2018 Message from the Executive Director

Message from the Executive Director

My first year as Executive Director has been a wonderful experience of meeting and working with engaged and passionate community members from the Oaklands neighbourhood.

Over the last year, the staff, board and our committed volunteers have worked hard to increase our programming from Out of School Care to Yoga; and we’ve worked to improve the administrative development of the association by researching, testing and implementing software for member, program, and registration management; and updating and implementing new HR, management and finance policies.  

In 2019 you will be able to register for Oaklands Programs on line!

Our financial management this year, as you will see from the review engagement and the treasurer's report, focused on expense reduction and income generation and has enabled us to post a significant surplus this year.

In many respects it was a challenging year as we restructured ourselves, implemented new systems and adjusted to new responsibilities. I can only applaud the Oaklands staff for their patience and enthusiasm with me as I asked the same questions over and over, shifted processes and added more responsibilities to their work loads.

Given the tight labour market in Victoria, it is prudent for us to focus on recruitment and retention strategies. There is not only a crisis in the lack of childcare, but childcare staff are difficult to find too. We have raised wages for most staff positions this year as we move towards a “living” wage.  

We also created a pension program for staff which is a unique development for a non-profit charitable organization of our size.

Over the next year we will continue to develop the association through our strategic planning process being lead by our volunteers and by working together we can start to plan a positive future for the neighbourhood as well.

Thank you so much for your support.    

Chris Holt