Ten people have lost their jobs with the Youth Empowerment and Support Services (YESS).
The organization made the announcement Monday morning, citing a funding shortfall for the layoffs.
"I had to stand in front of the kids and tell them that we were pulling yet something else away from them," explains YESS Executive Director, Deb Cautley.
"Probably the hardest thing I've done in 43 years of working was to look at those kids and say, 'yeah, we're not going to be here for you as much.'"
It's the second straight year the not-for-profit organization has cut staff. In an effort to minimize the impact on the youth, the cuts will primarily affect the agency's non-residential programming.
"Some of the positions we've cut is a skills worker, a transitions worker. So, a transitions worker works with the kids to move on to the next place that they have to go; whether it's another program, whether it's independent living," explains Cautley.
The organization isn't sure if the cut to staff means a cut to the number of beds available to youth. YESS will wait to see if the remaining staff members can handle the current total.
YESS is also reducing hours of service from 9 am - 9 pm, seven days a week, to 1 pm - 9 pm, six days a week, with the facility remaining open 9 am - 9 pm on Wednesdays.
"We just had a little girl come in the front door. She came from the north side, no place else to go, knew this was a place to get help. If she comes February 4, she's going to come to a closed door. What's that child going to do?" asks Cautley.
The agency believes it needs more sustainable and reliable funding. Its budget for 2012 was $5.2 million; $1 million of that was guaranteed funding. The organization attempted to get the rest of the money from a variety of avenues including grants and fundraisers.
"If we had $2 million more a year in money we could count on, we'll go out and raise the rest," explains Cautley.
According to the agency, it isn't receiving any money from the City of Edmonton or the Province of Alberta, but help could be on the way.
On Monday, Mayor Stephen Mandel said he's going to speak to city managers, councillors, and the province to find a way to help YESS.
"These things are too important. We can not allow our younger generation to be shuffled off the buffalo because we don't seem to have money to deal with their challenges," said Mandel.
"I think it's imperative we support the Youth Emergency Shelter, and we'll be getting a hold of them as soon as possible to see what they need and how we can help them," the mayor added.
And help is something Deb Cautley says the youth who use YESS' services desperately need.
"We need champions for these kids. We need people who know that these are their kids too," says Cautley.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2013.