A milestone anniversary for the head of CUPS
When Carlene Donnelly first came to CUPS, it was for a short-term contract. There were fewer than 25 employees and she was brought in to support the CUPS outreach team.
It was 1996 and social services were operating very differently to what we see today. The homeless population was significant, due in part to the fact that there was significantly less shelter space and early each morning, everyone was asked to leave to allow staff to clean. At CUPS, the health clinic was a tiny space upstairs.
“The set-up made sense at the time, but I had a profound feeling of: what more can we do?” recalls Carlene. “We needed to empower folks with limited means to find their own resources. It wasn’t simply about changing up the programs — it was about altering the framework of CUPS as a social agency and working to build resilience in our most vulnerable community members.”
Connecting with the community
Carlene credits community support for the work she’s been able to accomplish at the helm of CUPS. Anonymous donors, individuals and companies have all stepped up and funded transformational change. The CUPS Board of Directors was formed with a business mind-set where they calculate risk and explore economic stability. On top of that, the connection between CUPS and Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child has turned into a 20+ year collaboration that has changed the way CUPS operates.
The research and data from Harvard has directly guided programming and the fund development program at CUPS. It has changed the way we speak to the business community about social services. We talk about the impact of children growing up in trauma and the social return on investment. It has changed the narrative and the role we all must play in creating sustainable systems in Canada.
In Carlene’s words
Carlene shares with us one of her most profound experiences at CUPS:
In 2002, we first opened the One World Child Development Centre. We had selected 26 families from Inn from the Cold, housed all of them before school began so they were on a bus route and had this group of 3-and-4-year-olds ready to begin preschool. It was the first day of school and we were so excited about this moment. These children had housing and education. It was life changing — or so we thought.
And then I looked at the line-up of kids, I saw children that weren’t really sure what was expected of them. It hit me hard and all I could think was: “we have a hell of a lot more work to do.” It was years later through the research and evidence from Harvard that I connected the dots from what I saw and felt that day to how trauma impacts our children and sets the stage for their future. We needed to keep working.
Fast-forward and a few years ago the first kids from the Child Development Centre graduated from high school and applied for bursaries through CUPS. It was a full circle moment and an emotional time for both the now grown children and for us at CUPS.
Thank you, Carlene!
A quarter of a century later and under Carlene’s bold and tireless leadership, we have expanded the health clinic, launched mental health initiatives, elevated our child development program and more. We have close to 200 dedicated employees and are continuing to grow in the community and find innovative solutions to support vulnerable members of our community.
Carlene has helped CUPS transform to the organization we are today and we are eternally grateful.