Strathmore youth to benefit from merger

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Two Calgary-based organizations devoted to improving the lives of children and families are merging to deliver more integrated services to their communities, and Strathmore is expected to benefit from the amalgamation.
On April 15, Aspen Family and Community Network (Aspen) and Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary (BGCC) announced the two groups are merging to create a new, “unified” organization. Management teams are determining how services and systems will be integrated, resulting in stronger supports for vulnerable children, youth and families, according to a press release announcing the merger.
The move will help create “one big door” for people looking for support services, said Aspen CEO Shirley Purves.
The merger will help introduce services provided by BGCC to Strathmore, which could supplement existing youth services within the town, said Purves.
“Looking at the youth population in Strathmore, there’s an opportunity for us to bring some of the work that Boys and Girls Club is doing in Calgary, and actually bring some of it to our team in Strathmore,” she said.
“Strathmore has grown like crazy in the area of youth – the service providers there tell us they are maxed out.”
As a standalone organization, Aspen conducted referrals to other agencies in the past, but there was not “an authentic and inherent connection,” said Purves.
“We weren’t linking and connecting,” she said. “People had to jump from place to place, and there wasn’t a warm hand offering continual support in a careful, compassionate and caring way.”
The merger is a bold move that required careful planning, said Purves.
“It’s been a lot of work getting to this place,” she said. “We have done financial due diligence with PwC (an accounting firm) and legal due diligence with credible legal firms.
“We are being very strategic and very purposeful about making sure that this is the right thing to do.”
While the move could save costs, there is little overlap between the actual services provided by each organization, said Purves.
“When we actually map that out, we are not sitting on each other’s doorsteps,” she said.