The boards of directors of the Community Resource Centre of the North Thompson (CRC) and Yellowhead Community Services Society (YCS) are pleased to announce that effective May 1, 2011, Yellowhead Community Services Society will assume responsibility for the administrative and management of the Community Resource Centre and its services.
"We are very excited with the outcome of our discussions with YCS which will bring financial stability and long term sustainability to the Centre," said Ron Hadley, CRC chairperson. "This has long been a goal of our board of directors, and the CRC can now devote its energy to more training, course and activity development."
" YCS is excited about having a training/education division, and this will support other YCS operations such as Clearwater Employment Services, and particularly as we hope to expand employment services in the North Thompson," said YCS chairperson Louise Weaver.
"This is great news for the North Thompson valley," says Kamloops North MLA Terry Lake." We are glad that the transition funding we provided has facilitated this collaboration for the benefit of these two valuable organizations and their respective programs." "I know there was a lot of effort put into this, and both societies should be congratulated for their efforts and creativity."
Lake worked to secure one time funding of $50,000 to ensure services continued during the transition.
Representatives from the respective societies have been meeting for the past six weeks to finalize the details respecting the various programs and services that are offered at the Community Resource Centre.
"The changes we have made will be barely noticeable to the public as the centre is going to summer hours as of May 1, and the hours of operation will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with evening and weekend openings as required," said CRC manager Sylvia Arduini.
There are some internal changes with the partnership with Thompson Rivers University that will be seamless to the public and the whole restructuring is very exciting to all organizations.
Overall, the intention is to have the CRC operate and manage similarly to its present operation.
"Much of the financial stability was realized by cost efficiencies with the two organizations coming together," said YCS executive director Jack Keough.
The key partners in the CRC - School District #73; Thompson Rivers University and the Ministry of Social Development - remain committed to the continued operations of the CRC.
Preliminary plans are underway to recognize the efforts of past and present CRC board members as well as other community members who have supported its operations over the years. This event will be combined with a "community focus" forum that will be used to garner ideas and suggestions for further resource and program development at the CRC. The date for this event has yet to be scheduled but will likely be sometime in September to coincide with the launch of new courses at the CRC.
– contributed by Yellowhead Community Services Society