January 23, 2023
St.Amant begins 2023 with a renewed commitment to inclusion and connection for everyone we support. We are challenging ourselves to return to a more balanced and empowering approach: we want to support people to be more active in their communities. New energy is being poured into our goal of meaningful connections with others for all of the people we support. That means recommitting to truly knowing the people we support, and understanding and respecting their choices whenever possible. You can expect to hear much more about Meaningful Connections in the months ahead.
2023 is also the final year of our current strategic plan. The plan is organized around human rights and advocacy, something that inspires me every day. COVID may have slowed us down, but we are working very hard to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. Over the coming months, I look forward to sharing more with you about our progress. Preparation for the next strategic plan will begin later this year.
As you may have heard, the disability sector is again rallying together to advocate for increased wages for direct support professionals. Friends and family of the people we support have a very strong voice. Please take a few minutes to write to your MLA about the importance of a well-trained and consistent workforce; it will make a huge difference – the collective voices of families are hard for our funders to ignore. I also recognize that we have many other staffing groups who are waiting for news on their wages. We continue to advocate with our funders for fair wages for all staff.
I hope you’ll join us at the first family Town Hall of the year, where I’ll have the opportunity to introduce our new Chief Financial Officer, Julia Peemoeller. You can read about her in this announcement.
Wishing you all an excellent start to the year!
Ben Adaman
President & CEO