Happy holidays and looking to 2025

Dear Federation Members,

Happy holidays and thank you for contributing so much of your time, energy, and ideas this fall to our strategic planning, regional meetings, member outreach, and educational sessions.

It was a busy season to end a year full of external change which included a provincial election and, sadly, devastating health news for our Minister of Children and Family Development, the Honourable Grace Lore. The recent appointment of interim Minister Jodie Wickens points to further changes at MCFD in the year ahead. The Federation has connected with Minister Wickens, inviting her to meet members and participate in our upcoming Social Policy Forum. We will share more information as it comes.

Internally, 2024 was a year of significant modernization for the Fed and this will become increasingly clear to you in the new year as we deploy software called GlueUp, that will manage our contacts, events, membership, communications, and data in an integrated manner. In addition, the Federation has made significant overhauls of our governance, financial practices, human resources, communications, and data management.

Notably, in 2024 our Executive Committee and many of our Associate members were also active partners with us on the Social Service Sector Roundtable, as well as its Reference Group, Contracting Committee, working groups, and advisory committees. Many Fed members are also members of other associations, and we have taken a collaborative approach with them over a competitive one at your advice.

These partnerships lead to new funding in 2024 for agencies to access supervisory training which is now being co-ordinated by ASPECT BC. The Federation also helped lead the contracting committee alongside Board Voice, BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres (BCAAFC), and the BC Association for Child Development and Intervention (BCACDI). This work is focused on developing new multi-year contracting opportunities and addressing workforce retention and wage gaps for para-professionals specifically, and between the social services and healthcare more generally.

In committee, we worked closely with public servants and Roundtable members to help map out the sector as a way to clearly communicate with new Ministers and Deputies post-election. We also were very active in the area of cybersecurity in hopes of introducing sector wide solutions in the years ahead, as well as in training and education. We partnered with CCSEA on free access to online training modules, as well as with the Community Social Services Health and Safety Association (CSSHSA) and Canadian Mental Health Association BC (CMHA-BC) on workplace mental health training. We co-hosted a successful Prince George event in May with Vantage Point and The Federation sponsored and provided education sessions at Housing Central.

2025 brings new opportunity – to support members in this very interesting political climate, to further improve Federation internal structures, and to further strengthen partnerships across the sector. Some of this work is already taking shape but there are other initiatives we are excited to share. Regional meetings have been scheduled through 2025. Thank you for flagging these and the Member Support and Information Exchange meetings as key meetings for us to host. We also want to thank the staff and Regional Directors for prioritizing this important piece of work.

We are excited with the partnership established with Board Voice and BCAAFC to collaborate on Social Policy Forum 2025. PARCA has aligned their winter meetings to the same week, allowing important sector members an opportunity to participate.

We are also excited at the work we are doing to reconnect with our rural and Northern members. We will once again be in person in Prince George, working with CSSHSA and other partners to bring in-person training opportunities forward. And while a big change for us, we are also very excited to move our AGM and June Conference to Kelowna.

Perhaps the biggest piece of work in 2025 will be confirming the Federation’s strategic priorities and operationalizing them. This is big undertaking, but we are up for the challenge. Thank you for taking the time to answer the strategic planning survey. The information you shared will ensure that our work remains impactful and aligned with the needs of our community. We look forward to sharing more with you in the new year.

On behalf of Federation team, we would like to wish you a happy holiday and a safe and happy new year. Together, we’ll make 2025 a year of growth, collaboration, and innovation as we continue working toward a stronger, more connected social services sector.

Tim Veresh, President and Kishone Roy, Executive Director
The Federation of Community Social Services of British Columbia

Please Note
The Federation offices will be closed from noon, December 24, 2024, through January 1, 2025, opening on Thursday, January 2, 2025.