This month, Abilities Manitoba presented our new Policy Brief, Community Living disABILITY Services Workforce Crisis Prevention Strategy, directly to the Minister of Families.
The brief lays out the scale of the crisis facing Manitoba's Community Living disABILITY Services (CLdS) sector — where 1000's of Manitobans rely on support from frontline workers earning an average of just $19/hour, well below comparable roles in health care, education, and early childhood education. With turnover rates averaging 20-25%, unfilled staffing hours mounting, and young people aging out of children's services facing a dangerous gap in care, the consequences ripple far beyond our sector: into hospitals, courts, shelters, and streets.
Our brief puts forward a three-part Workforce Stabilization Strategy:
- Fair wages and funding — an immediate correction to a funded average of $27/hour with a commitment to a sector-wide framework going forward. Cost of living increases that provide overall funding increases and pace with the consumer price index.
- Mandatory training — commit to fund a minimum 40 hours of standardized, competency-based training for every new hire.
- Outcome-based accountability — adopting Personal Outcome Measures® to have people design and assess their services; translating into real quality-of-life improvements.
As our Executive Director, Margo Powell, put it: "Manitobans with disabilities deserve the stability and quality that comes from a standardized curriculum, consistently trained staff, and an economically valued workforce."
Read the full Policy Brief HERE