Community Care East York and WoodGreen Community Services have decided to join forces to bring the best services to the people of east Toronto.
"Basically the two organizations have felt there were benefits to the community if we looked at integration," said Brian Smith, WoodGreen's president and CEO.Both organizations offer similar services for seniors with WoodGreen working with those south of Danforth Avenue and CCEY working with those north of it."We both serve the same people next door to each other so we think in the long run there could be efficiencies in services," Smith said.Barbara Nytko, CCEY's executive director, said the organization's goal is to keep seniors in their home as long as possible, but as seniors age and as the population grows they were going to need to look at other options and CCEY is too small an organization to do research and innovation so integrating with WoodGreen seemed like the right move. "The CCEY board did a very thorough strategic planning process and they looked at where the organization needed to be," Nytko said. "The board recognized this agency had to grow in order to be viable in the future."Joining with WoodGreen allows for that growth and the two organizations have worked together on projects before."There's been a strong relationship over the years," Smith said.Clients won't likely notice much of a difference and those they do notice will be improvements, Nytko said."We have made a commitment to ensuring our clients receive the same level of service. The same staff will be dealing with them," she said. "From the client's perspective there really should be no changes."The agencies have signed a memorandum of understanding that sets out the core principles for proceeding. They are working towards an effective date of midnight on Dec, 31 for the merger to be official. The two are coming together under the name WoodGreen Community Services.In the meantime both organizations are sharing information with staff, clients and the public. A series of community information sessions are taking place including one Sept. 7 in the council chambers of the East York Civic Centre from 6 to 9 p.m. and another Sept. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the York Reception Centre. "We want to be totally open and transparent...So we can address all questions community members might have," Smith said. Both said there would be no cuts to staff or programs and that efficiencies would come through retirements, and they that by combining their efforts they'll be able to do more with the same resources. CCEY serves 8,000 people annually and engages more than 300 volunteers. WoodGreen Community Services is one of the largest social service agencies in Toronto. It has 530 staff members, 1,000 volunteers and serves 37,000 people each year from 25 locations. For more information visit, www.woodgreen.org or www.ccey.org