SDC is extremely fortunate to have so many friends, supporters and loyal volunteers.
Perhaps you are learning about SDC for the first time or you have supported, advocated, volunteered or participated in one of our special events or annual meetings. You’re probably asking questions like: What’s going on at SDC? Do they know what they are doing? Do I want to stay engaged with them?
Here’s what I want you to know. SDC employs 480 hard working staff and serves 80,000 people living in poverty. In the last five years, we have almost doubled our operating budget. In the last two years, we have increased our staff by more than 100. Our workforce is very diverse and reflects the multitude of races/ethnicities/creeds of our clients. In fact, about 35% of our staff is comprised of former clients. We have been busy and we have been stretched, but we are focused on success.
In the last year we have increased the number of clients by 10,000. Rapid growth can challenge an organization to analyze and refine its processes and systems. We are experiencing what many organizations experience from time to time: the need to improve staff training and accountability.
While attention is being focused on the quality of our W-2 and Head Start programs, we are audited on an almost on-going basis. Our agency audit by Baker-Tilly was a clean, unqualified audit. Often we receive 10 – 15 monitoring reviews or audits from funders annually.
We are proud to inform our readers that the State of WI sent us a letter confirming that our corrective action plan for our W-2 Emergency Assistance Program satisfied their request and that they felt it would enable us to maintain a quality program. Just recently we met with the State regarding the improvements we are and will continue to make in our W-2 Emergency Assistance Program. I continue to meet with the Head Start staff to review the progress we have made to resolve our record keeping issues.
I can assure you these two programs produce high quality work.
I take all SDC management and operational issues very seriously. I own these issues and am totally committed to resolving them soon. I see a major part of my role to be that as a problem solver and I am fully engaged in working with staff to solve these operational problems. I am confident that we will do just that.
At the same time, we are continuing to move forward with other SDC programs, projects and initiatives to continue to offer the best service to our clients.
On behalf of all the staff at SDC, I thank you for taking time to read our website, attend our special events, make a donation, volunteer your personal time and share positive experiences you have had in working with our mission-driven staff.
Take care, Deborah