A message to our community partners

Over two and a half years ago, we made the decision to move the Klinic Teen Talk program under Sexuality Education Resource Centre MB (SERC) administratively.  This change was done for several reasons, most significantly,  it was identified that there was duplication in programming and there needed to be a closer working alliance to consider each organization’s function and role in the youth workshop sector; we wanted to make sure we were offering the best services possible to the most communities possible.  The reality is both Teen Talk and SERC Facilitators have been offering exceptional youth and service provider programming for decades and it was a good time to look at how we could work more closely to make that even better.

At this time we are pleased to share we have been able to finalize the majority of this funding transfer, which will become effective April 1, 2020.  As originally envisioned two and a half years ago, SERC will now take over Teen Talk programming and services for the areas in and around our offices in Winnipeg and Brandon.  In the near future we will be posting new positions for both our Winnipeg and Brandon offices to help us move this work forward, and we are very excited about growing this service.

A portion of Teen Talk’s funding has historically been intended to support developing capacity in northern Indigenous communities.  This has at times led to a great deal of discussion both within and outside our organization regarding where do we fall in this work as a non-Indigenous organization.  Working with funders and partner Indigenous organizations, we have come to the decision that in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation, it is time that this part of the work be led by Indigenous organizations, and therefore, it is time for us to step back.  We have recommended that our funding for this work be redirected to Indigenous partners working in this field, and we hope to hear more about this in early spring.  This is in line with the values of Klinic and SERC as organizations committed to acts of Truth and Reconciliation, and what we have learned through past success such as the transition of White Wolf Speaking to Ka Ni Kanichihk .

We are working closely with the union and our staff impacted by these changes, for whom we know this is very difficult news.  We recognize that as community partners you may also be impacted by your relationships with the Teen Talk staff whom you may have worked with over the years.

We want to assure you that we are committed to continuing to support these services that are  a core component to what SERC is, and we are optimistic and look forward to sharing more in the future on new partnerships.