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M E M O / N O T E D E S E R V I C E |
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To / Destinataire |
Mayor and Members of Council / Maire et
Membres du Conseil |
File/N° de
fichier: ACS2003-PEO-IDP-0005 |
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From /
Expéditeur |
Jocelyne St Jean General Manager, People Services / Directrice
générale, Services aux citoyens |
Contact /
Personne-ressource : Colleen
Hendrick, Director, Innovation, Development and Partnerships (IPD) /
Directrice, Innovation, développement et partneriats |
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Subject / Objet |
Date: 21 March 2003 le 21 mars 2003 |
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PURPOSE
This report provides background information about decisions made by the Allocations Committee for the 2003 Community Project Grants.
BACKGROUND
On June 26, 2002, City Council approved the 2003 funding priorities and the revisions to the 2003 Community Funding Framework for Community Project Grants. This framework included delegated authority to the People Services Department to allocate the Community Project Grants.
In 2003, the Community Project Grants Program included funding areas of Health, Recreation and Social Services. The City total budget for this funding program is $883,000; which includes $260,000 for Health (including $50,000 for men’s health), $270,000 for Recreation and $353,000 for Social Services.
The Community Project Grants program is conducted jointly with United
Way/Centraide Community Initiatives Grants.
United Way/Centraide allocates $300,000 to the Community Initiatives
Grants. The total amount of available
funds for community projects is $1,183,000.
Each funder maintained its separate mandates, priorities and
identity. This method streamlines the funding
process for funders and the community, ensures a credible and fair process and
provides an effective coordination of funding to the community.
information previously distributed
to
be listed on health, recreation and social services committee agenda 42 – |
information distribuée antérieurement
à inscrire à l’ordre du jour 42 du comité de la
santé, des loisirs et des services sociaux – le 17 avril 2003
|
Information on United Way/Centraide funded social services projects is not included in this information memo as projects have not yet been approved by the Board of Directors. Decisions on United Way/Centraide Ottawa will be made public on March 27th, 2003.
DISCUSSION
The Community Project Grants Program provides funds that are targeted to short-term, innovative and collaborative initiatives and represent a critical investment in the community that helps the City of Ottawa and United Way/Centraide address needs and issues of residents.
In 2002, People Services staff reviewed its priorities in the areas of Health and Social Services and established priorities for Recreation in partnership with community members, other funders and other City departments.
The 2003 Community Project Grants applications were reviewed according to the following priorities that were approved by Council on June 26, 2002:
Health
Grants are currently available for community projects, which promote health, or prevent disease or disability. These may include projects that:
1)
Create an
environment for healthy development of children between the ages of 6 to 12
(parent support, healthy lifestyle and safe caring environment);
2)
Improve
health by reducing risk-taking behaviour among young people (for example: tobacco use, excessive alcohol use, drinking
and driving, unsafe sex, suicide prevention, stress management and youth mental
health programs);
3) Support community efforts directed
towards education and support for men’s health and the prevention of prostate
cancer;
4) Enhance the mental, physical and
emotional well being of the residents of Ottawa through self-care, and
improvements in family and community support (for example: self-help or peer support groups,
initiatives to promote family cohesion, and reduced exposure to second-hand
smoke).
5) Support community projects that respond
to seniors’ needs and maintain their independence in their homes.
Social Services
Social Services grants are currently
available for projects that contribute to individual and family participation
in a range of community activities and increase self-sufficiency. These may
include:
1) Support for community economic development initiatives;
Community
Economic Development is a process by which individuals, groups and communities
become organized to systematically gain access to a variety of resources such
as technical and financial support in order to generate their own solutions to
local workforce and economic problems.
2) Support for groups and individuals to participate in community activities;
Such activities may consist of stabilization of personal and family
issues, life skills, social skills, work skills assessment/development,
transition to work force, introduction of newcomers to the local work
environment, services that enhance access to opportunities and resources for
disadvantaged groups.
3) Support for ethnic and racial minorities, aboriginal groups;
These include initiatives that provide essential intervention to
facilitate the integration of these groups within our community. For example,
ethno-specific activities that aim to build knowledge and self-confidence,
ethno-specific or mainstream organizational activities that promote community
integration and access to available services.
Recreation
Recreation grants are for projects that increase access to recreational opportunities. These include the following key activities:
1) Access: Projects that encourage or permit underprivileged, children and youth, the physically disabled and developmentally challenged to participate in programs;
2) Volunteer Involvement: Projects that support the voluntary sector recreation organizations to recruit, train, recognize and acknowledge the importance of volunteers in the delivery of recreation programs;
3) Physical Activity: Projects and programs that deliver or encourage youth and seniors’ participation in active living and fitness programs;
4) Program Capacity: Projects that build developmental recreational level program capacity, which may include support related to project equipment expenses.
Review of Requests
During the period of
September - November, 2002, the City of Ottawa and United Way/Centraide jointly
requested applications for 2003 Community Project Grants through advertisements
in the local daily newspapers (Le Droit and The Ottawa Citizen), community
newspapers, an information flyer mailed to Community Health, Recreation and
Social Services organizations, and the City web site.
In September 2002,
representatives of the two funding organizations organized information sessions
in both official languages to inform potential applicants of the funding
process and to respond to questions. In October 2002, City staff coordinated
workshops on proposal writing in urban and rural areas of the City. About 85
and 40 individuals attended the information sessions and workshops
respectively.
The closing date for
application submissions was November 15, 2002.
In total, two hundred and fifty four (254) applications were received
from 179 agencies. In total, there were
$6,044,013 in requests. Of the total
submissions and amount requested, 130 proposals for a total of $3,410,603 (56%)
was requested in social services, 68 proposals for a total of $1,632,345 (27%)
in recreation and 56 proposals for a total of $1,001,065 (17%) in health. There
were 7 proposals within the health category for a total amount of $213,884
requested for men’s health projects.
Three sub-committees
representing each of the funding areas reviewed all applications: Health,
Recreation and Social Services. Information and suggested ratings from the
three sub-committees were assessed by a Joint Allocations Review Committee with
representation from the following organizations: French Language Health
Services Network of Eastern Ontario; Réseau des service de santé en français de
l’est de l’Ontario; Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health Inc.; Children’s Aid
Society, Seniors Advisory Committee, Canadian Mental Health Association, Parks
and Recreation Advisory Committee, Entraide Budgétaire, Active Living Alliance,
the Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation , the Disabled Persons’
Community Resources, the Minwaashin Lodge (Aboriginal Women’s Support Centre)
and People Services Department staff representing the Community Services and
Public Health Branches. A community member chaired the Committee. Invitations for representatives were sent to
seven City Advisory Committees reporting to HRSS Committee, to all members of
the HRSS Committee and to various community coalitions.
The three sub-committees met separately for periods of two days for the health and social services and two evenings for recreation. Two representatives from each sub-committee were identified to be part of the Joint Allocations Committee that met for one day to make final funding decisions. This allocation process was implemented to reduce the amount of work and required commitments from volunteers, to accommodate volunteers with different meeting times and to establish committees with more in depth knowledge within each area.
The People Services Department would like to acknowledge the significant contributions of the members and the Chair of the Joint Allocations Committee in reviewing and analyzing the grant applications.
The People Services Department would also like to acknowledge and commend the efforts of all the community groups and agencies that applied for funds to develop projects to improve the quality of life in Ottawa.
Members of the Allocations Review Committee were provided with a copy of all applications to be reviewed and a rating form for each application. After discussions during the review of applications, all individual ratings were averaged to arrive at a single common rating for each application. A final review of all ratings helped ensure that funding decisions reflected order of importance.
Priority was given to projects that were innovative and creative, clearly defined, realistic and cost-efficient, demonstrated the involvement of the target group in planning and implementation of the project, demonstrated collaboration or joint ventures with other agencies, were accessible to diverse communities and supported volunteer efforts.
Allocations Review Committee Decisions
The Joint Allocations Committee made its decisions based on the availability of $1,183,000 between the two funders, of which the City allocated $260,000 for Health, $270,000 for Recreation, and $353,000 for Social Services. Please refer to Appendices 1, 2 and 3 for more details. Letters are being issued during the week of March 24th to all applicants to inform them of the funding allocations decisions.
United Way/Centraide funded projects will be approved on March 26th, 2003 by its Board of Directors for a total of $300,000 and applicants will be informed by the United Way of it’s allocations decisions.
Proposed funding priorities and
funding administration improvements for the 2004 Community Project Grants
Program will be presented in a separate report to the Health, Recreation and
Social Services Committee in May 2003.
RURAL IMPLICATIONS
The Community Project Grants Program includes rural and urban areas of the City of Ottawa.
CONSULTATION
Health, Recreation and Social
Services Committee approved the priority areas for the 2003 Community Project
Grants on June 20, 2002.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The amounts of $260,000 for Health, $270,000 for Recreation
and $353,000 for Social Services are available in the People Services Budget of
2003.
ATTACHMENTS
Appendix 1: Project Grants 2003 - Health