Board Voice is one of six BC non-profit umbrella organizations that sits at the multi-sector Social Services Sector Roundtable, formed in May 2019 under the leadership of then-Social Development and Poverty Reduction Minister Shane Simpson. The Roundtable continues to be co-ordinated and led by the SDPR Ministry.
This Roundtable provides a forum for senior government officials and community social service agencies to collaboratively address issues and work to ensure coordinated social services delivery. The group meets regularly – weekly during the first five months of the COVID-19 pandemic when there was urgency for everyone to share information quickly, but four to six times a year in more “normal” times.
The Roundtable brings together representatives from all the provincial social ministries, unions, umbrella organizations representing community social service agencies throughout the province, as well as related Crown agencies including BC Housing, Community Living BC, the Community Services Sector Employers Association and the Public Sector Employers Council. Click here for the full membership list.
Board Voice participates in two sub-groups that are part of the Roundtable. One is exploring human resources issues in the sector, and the other is working on procurement and contracting issues between government and the sector.
The umbrella organizations at the Roundtable also meet regularly with a reference group of other non-profit organizations working at the sector level in BC to ensure that the issues that community social service agencies are dealing with on the ground continue to be brought to the Roundtable, and that discussions at the Roundtable are in turn shared with them.