Shawna Oochoo, one of the founders and interim executive director of White Pony Lodge, a non-profit community organization she helped start in 2016, has been released by the board of directors.
White Pony Lodge is a grassroots community organization that works to address social issues mainly affecting North Central Regina. The non-profit has conducted street safety patrols, needle pick-ups and runs programming to help youth leave gang life.
Oochoo received the information that her position was eliminated on March 27.
“I received an email earlier today with the board’s decision. At this time, that’s all I can really release right now,” said Oochoo.
Heather Griffith, a member on the board, said the reason for Oochoo’s release was there simply was not enough funding to support her position, and said making the decision was ‘agonizing.’
“The only fair and responsible thing to do was to advise her clearly, in no uncertain terms, that there is no money. You know? There just simply is no money, and unfortunately any efforts to gain the kind of support that we hoped to obtain through the community just didn’t happen,” said Griffith.
Griffith said the board did address concerns about conflict of interest issues, but wouldn’t elaborate further.
“We expressed our appreciation to Shawna for all of her hard work. We recognize that she was one of the co-founders and that a lot of the work she’s done has been invaluable both to the organization and the community,” Griffith said.
Oochoo later responded to the decision on Facebook stating the move was “not because of a lack of funding,” and claimed it “was politically motivated”.
Oochoo went on to claim that there was an agreement drawn up that would have allowed her to serve as the executive director on a volunteer basis. However, Griffith claims that is not accurate information.
“When they agreed that Shawna could start looking for funders in her role, it was made clear that it would be a month-to-month position until she was able to obtain secure core funding,” said Griffith.
When asked about the response from the community after the board’s decision, Griffith said that it has been quite divided.
“They made the decision to end the position, not fire Shawna. They simply ended the position. They are not hiring someone else to replace her tomorrow.”
Despite the controversial situation the organization now faces, Griffith feels that Oochoo’s case makes for a powerful story.
“Part of what makes Shawna’s story so powerful and so important is that her story is the same of many others in this community. There are so many people that work hard that have incredible strengths that share many of the same concerns.”
Regardless of the fact that the organization has just lost their interim executive director and co-founder, Griffith is confident that the organization will remain strong, and is proud of the volunteers that still exist.
“We still have strong people who are actively involved as volunteers. We hope to build on those strengths. We are not going to drop the ball. While we’ve had the sense of shock over why her position was ended, we also have an equal measure of strong commitment in terms of community to maintain involvement.”
Griffith went on to say that what White Pony Lodge does for the community is important for many reasons, and is “never centered around one person’s story and work”.
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