On Thursday, July 27th, Bissell Centre held its 102nd Annual General Meeting where discussions centered on the 2012-2013 Annual Report, the CEO Report, the new pilot program 24/7 MAP, and upcoming initiatives for the organization. Attendance included Homeward Trust, REACH Edmonton, The City of Edmonton, representatives from the Edmonton United Church Presbytery, Bissell Centre CEO Mark Holmgren, plus Board Members and Bissell Centre staff.
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From the website – slate.com:
“Dutch photographer Jan Banning’s interest in social and political subjects and his skill as a portrait photographer seemed the perfect fit for a story on the American South’s homeless population.
In 2010, Banning was invited to be an artist-in-residence at the 701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia, S.C., where they suggested he focus on homelessness for a photography series.

24/7 Mobile Assistance Program (24/7 MAP) is a pilot program that actively addresses the underlying causes of vulnerability. These causes often include lack of housing, addictions and physical/mental illness, amongst a variety of other difficulties that Edmonton’s homeless population faces. Supported by REACH Edmonton and Homeward Trust, 24/7 MAP will be benefitting our homeless population and the City of Edmonton by decreasing dependency on emergency services while increasing access to necessary supports.
Our Commitment to the Community
It’s an unfortunate reality that when homeless members of our population need immediate help, they often have nowhere to turn and can’t access appropriate support services. If an issue isn’t addressed quickly and effectively it can often snowball and create undue costs:
– Housing homeless citizens in shelters can cost $1,932 per month.
– An individual in jail for a month costs $4,333.
– A hospital bed can cost $10,900 per month.
By working closely with 211 Edmonton (a program of The Support Network) and first responders, 24/7 MAP assists in crisis situations and provides assertive support and referrals for the most vulnerable members of our population. This approach will more effectively address the needs of individuals and relieve the costs that come with emergency medical, police and judicial services.
Real Solutions for Crisis Situations
When a homeless individual is in need of assistance, but the nature of their crisis isn’t appropriate for EPS or EMS involvement, the 24/7 MAP team intervenes. The team consists of multi-disciplinary staff that can address diverse needs through assertive engagement and who will bring resolution to the situation that has prompted their involvement.
Once the 24/7 MAP team has addressed the immediate situation they will then be able to work with the individual to develop a support and referral plan. The most important element of the plan is helping the individual find housing; the team has been funded to provide 80 housing placements annually. Once housed, we’re able to provide Follow up Support, and assist in accessing any resources necessary.


A picture is worth a thousand words.

The above graph is from “Income, Wealth, and Inequality” – published February 2103 by Citizens for Public Justice. The narrative below is taken in full from a Fact Sheet published by the CPJ. You can download the full report HERE. You can also download other fact sheets HERE.
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Over the past 30 years, the gap between Canada’s highest and lowest earning families has grown. On average, the highest earning 20% of Canadian families saw their after-tax incomes increase by 36.9% during this period, while “the average after-tax incomes of the lowest 20% rose by 20.3%” (Statistics Canada, 2010 as cited in Citizens for Public Justice, 2013, p. 13).
In contrast to the increasing wages of CEOs, middle-income positions are becoming rare and low-wage sectors now employ 25% of the population, paying approximately $13.33/hour in 2012 (Yalnizyan, 2011 as cited by Citizens for Public Justice, 2013, p. 10). According to Yalnizyan, this group of workers also experienced the largest decrease in hourly wages (an average of 2.25%) between 2009 and 2011 (as cited by Citizens for Public Justice, 2013, p. 12).
The volatility of wages for this earning group increases their household debt levels and leads to greater wealth inequality. Between 1984 and 2005, households in the lowest 10% experienced a decrease in wealth or assets from -$2100 to -$9600, (Citizens for Public Justice, 2013,p. 15). This group and other households making less than $50,000 are also six times more likely to have a high debt service ratio (Hurst, 2011 as cited by Citizens for Public Justice, 2013, p.17). As this group struggles with credit debt, an inability to accumulate assets and high debt servicing costs, the top 10% of the population hold 14% of total wealth (Canadian Business, 2012 as cited by Citizens for Public Justice, 2013, p.15). Read More…
Bissell Centre is urging the public to help… ensuring those in need can continue to receive job opportunities that require safety equipment. As construction season ramps up in our city, Bissell Centre is in great need of 200 pairs of new and gently used men’s steel-toe boots, size 9 – 12 to ensure low income individuals looking for work are able to get jobs and work safely.

Guided by the vision of eliminating poverty in our community, Bissell Centre works with others to empower people to move from poverty to prosperity. “Employment Services plays a key role in connecting Edmonton’s impoverished population with meaningful work placements,” says Mark Holmgren, CEO Bissell Centre. “Many placements require basic safety equipment, which Bissell Centre normally provides, but currently there are no steel-toe boots available for program participants.”
We are asking the community-minded citizens of Edmonton to donate CSA approved steel-toe boots to us at 10527 96 Street, or our Thrift Shoppe Sorting Centre at 8818 118 Ave.
OR you can donate to buy a pair and get a tax receipt using our donations page.
Bissell Centre’s no-fee job placement service, its Casual Labour program, helps the community by connecting employers and workers, enabling placements to occur seven days a week. In 2012 the program saw remarkable success in filling over 14,000 placements, putting $1M into the hands of the less fortunate community. Since many of the placements are helping with concrete labour, roofing installation, and construction labour, steel-toe boots are often a necessity to being able to assist our impoverished population in finding employment and helping them move out of poverty.
In addition to temporary placements Bissell Centre provides worker training; this includes work preparedness programs, pre-employment training, safety training, employment counseling, resume building and life skills training.
For more information about Bissell Centre Employment Services please contact Mark Bubel, Employment Services Manager at 780-423-2285 ext 139.
As the CEO of Bissell Centre, I am continually amazed by the number of people and organizations that care about the poor and the homeless. These people exist across all sectors. I sit with them at government tables, in corporate boardrooms, in the pews at church, in meetings with other non-profit leaders, or over coffee with friends at a café. Unfortunately I also meet people – thankfully fewer in number – that believe that, somehow, social and economic problems rest solely within individuals. Or who judge the actions of groups like Bissell Centre as ineffective because the problems we exist to address still exist or are getting worse.
Housing the Homeless – a Useless Endeavor?
One individual told me recently that supporting Bissell Centre to house the homeless is a useless endeavor because we haven’t yet eradicated homelessness. In other words the 240 chronically homeless men, women and children we will house this year is a failure because we can’t help everyone who knocks on our door.
I told this gentleman that I did not realize that housing 240 homeless people was a bad thing. I said I did not realize that addressing homelessness throughout our community was Bissell Centre’s responsibility. I guess I thought we were part of a greater effort to house the homeless. I guess I thought that homelessness is a societal issue with complex causality. I guess I thought homelessness is a shared problem, not just the problem that organizations like Bissell Centre must resolve alone.
I pressed further into the conversation, not because I thought I could change this man’s mind, but rather to understand how he thinks, how people like him think. We talked for about an hour. We did not reach much common ground, but here are my observations and questions.
Homelessness is the Fault of the Homeless?
My counterpart told me that the government should stop wasting money on the homeless because it’s their fault they are on the street. Later he also said the government should cut taxes so that he had more money to fuel the economy as a consumer. I asked why he doesn’t just pull himself up by the bootstraps and make more money. He waved me off and said helping the homeless won’t help the economy. Of course he is wrong, but just not prepared to be wrong. Read More…
In the late 1920s, James Ramsey, owner of a department store in Edmonton, donated $300 to Reverend Pike to purchase a piece of property on Lake Wabamun for Bissell Centre to send inner-city people of all ages for respite – they called it Fresh Air Camp. Since then, the United Church has owned the land and Bissell Centre has been sending people in poverty to the camp to enjoy new experiences, get away from the stress of a life in poverty, and build healthy relationships with adults and families.
Last year and the year before, I closed the camp while Bissell Centre developed its go-forward strategic plan to eliminate poverty and homelessness. Truth is the traditional camp model was too expensive to operate. It cost $250,000 to operate camps over the summer months for 200-300 people. There was little funding for it and the pressures on our fundraising were already great.
Over this time we have been working on the transformation of Moonlight Bay into a retreat centre – a place that individuals, organizations, and communities can go to engage in learning, planning, symposiums, workshops as well as life events like weddings and family reunions. We are in the process of renovating Moonlight Bay and will have all the cabins done shortly. Capital funding has been provided by the Edmonton Community Foundation and by the Government of Alberta’s CFAP fund. These funds will help Bissell Centre turn Moonlight Bay into a year round facility.
What are we doing is finding new ways to fund camps for low income families and kids – through revenues from rentals of our facilities, corporate sponsorships of camps and of Moonlight Bay in general, as well as donations from people who understand the importance and often life-changing experience of camps. In other words, whatever revenues we make will be turned right over to holding camps and recreational activities for our families and kids.
Technically, this is called a social enterprise. But realistically this is about Bissell Centre’s commitment to do what it takes to ensure our families have this resource. As many of you know this year’s Bissellebration event focused on raising money for Moonlight Bay Centre. While the final results are still being tabulated, I already can tell you that one of our auction items raised $20,000 for camps this year!
I encourage you to consider using Moonlight Bay for your next retreat or family gathering. Check out the retreat ideas above and take a moment to visit the Moonlight Bay Centre website.
Corporations and other groups interested in sponsoring camps for low income families, please contact us at 780.423.2285
Heart of the City volunteers have been super busy planning really exciting things leading up to our 10th anniversary festival on Saturday June 1 and Sunday June 2 at Giovanni Caboto Park. Bissell Centre was a lead player in the development of this festival and this year I am happy to say we are one of the sponsors of this vibrant local event.
I encourage you to come out to the park on June 1 and June 2 and enjoy a day or two out beneath the summer sky and take in some great local music
Bissell Centre is sponsoring, along with CJSR, the CD Compilation of those performing at the festival.
Visit the Heart of the City website for more information. Or you can check them out on their Facebook page.
-Mark
Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta calls out the double standard that drives our broken relationship to charities. Too many nonprofits, he says, are rewarded for how little they spend — not for what they get done. Instead of equating frugality with morality, he asks us to start rewarding charities for their big goals and big accomplishments (even if that comes with big expenses). In this bold talk, he says: Let’s change the way we think about changing the world.
His context is the United States, but his message is applicable to Canada’s charitable sector. Please take the time to view his video.
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Bissell Centre hosted a media conference on Thursday, April 25th where Year 4 updates were released by The Edmonton Homeless Commission regarding Edmonton’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness. Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel, Homeless Commission Chair Hal Danchilla, and Homeward Trust CEO Susan McGee announced the achievements that show real progress is being made towards their goals.
Mayor Mandel congratulated all the partners involved with the effort to end homelessness in Edmonton but stressed that there is still work to be done to house the over 2,100 people that are still homeless in the city.
Here are some of the Year 4 updates:
- 2,325 Edmontonians previously homeless now have a home.
- 1,664 permanent homes have been secured for the 2,325 homeless with the vast majority of these homes being private rental market in buildings across the city.
- The October 2012 Homeless Count found 2,147 homeless Edmontonians, which is 29% fewer than the 2008 count.
The Edmonton Homeless Commission recognizes that there are challenges ahead moving into Year 5 of the plan to end homelessness. Some of the challenges outlined are:
- The need for capital funding to build permanent supportive housing for people with intensive needs.
- The tightening of the rental market in Edmonton as vacancy rates drop and rents rise.
- Limited space for new clients due to The Housing First teams working at full capacity.
- A greater focus is needed on prevention to reduce the numbers of people falling in to homelessness.
To learn more about The City of Edmonton’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness or the Year 4 Update, please visit http://homelesscommission.org or call Hal Danchilla, Chair, Edmonton Homeless Commission at 780.975.4462.