SYRACUSE — The American Red Cross has once again restructured its Central New York region.

The nonprofit humanitarian organization has consolidated its three upstate New York regions into two. As a result, the 16 counties of the CNY region were split up. Its seven North Country and Mohawk Valley counties, staffed by six employees, now report to the Eastern New York region. The nine CNY and Southern Tier counties merged with the Western New York region.

The Red Cross laid off 10 employees in the CNY region the week of Oct. 13.

Rosie Taravella of the CNY region now serves as the CEO of the American Red Cross of Western & Central New York Region (WCNY).  

Taravella spoke with the Business Journal News Network about the changes on Oct. 31.

The American Red Cross of the CNY reorganized two years ago and consolidated into 16 CNY counties. At that time, the North Central New York Region of the American Red Cross merged with the Southern Tier Region to become the American Red Cross, Central New York Region.

The new consolidation is part of a national restructuring, due in part to an effort to recover from a 10 percent to 15 percent decline in funding from the national humanitarian service division in the last fiscal year. 

The American Red Cross has downsized from 450 national chapters to 300, and cut 1,500 jobs in the past year.

Taravella says that part of the reason for the decrease in funding is that during that time donors were contributing to relief efforts for disasters, such as hurricanes and tornadoes, and weren’t inclined to give again to the organization.

The Red Cross provides emergency assistance to people affected by fires, floods and other disasters, as well as disaster- preparedness education, blood drives, and emergency communication to the Armed Forces. 

New WCNY region
The WCNY region includes the Western New York, Greater Rochester, Finger Lakes, Southern Tier, and Central New York chapters. The newly formed region employs 58 people across 26 counties and has a combined budget of about $8 million to $9 million.

According to the new national model, each chapter will now retain a headquarters office in the chapter’s largest city, as well as one satellite office. Each chapter will have an executive director to coordinate its area. The WCNY region currently operates 20 offices, but over the next year and half, Taravella says it will phase out 10 offices to follow the national model, reduce costs, and re-allocate the money that had been going toward rent back into services. 

The WCNY regional headquarters, as well as the CNY chapter will be based at 344 W. Genesee St. in Syracuse. The CNY chapter will also retain the Madison County office, located at 134 Vanderbilt Ave. in Oneida. This office is staffed by volunteers. The locations in Oswego, Auburn, and Cortland are among those being closed, and the managers who operated those offices were let go as part of the regional layoffs announced to the staff the week of Oct. 13. 

In the Southern Tier, the chapter office remains open in Endicott with a satellite office in Ithaca.

Though no longer part of Taravella’s territory, Watertown remains the North Country headquarters with a satellite office in Plattsburgh. Additionally, the Potsdam office, which is staffed by volunteers and located in a donated space, will stay open. “If an office is free and staffed by volunteers, we’ll keep it,” says Taravella.

Taravella says she was informed of the consolidation efforts in June, and then notified employees that a reduction in the workforce would take place in the coming months, although she could not give the employees a specific date of when that would take place. By mid-September, the Northeast division office notified her that the layoff regions would be announced the second week of October. Monday, Nov. 3, was the last day the laid-off employees were in the office.

The Red Cross maintains a fleet of vehicles and trailers to allow employees and volunteers to get out in the field. “In the end, that’s what we do. We mobilize to get out to the places in need,” says Taravella.

In the coming weeks, Taravella will travel across the region to speak at town-hall meetings about the recent changes. She will let community members know that while the Red Cross may no longer have a physical presence in their area, it still serves the community.

With an expanded footprint that includes about 4 million people and a staff across 26 counties now, Taravella says that the agency relies on the partnerships it has with other nonprofit and government organizations, businesses, and community volunteers, as well as the strength of its staff.

“I can’t do it without good people,” says Taravella.

The leadership team for WCNY is also spread throughout the region, but the COO, Scott Aminov, and chief development officer, Judith Pollman, operate from the Syracuse headquarters.

The Red Cross has two types of staff positions, territory managers and subject matter managers, and Taravella says it’s “my job is to make sure they have everything they need.”       

Contact Collins at ncollins@cnybj.com