitration process with another of our bargaining units, fully aware that any Resource Centre provides shelter as well as basic needs and counselling award from the arbitrator would not be supported with increases in funding for youth who are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. Through to MYS. Greater efforts are required to ensure that compensation within our Transition Services in Winnipeg, as well as LIFE and MYTEAM services in sector reflects the importance of our work in helping to change the lives of Thompson, MYS helped youth develop skills for living, employment, and children, youth, and families. thriving independently in an adult world. For youth in all of our programs, we Later in April 2016, MYS formally broke ground on our new therapeutic encourage education, with increasing numbers of youth in our care reaching centre. By bringing teams together, MYS has been able to provide a more educational milestones, including high school graduation. Post-secondary integrated, fluid service for clients while also lowering our operational education attendance has been increasing among youth as well, often costs. In March 2017, MYS formally cut the ribbon on our new facility! The as youth are leaving our care at age 18. MYS also remains involved in a building was “on time, on budget,” a testament to the skill of our project leadership capacity with Winnipeg’s plan to end youth homelessness, known manager (Resolve), architect (Ray Wan), contractor (Stuart Olson), as well as Here and Now. as the diligence of our Board of Directors. This goal could not have been 6 MESSAGE FROM THE CEO AGENCY OVERVIEW Each youth served by MYS is incredibly unique and special. Employees, Macdonald Youth Services provides placement programming and foster parents, and volunteers have the honour of guiding, sharing, and community services. knowing the youth as they grow, heal, and develop their individual talents. A COMMUNITY SERVICES few highlights from the year include: › Youth Crisis Stabilization System › a young man who was presented with a Youth Role Model Award by › Coach Program (1 and 2) the City of Winnipeg for his role in establishing a program at a local high › Youth Resource Centre/Shelter school to talk about mental health and combat suicide among students; › Transition Services: › a young woman who received our education bursary as she entered the • Positive Alternatives for Youth Environmental Design Program at the University of Manitoba; and • Life Train Program › youth who volunteered with the Bear Clan, with some becoming regular, • Independent Living with Supports respected members of the group.