The Saskatchewan government is touting the expansion of its Income Assistance Mobile Outreach Services initiative.
At an announcement at Queen City Wellness Pharmacy in Regina, the province highlighted its investment of $690,000 to expand the program—a funding commitment made in the 2024-25 provincial budget. They are adding an additional 10 Ministry of Social Services employees, who will be placed in select community-based organizations in the province.
How it works is that mobile income assistance workers will be able, at those locations, to take in-person applications for new clients, assist them obtaining necessary documentation, complete service level screenings, provide them with referrals to other programs and agencies, and help them find stabilized housing.
This initiative is currently operating in Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Yorkton and La Ronge, as well as in Regina.
Queen City Wellness Pharmacy is one of the organizations the Ministry of Social Services has partnered with in Regina. Queen City Wellness Pharmacy’s Sarah Kozusko said they had invited Makowsky to the pharmacy a couple of months earlier to explain the gaps they were seeing people face there.
She said those clients would walk from the pharmacy down to the social services building, which was only a couple of blocks away, but they found that on the way they would get lost or distracted. And then, when they met with the ministry agent, they would “just get overwhelmed with information,” she said.
This way, people would be right there at the pharmacy to help those clients there, making for a much smoother process where people get the help they need.
“Having the workers here has allowed us to wrap around — sometimes it’s a matter of we get to go into a room with them and say this person’s SIS or SAID got cut off and what can we do, what documents do they need. And between the two of us, we’ve improved our collective impact substantially. Fewer people are falling through the cracks, and I feel like we’re really working hard to be aware and take into account the historical traumas a lot of people face when going into ministry buildings,” Kozusko said. “So we need people right on site.”
Social Services Minister Gene Makowsky said “this approach is already making a positive impact, is helping to reduce service gaps and barriers for clients, better engage with community-based organizations in joint case planning, and accelerate the path to stability for clients with complex needs.”
He said over the last year they have “had positive feedback from clients, workers and our partner organizations. The workers have been actively and effectively engaging with community members, fostering positive connections and building trust. The success of this initiative is also very much thanks to the collaborative efforts of CBO‘s who have partnered with us including Queen City Wellness.”
