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Archway in Abbotsford receives $350K grant from Prospera

Money will be used to upgrade non-profit’s business platform
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Archway directors Tina Poudrier-Beck, Leah Wynsouw, Louise Smith and Rod Santiago say thank to for the $350,000 grant that has been provided by the Prospera Foundation.

The Prospera Foundation has given a $350,000 grant to Archway Community Services in Abbotsford to implement a new business platform over the next five years.

The funding will cover the cost of finding and licensing the new system as well as staff training and other implementation costs.

Executive director Rod Santiago said, as seen with the pandemic and the recent flooding disaster, “we often have to react quickly to situations.”

“Having the right technology allows our staff to pivot when needed,” he said.

Santiago said, although the upgrade has been long overdue, it is expensive and difficult for a non-profit to budget for as they ensure that community needs are met first.

RELATED: Archway Community Services presents Community Builders’ Awards in Abbotsford

Louise Smith, director of operations at Archway, said the support from Prospera will have a “significant impact.”

“This will enable us to provide more streamlined administrative support to our 90 plus programs, which in turn will help our front-line staff have more time to focus on client care,” she said.

Gavin Toy, Prospera Credit Union president and CEO, said the company works hard to support its communities and community partners.

“I am excited that we can help make an impact on Archway in their endeavours for a better digital experience for the people they help and their staff,” he said. “We believe that investing in our communities grows prosperity for everyone and we’re committed to making the communities in which we operate stronger.”

The system will help the people and culture department at Archway manage on-boarding, personnel files, training records and a variety of employee reports for their over 400 staff members.

Leah Wynsouw, Archway director of people and culture, said the new system will enable them to spend more of their time supporting staff wellness and employee engagement.

“Sometimes the administrative part of our work is so time consuming that we aren’t able to be as proactive as we want to be in these other very important aspects,”she said.

Another area that will benefit is the finance department as their current accounting system requires considerable manual work to generate the reports needed.

“This new system will not only increase our efficiencies, but also provide real-time information for programs in between reporting periods to assist with budget management,” said Tina Poudrier-Beck, Archway’s director of finance.

Archway offers more than 90 programs for all ages – from newborn babies to seniors, individuals escaping violence, people facing addiction, newcomers to Canada, and more.

RELATED: Prospera secures $10,000 grant for Archway mental-health programs



Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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