After seven years as our intrepid President and CEO, Margo Long will be stepping away from YESS. Her last day will be September 15, and until then we will be relishing our time with her as Outgoing CEO and also happily welcoming our Incoming CEO: Corey Mowles.

Corey and Margo will work together over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition. Corey has already settled in as the Chief Operating Officer of YESS over the past year, and we look forward to his vision and leadership as CEO.

And now, in their own words, we would like to share more from Margo and Corey.

Letter from Margo

Almost seven years ago, on September 15, 2017, I accepted the role of CEO at YESS. My goal was to stay five years—to build a financially stable YESS that can stand on its own with many great leaders, and then to get out of the way. As a team, we have created a much more stable and sustainable organization financially, and I believe today we also have an organization full of many great leaders at all different levels and roles. Things didn’t go exactly according to plan—we could not have predicted a global pandemic in the middle of things, nor did we know the big choices we would make and vision we would build. But we did. We have built such a powerful vision and road map for the future that now it is about consistent execution, continuing to build our leadership culture and getting the work done.

And I am not the one to do that. As hard as it is to say so, my work here is done. YESS doesn’t need a visionary change maker for the next five years; YESS needs a leader and a collaborative leadership team that can ensure you build the path forward together.

And so, on September 15, 2024, exactly 7 years later, I will be leaving YESS.

And the new CEO will be our very own Chief Operating Officer, Corey Mowles.

Over the last six months, the board and I have been working diligently on a recruitment and succession plan, and the board went through a recruitment process throughout March, April, and May and chose Corey to be the next CEO of YESS.

I believe with all my heart that Corey is the leader to host all YESS leaders over the next five-year journey to achieve our goals.

The road ahead will not be easy, but it is clear and completely achievable if you do it together. I cannot ever begin to thank you for trusting me to be a new leader and to help you find your vision.

I do not know what I am doing next but know that I will always be a member of YESS.

With so much love,

Letter from Corey

I am incredibly excited and honoured to step into the role of Chief Executive Officer at YESS, and I approach this opportunity with enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility. Taking over from Margo, whose leadership has been a guiding light for the organization, I am highly aware of the significant shoes I must fill. Her contributions have been foundational, and I am committed to building on her legacy with dedication and innovation.

Working alongside such a talented and passionate team to implement YESS’ bold new strategic plan is not just an exciting challenge, but a privilege. This plan captures our collective vision for the future, encompassing ambitious goals and initiatives that will propel YESS to new heights. It will be thrilling to draw on the diverse experiences and insights of each team member, ensuring that our strategies are informed by the best thinking from across our organization.

I am looking forward to learning and leveraging our combined strengths to navigate the path ahead. The collaborative spirit and commitment to excellence that define our team are qualities I deeply value. I am grateful to Margo for her exceptional guidance, to the Board for their confidence in my ability to lead, and to the entire YESS team for their support and congratulatory messages. Together, I am confident that we will achieve remarkable things and make meaningful strides in our mission. Thank you for this opportunity to contribute to and grow with such an outstanding organization.

Sincerely,

Corey Mowles is an accomplished, forward-thinking executive with a 20-year portfolio of leadership experience across diverse industries. Intellectually agile with a track record of quickly building trust-based relationships, he possesses a unique blend of skills in strategic planning and execution, talent development, coaching, and non-profit leadership. Recognizing it is people who drive results, he is a self-professed Culture Champion who encourages teammates to grow by “failing up.”

Corey has been fortunate enough to have held leadership roles in not-for-profit and philanthropic organizations in Edmonton, including the Alberta Construction Safety Association and the Edmonton Humane Society. Most recently, Corey has been an integral part of YESS in the role of Chief Operating Officer, devising and executing both strategic and operational plans, building new organizational infrastructure, cultivating a positive work culture, establishing and sharing best practices, and optimizing process efficiency.

An advocate for youth in crisis, Corey is passionate about YESS and is grateful for the opportunity to lead the organization’s bold new strategic plan to establish 24/7 Youth Support Centres across the Edmonton region. Corey is committed to fostering a safe and supportive environment where young people can thrive and reach their full potential.

Originally from Edmonton, Corey is married to his wife Talli, and they have three teenage daughters. A lover of live music and a lifelong fan of the Edmonton Oilers, Corey is a graduate of MacEwan University and earned his MBA from Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.

YESS is committed to continuing our new direction to create better outcomes for youth in crisis. Learn more about our 2024-2029 Strategic Plan.

If you have any questions, concerns, or other messages about this upcoming change in leadership, please reach out to us at reception@yess.org

Happy Pride! Around the world, June is celebrated as Pride Month. This is a time for celebration and reflection for 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and their allies, to be loud and proud about how far we have come and how far we still have to go for equal rights and safety.

To talk about the critical importance of providing safe spaces for youth and their gender expressions and sexual identites, YESS Manager of Quality Assurance, Nicole McMillan, shares the research, experiences, and insights that guide the practices in our programs.

What makes YESS safe space for 2SLGBTQIA+ youth?

YESS strives to create a space where youth can feel confident to explore and embody their gender expression and identity without fear of harm, shame, or judgement. YESS demonstrates a safe space by intentionally asking youth about pronouns used, if they need gender affirming supplies, and creating a culture where all facets of the gender spectrum are accepted and supported. Staff training is nuanced and specific and includes training on the different facets of gender (often referred to as the gender “unicorn”). Youth deadnames (the name that a transgender person was given at birth and no longer uses upon transitioning) are referenced only when legally required. YESS has several processes in place to prevent outing a youth to other services providers. 

Why is it important to provide safe spaces and specific supports for 2SLGBTQIA+ youth? What are the outcomes of providing these supports?

Providing safe spaces and specific supports for 2SLGBTQIA+ youth SAVES LIVES.

From The Trevor Project:

LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020).

The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ young people (ages 13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. — and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds.

The Trevor Project’s 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People found that 41% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including roughly half of transgender and nonbinary youth.  

(https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/) 

What is one thing you wish the community knew about youth who access YESS?

YESS youth are funny, caring, and fully fledged human beings. They’re more than their trauma story. 

This award is a testament to Eddie’s dedication, expertise, and outstanding contributions to our organization and many others along the way. His relentless pursuit of excellence, innovative strategies and commitment to financial stewardship have significantly contributed to what YESS is today. Since joining YESS, Eddie has transformed its internal financial practices, implementing controls and an accounting structure that helped us become more financially stable and sustainable. He has also helped create a culture of trust and confidence at YESS and improve the quality of life for the YESS community. 

CPA Alberta Early Achievement Nomination Video for Eddie Gots, YESS CFO

Eddie’s dedication to financial education and empowerment has resulted in increased financial safety and sustainability for the team at YESS. His mentorship has provided personal growth opportunities for staff and board members, enhancing their financial literacy and confidence. Additionally, Eddie’s departmental empowerment initiatives have allowed staff members to take more ownership of financial matters, fostering a sense of responsibility and pride in their roles. 

Today, YESS has been able to reestablish our contingency reserves and maintain our budgets, and this financial stability has ultimately allowed us to get back to doing what we do best: Provide opportunities for youth in need and prepare them for life ahead. 

Eddie has made significant strides in transforming both his organization and community. His leadership exemplifies a commitment to sustainable growth and philanthropy, leaving a lasting legacy of positive change. 

Our new focus is on addressing the holistic wellbeing of young people and a collaborative process amongst agencies to ensure young people get the help they need, when they need it, and where they need it.

The structure of our Youth Support Centre is programming that provides 24/7 help and a safe place to sleep for youth ages 15–21, as well as a daytime resource and health hub for youth 15–24.

We recognize that our expertise is in providing 24/7 help (intake, triage, stabilization, connections, and safe spaces to sleep) as well as holistic wellbeing assessments and outcomes evaluations frameworks.

Since 1981, YESS has been evolving in how we understand and improve our support of youth.

In 2017, we identified that untreated trauma is a major causal barrier in youth success and wellbeing. In previous youth support strategies, the focus has been on providing solutions to address symptoms and not enough on addressing the root cause of their difficulties: family and community breakdown and the untreated trauma in young people as a result. Over the last seven years, we re-positioned our organization to focus on understanding trauma and supporting youth on their healing journeys, resulting in better outcomes for youth. These changes include:

• Building an in-house Wellness Integration Team of psychologists and support practitioners to provide trauma-informed youth crisis stabilization and mental health education, to support front-line youth workers in crisis support and post-crisis healing, as well as programming and connections to cultural, identity, and spiritual supports for youth.
• Co-founding the Youth Agency Collaboration and helping to bring together more than 30 youth serving agencies (and growing) to create a connected and collaborative strategy for youth wellbeing and prevention of further chronic symptoms such as homelessness, addiction, and criminal involvement.
• Transitioning to a 24/7 intake centre for youth because crisis can happen anytime, and youth need a place to stabilize and sleep during the day.
• Consolidating our resource hub, medical clinic, and shelter within a single location to make it easier for youth to have access to programs, services, and supports.

In March 2023, we completed our 2018–2023 5-Year Strategic Plan and have spent this past year understanding our expertise and value in the sector, as well as what is needed most in our community.

The work we have done in listening to youth and youth workers has led us to make some very big changes in our philosophy, programming, and strategic direction for the future.

VISION AND MISSION

Vision

A more connected, holistic, and lower-barrier system for youth in crisis.

Mission

Ensure 27/4 access, safe sleeping, and compassionate holistic support within a network of care to ensure youth get the expert help they need, when they need it, and where they need it.

What are barriers?

Barriers are realities such as time and distance, expectations, and even policies that put resources out of reach of those who need them. These restrictions often prevent people from seeking help.

What is trauma?

Trauma means any form of abuse, neglect, abandonment, violent, or unexpected experience that has a lasting negative impact on the physical, emotional, or development wellbeing of an individual. Among many serious effects, untreated trauma can have long term impact on the ability to form healthy relationships.

What is holistic wellbeing?

Holistic supports look at the whole experience of being: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual/cultural needs. Physical wellbeing includes stability of living condition, basic needs such as food and clothing, substance use and impact, mental health and self-care, and access to healthcare. Emotional wellbeing includes emotional and behavioural health and social skills. Mental wellbeing includes self-worth, setting goals, and embodying healthy resilience. Spiritual/cultural wellbeing includes participation in creation activities, connection to community, family, identity, language, and peers, and connection to culture, faith, and history.

Holistic assessments are shared across Youth Agency Collaboration organizations so we can offer a consistent continuum of care for youth.

What is collaboration?

Collaboration means working together with other organizations and in line with local, provincial, and national plans to create a holistic approach to addressing homelessness. Experience with youth who are in crisis means bringing their unique needs and specialized solutions to conversations and strategies about this population.

THE YOUTH AGENCY COLLABORATION

The Youth Agency Collaboration sees a future where young people in Edmonton can have a future of their choosing by having a solid, holistic foundation to build upon. Our collaboration prides itself on having strong diversity in terms of being intercultural, inclusive of 2SLGBTQIA+ young people, including youth serving organizations which work in preventative and crisis services, and working with Indigenous partners to include ceremony as a foundational component of our ongoing process.

The Youth Agency Collaboration was formed in 2018 for youth-serving agencies to collaborate and share experiences, information, and ideas to improve outcomes for youth.

Today, YESS and more than 30 youth-serving agencies across Edmonton are part of the Youth Agency Collaboration, working together to address the barriers that youth face with regards to safer spaces, trained help, holistic wellbeing support, and transitional housing that are all accessible 24/7, and in the communities where they live.

The new structure of YESS’ Youth Support Centre is a key component of the Youth Agency Collaboration, offering 24/7 intake, crisis stabilization, and safe sleeping for youth ages 15-21, as well as daytime access to drop-in medical and mental health services, housing connections, and other resources for youth up to age 24. YESS’ Youth Support Centre programs also support entry into the Youth Agency Collaboration continuum of complex care, should it be required.

We are entering an era of change at YESS as we come out of winter, out of some of the most intense realities of the pandemic, and after integrating the learnings of our 2018-2023 Strategic Plan and our work within the Youth Agency Collaboration.

Throughout our 43 years, YESS has embraced the spirit of evolution and continuous improvement to be able to provide youth with the help they need when they need it and where they need it. We have transformed from an overnight emergency shelter to being a collaborative partner in a community of youth care leveraging more than 30 youth agencies. 

In 2018, we created an in-house trauma and mental health support program with our Wellness Integration team of psychologists and support practitioners. In 2021, YESS restructured our overnight shelter program to 24/7 access. In 2023, we moved our daytime primary medical care clinic, navigation staff, and resources from the Armoury Resource Centre to our Whyte Ave building to share space with our 24/7 crisis intervention and stabilization program and reduce barriers to access for youth. 

And now, as of spring 2024, we will be focusing entirely on our new 24/7 intake and assessment programming to use our expertise in what we see in the urgent need for crisis support. Because of this focus on what we do best and our consolidation of 24/7 help and safe sleeping with our resource and health supports, we are closing our Shanoa’s Place supportive housing location as of April 1, 2024, and will return the Connaught Armoury location to the City of Edmonton later this year. 

None of these changes are a result of organizational emergencies, but rather a direct move towards a more strategic and intentional component of the larger Youth Agency Collaboration strategy for youth in crisis in our city and province. We have had these changes in mind for a long time and now, with a developed strategy and validating evidence, we are now in a place to make them a reality. 

One thing that has stayed constant over these 43 years is the impact of our community of support. Thank you so much for continuing to advocate for youth!

YESS has been diligently working towards a new mission and vision for young people, aiming to create an environment where all young people have barrier-free access to the help they need when they need it and where they need it. Over the past seven years, we have engaged in extensive research and discussions with both youth and youth workers to better understand the needs and gaps in our system.

As part of the Youth Agency Collaboration—a group of more —we have co-developed a comprehensive strategy that not only addresses the needs of youth but also fills the gaps in our current system, paving the way for holistic wellness and measurable outcomes around life skills and wellbeing skills, rather than simply providing a list of services. A key component of this strategy is the establishment of community-based Youth Support Centres, which will offer 24/7 intake, crisis stabilization, and safe sleeping for youth 15-21, as well as daytime access to drop-in medical and mental health services, housing connections, and other resources for youth up to the age of 24. Our programs also support entry into the Youth Agency Collaboration continuum of complex care, should it be required. We will have more information about these centres and how they will support both young people and families in their communities in our May newsletter.

In alignment with our new strategic focus and commitment to excellence, we have made the decision to concentrate our efforts on what we do best. Consequently, we will be closing our supportive home program, Shanoa’s Place, shifting away from housing, and entrusting our expert partners in the Youth Agency Collaboration to continue their outstanding work in this area. We will also be moving out of the Connaught Armoury permanently, so all YESS programming will be located at our Whyte Ave building as the first YESS Youth Support Centre.

To facilitate this transition, we ceased accepting new youth for housing at Shanoa’s Place as of mid-February, with the goal of transitioning all current residents to one of our housing partners by March 31, 2024. All full-time and part-time Programs employees currently stationed at Shanoa’s Place were offered roles at our Whyte Ave location, where all YESS Programs and Facilities team members will be based starting April 1, 2024.

Additionally, after careful consideration and analysis, we have decided to return the Connaught Armoury Building (ARC) to the City of Edmonton. The ARC location, the historic space for our drop-in resource services, is not ideal for our evolving needs and is extremely costly to maintain. We believe that co-locating the Resource and Health Hub and 24/7 Help Centre into the Youth Support Centre is paramount for better efficiency and service delivery. This decision will allow us to refocus our efforts on rebuilding Whyte Ave or finding a new location for our center.

Both the closure of Shanoa’s Place and the decision regarding the ARC have always been part of our medium-term plan. We have collaborated extensively with agencies in the Youth Agency Collaboration, particularly those specializing in housing, and we firmly believe that this direction will ultimately result in improved care for the youth we serve.

We understand that change can be challenging, but we also know that the dedication of our teams across all our departments will continue to support youth with the help they need when they need it and where they need it.

Visit YESS.org/changes-at-yess to learn more!

Did you know that up to 75% of the YESS annual operating budget is provided for through donations like yours? This month, we talked to Eddie Gots, Chief Financial Officer at YESS, about the impact of community support and opportunities like monthly giving, and how that provides not only funding but also a sense of stability and consistency for youth and staff.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your position at YESS!

I’m the Chief Financial Officer here at YESS. I wear a lot of hats, working with Finance, Fund Development, and Marketing and Communications teams. But the way I would describe my role is I lead teams that do the behind-the-scenes work—or the work that you would see not related with working with youth in crisis—in order to provide stability and the ability and assurances for the teams doing that really difficult frontline work. That means that our Programs and Facilities teams have the confidence that they will have access to the tools and the funding that they need to do their work, and they will get the support and the awareness needed as well.

What makes monthly giving such an impactful way to support YESS?

Monthly giving gives us a sense of security and predictability. Funding from donors and community-based partners are amazing in how they support what we do and how we do it and what we can do. But what it doesn’t come with is a guarantee that someone is going to give money every time at the same time every year. And it makes it hard for us to then forecast and predict the way that we need to spend money, against how or when the money is going to come in.

Becoming a monthly donor gives us a sense of security so that we know we’re going to get that $20 every month. And then we know that this $20 cost that’s going to happen every month is going to be sustained by this $20 donation. It really takes the guesswork out of running the operations and having an idea or predicting what we will have to be able to spend so that we can be fiscally responsible, and not overspend or underspend at any given point in time. It gives us a security blanket of something that we can rely on.

How important is community support when it comes to YESS programs and 24/7 access?

To me, this takes me back to the topic of my role, doing the background work at YESS and providing that sense of sustainability and stability for the staff. The work that our teams do 24/7 in the community with youth has a lot of instability. And it’s not predictable. You can’t predict that crisis going to happen every day at 3PM or 5PM or 2AM, or on Saturday or Monday or Wednesday. It’s very unpredictable, and so what support like monthly giving does is create a security blanket that gives us an element of control, so that we can manage when the unpredictable happens.

By building in that sense of ownership and giving that type of empowerment to the staff to know that they’re going to have funds and resources available to be able to tackle things that are ever-changing gives them the ability to pivot as needed, without needing to wait for the bureaucracy, or needing to send something up the chain, or not being able to make the decision because they’re unsure of when something’s going to happen. They know what they have. They can use what they have to be able to make decisions rapidly and quickly in the best interests for youth.

What is one thing you wish the community knew about youth who access YESS?

That’s always a hard one to answer. There are lots of things that I want people to know. And it also changes depending on sometimes the day, sometimes the year, sometimes the person I’m talking to.

One thing I think I want people to know about youth who access YESS is that they are our future. When we move forward in life, and we get to positions where we might not be able to take care of ourselves, this generation is who we’re going to expect to be able to rely upon. It’s important to recognize that they’re the generation that is going to succeed us, they’re going to carry on our legacies or help us in those times of need when we can’t help ourselves any further. They deserve to have caring in that kindness now, if we’re going to expect it from them when we need it.