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Abbotsford, Mission, and Ridge Meadows, British Columbia
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Abbotsford Mission Ridge Meadows. “It’s wordy,” admits former Executive Director Dave Bahr, “But it sends the message that this is one agency. [Our offices in] these communities maintain some identity … yet are all part of this organization together, working towards common goals.”
The three communities certainly have much in common. All are growing communities situated just east of Vancouver in the Central Fraser Valley. They form a geographic triangle with a total population of about 250,000 people. These districts have their own economic base consisting mainly of agriculture, wood-related industries and manufacturing. Significant portions of their populations commute to work in Vancouver. With all the similarities these areas share, it seems to make good sense that their Big Brothers Big Sisters programs are now working as one.
It hasn’t always been this way. Only a few years ago, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Abbotsford was a newly merged agency, struggling to integrate the previously separate Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs. The agency had satellite operations in Ridge Meadows (an area composed of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows), but this outpost did not seem to be working to its potential.
“It was still an Abbotsford organization,” surmises Dave. “Ridge Meadows was a separate satellite, and had a working relationship with Abbotsford, but saw themselves as pretty autonomous. Abbotsford saw their role to provide support, but did not fully embrace Ridge Meadows. They did not totally integrate the satellite into the workings of the Abbotsford office.” Ridge Meadows had its own budget and fundraising efforts, a local advisory committee that referred to itself as a “board”, and always held out hope that some day it would be a standalone agency. At the same time, Abbotsford tended to look after its own priorities before addressing Ridge Meadows’ priorities.
When Dave came to the organization in 2001, he quickly found this approach to be counterproductive to the communities’ mutual goals. His approach was to shift the way of operating from one of separateness and independence to one of inclusion and integration. “It’s important to understand that, in my mind, there is a distinction between a satellite and a field office. A satellite tends to see itself as part of the agency, but also somewhat separate … A field office is one agency with two [or more] offices. It’s more of a ‘whole’, seeing it as one rather than ‘part of, but separate’.”
Dave acknowledges that others may put different definitions on these terms, but he emphasizes that given the history of how these two offices came together, there was certainly a distinction in the two approaches.
Moving from a satellite to a field office approach was a process that began by reconstituting the advisory committee. Maintaining the committee was important for the Ridge Meadows community’s input and identity. However, a fresh set of clearly defined committee terms of reference was necessary to help the advisory group see its role in a new light. No longer were they directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the Ridge Meadows office. That was the job of the main office. Their time and skills were now to be targeted more effectively to capitalize on their regional contacts, resources, referrals and community based event ideas. And with two members of the advisory committee sitting on the organization’s board, the interests of the Ridge Meadows area were sure to be represented. The agency eventually combined the budgets, staffing and programming of the two offices. It also changed its name from Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Fraser Valley, to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Abbotsford Ridge Meadows, a move that was important to provide a sense of identity to Ridge Meadows.
It wasn’t long before the name changed again, as the community of Mission was added to the mix. The agency had been receiving referrals from Mission, which they tried to service from Abbotsford. However, they had minimal success in matching children from Mission using this approach. The community of Mission, meanwhile, had been encouraging the organization to offer services there. The agency realized that opening a field office in Mission made sense in terms of “completing” its current profile and establishing a base for future growth. With the geographic triangle of the three communities now complete, the organization became Big Brothers Big Sisters of Abbotsford Mission Ridge Meadows.
“All of the old perceptions and some of the history – the view that they’re part of us but separate – has all disappeared,” reports Dave. “We’ve integrated the three offices into the whole. We’ve maintained the advisory committees to reflect the uniqueness of those communities, and at the same time we have representatives from those areas sitting on the larger board. As we develop our programs now, we do so with a view that all of those areas are part of what we do. We don’t tend to think in terms of Abbotsford first and Mission or Ridge Meadows second, but look at our needs and our goals as a whole. When we had our strategic planning session recently, we embraced all programs throughout all those areas.”
Dave believes that this approach has greatly strengthened the agency. In one year, their staff group has grown from 8 to 11 (with administration and some casework staff located in the main office, and fund development, communications and other casework staff splitting time between the field offices). Their programs have expanded considerably, with significant additional growth projected in both the traditional one-to-one and In School Mentoring programs. They also do Kids n’ Kops, wait list activities and “Youth are Mentors Two” (a leadership program for older “Littles”, certifying them as mentors in wait list and monthly activities) in all communities. While fundraising remains a challenge, their funding base and community profile has increased. “An agency of 2 staff or less can be very hard to sustain – it often doesn’t have the minimum resource base needed,” observes Dave. “We now have the necessary critical mass, which has allowed us to broaden our funding base, our staff expertise, our networking and alliances with other organizations, and more.”
So what are the downsides? “I find very few,” reports Dave. He has found that the additional pressure on fundraising, the time that must be invested in advisory committees, and the local communities’ loss of day-to-day involvement in operations, are all greatly outweighed by the benefits of belonging to a stronger, integrated organization with a solid structure on which to build and grow their programs.
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