Livingston, Steuben Catholic Charities to Merge

 

Catholic Charities of Livingston and Catholic Charities of Steuben County are slated to merge as of Jan. 1, 2021. The board of directors of both organizations approved the merger earlier this month. The new organization will be led by current CEO Tabitha Brewster, who was already working as a shared CEO between the two organizations.

The move was made to increase efficiency, since the organizations in both counties were offering duplicate services which could be offered more efficiently if county lines weren’t an issue.  For instance, if someone needed help with housing or with a substance abuse problem, having the joined counties would widen the choices in a larger geographic area. Officials also noted that often people needing services drift back and forth between the two counties, and this merger would help with uninterrupted continuation of services.

At present, there are about 140 staff, and about 300 volunteers at about 15 locations in the two counties.  Although some offices may close to increase efficiency, no staff cuts are planned. The new organization, known as Catholic Charities Steuben/Livingston is also considering going to a partially mobile model, where they will be coming to clients, rather than having clients having to find transportation to get to their offices.

Catholic Charities provides a variety of services such as food pantries, health care counseling, youth mentoring, financial assistance to avoid homelessness, emergency housing, employment services, family counseling, transitional jail services,  and substance abuse counseling.