Grantee Spotlight: Citizen Empowerment Project

2017 Scaling Impact

The Project

The Citizen Empowerment Project (CEP) was established in 2014 by racialized youth who came together to foster dialogue about policing issues impacting Toronto. CEP launched

#JaneandFinchVotes, a nonpartisan voter mobilization campaign and civic engagement workshop series aimed at racialized and newcomer youth aged 14-30.  With the previous two elections (Provincial and Municipal), and the upcoming Federal election, the fund supports CEP to engage newcomers, low-income and racialized youth and families in voter engagement and youth civic engagement processes in Jane and Finch, Rexdale and Cooksville.

Since receiving the grant:

The group has formed three Youth Councils: two in Jane & Finch (both north and south side) and one in Rexdale, with youth between the ages of 12-26. They meet on a bi-weekly basis during the school year, and on a weekly basis during the summer months. These meetings are designed to inform participants on current political issues and educate the council members on various aspects of Canadian politics.

In partnership with Ryerson University, CEP attended an advocacy tour during the US Midterm Elections in Chicago. The group had an opportunity to send two participants and one program lead to meet various politicians, local organizers, community organizations that are doing similar work on a larger scale.

CEP’s Rexdale Youth Council, in partnership with Yonge Street Mission and Maytree Foundation, is working on a Poverty Reduction Strategy with the City of Toronto. The Youth Council is preparing a community consultation event with the residents of Rexdale to enable them to voice their concerns in the following areas:

o    food security

o    transportation

o    housing stability

o    employment and services

Recently, CEP convened a joint council meeting with both sides (north and south) of the Jane & Finch Youth Councils. This is a huge accomplished considering the relationship/history of these two populations. More importantly, following the meeting, the South Jane and Finch Youth Council (18-26) agreed to mentor and take on a leadership role with the North Jane and Finch Youth Council (12-17). As CEP’s mission is to develop community leaders, this opportunity will help the older participants to exercise and develop their leadership skills, while at the same time educating other community members on civic engagement.

Currently, CEP is building its relationship with Humber College as a way to bridge the gaps between the Rexdale Community and the institution.

Grantee Spotlight: Social Planning Toronto

Social Planning Toronto (STP) is a non-profit, charitable community organization that works to improve equity, social justice and quality of life in Toronto through community capacity building, community education and advocacy, policy research and analysis, and social reporting.

Through its Still Streamed: Translating Research into Action project,  STP pursued the following objectives:

Increase awareness regarding academic streaming

Build the capacity of CASE to be a strong voice on the issue

Advocate for policy change

Thanks to the project, STP was able to mobilize the knowledge gained from its recent research study “Still Streamed” to affect public policy. By sharing the challenges and learnings identified through this research, the project built the capacity of youth and their families to make more informed decisions and increase awareness about the impact of streaming. Using the Coalition for Alternatives for Streaming in Education (CASE) as a mechanism for community input and engagement, the project leveraged current policy windows, both locally and provincially, to improve education pathways and streaming processes for youth and their families.

Streaming is a complex issue and impacts different people in different ways, sometimes overtly and sometimes subtly. As such, it requires a multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary response. To that end, CASE has been successful at gaining support and involvement of others working within the education and nonprofit sectors.

The collective impacts of the various events, workshops, meetings with government officials and content pieces that CASE has produced and disseminated has significantly contributed to an increased sensitivity to, and understanding of, the detrimental effects of academic streaming among several key school boards and among public servants within the Ministry of Education.

Another important achievement has been the creation of three educational videos on academic streaming. These videos explain streaming in simple terms and gives voice to those directly impacted by streaming.

Grantee Spotlight: collective impact to reduce incarceration group

Informed by Project LUCID, a Nikki Knows community-based action research project aimed at identifying gaps in programs, services, and supports for people held in and released from adult (18+) provincial custody, the CI Group is currently working on a new pilot called Project OASIS (Ongoing And Supportive Integrated Services). Once launched, Project OASIS will bring the group closer to fulfilling their mission.

“A lot needs to happen before you are able to reduce the incarceration or reincarceration rates of young people, and some things are, of course, out of our control,” Nikki noted, making a reference to the risk management and risk averse culture prevalent throughout the justice system, as a significant external factor working against such efforts. What the CI Group will try to do is give young people access to supports that meet their needs and assist them with navigating their pre-release and post-release journeys.

Nikki explained that too many young people who return to their communities after a period of incarceration feel unsupported and unprepared for the challenges and barriers they inevitably face; as she heard time and again through Project LUCID.

Community re-entry is a challenging and frustrating process, often made more difficult by the limited availability of transitional supports (including assistance navigating services); and the limited capacity of service providers to address the specific needs associated with incarceration and re-entry. The collective believes that adequately addressing needs for, and mitigating gaps in, resources and supports is critical to improving community re-entry outcomes for young people leaving custody and could go a long way in reducing the likelihood of re-arrest, re-incarceration, and/or re-conviction.

But what makes the pilot especially unique is its integrated wraparound approach. Through Project OASIS, CI group members will provide services to young people in adult provincial custody in a continuous, coordinated, and holistic manner beginning pre-release, while participants are on remand, and continuing post-release. To be part of Project OASIS, member organizations need to be willing to step a bit outside of their own mandates and definitions of ‘youth’ in order to break the conventional referral network mold and, instead, work together as a cohesive team of organizations around participants.

“We want the pilot to be very participant-centred,” Nikki remarked. This means that the group will provide services according to each participant’s identified needs (e.g. literacy, education, housing, employment, family supports, etc.), while, at the same time, incorporating the physical, mental, social, and spiritual aspects of their well-being, and engaging any existing support systems they may already have. The group plans to implement centralized intake, assessment, and coordination processes to facilitate central access to participant files, avoid double-booking participants, and help reduce duplication of services.

This type of wraparound approach so far has not been utilized among service providers working with young people held in or released from adult provincial custody, in or around the Greater Toronto Area, as organizations have a tendency to work in silos. So, while supports are available through some organizations, they tend to be fragmented (e.g. characterized by a lack of coordination between organizations with different mandates, administrative structures, policies/practices, and eligibility criteria); as a result of which, young people often fall through the cracks and/or have needs that go unmet.

Challenges Ahead

As with any pilot, a few challenges likely lie ahead. Firstly, the willingness and ability of correctional facilities to work with the group will be key to the success of the pilot. Secondly, funding is currently limited, which means that the sustainability and continuity of the project beyond its first year is not guaranteed. Lastly, the capacity of member groups may prove to be limited as some are already stretched too thin. These challenges, however, will not prevent the group from moving forward.

In order to test the developed wraparound approach, the CI Group intends to run the pilot in 1-2 adult provincial correctional facilities, before going on to evaluate and determine the feasibility of replicating and/or scaling the project to a larger number of correctional facilities within Ontario.

The Collective Impact to Reduce Incarceration Group is supported by Youth CI’s Grassroots Youth Leadership in Collective Impact grant.

Grantee Spotlight: Hastings county

It all began in 2016, when Debbie Woods from the John Howard Society of Belleville discovered the Youth Collective Impact program and felt the issue of low high school graduation rates in Hastings County, which her organization was already addressing through a program called Quantum, could undoubtedly benefit from a greater community effort. Three years later, the project has united over 10 organizations in Hastings, including the 5 core group members, to develop a much-needed initiative that addresses system barriers faced by young people who are not on track to graduate or have left high school.

Reflecting on the needs of their community, the collective found that the graduation rate in Hastings County is lower than the provincial rate. Through the work of the collective, it was identified that high school graduation rates for the following three groups were below the Hastings County average: youth in care (CAS), Indigenous youth and youth living in rural areas, specifically North Hastings. The Hastings County Youth CI will implement strategies to increase high school graduation rates for youth in these target groups.

The collective became aware that as many as 350 youth may be in group home care in Hastings County.  Many of the youth may not be on track to achieve their high school diploma and could be particularly at risk of getting involved with the justice system. “It is all interconnected,” Debbie noted. “If you do not complete your grade 12, you are more at risk of getting involved with the justice system”.

In January 2019, the collective launched a peer mentorship program as part of their campaign to increase awareness to young people in Hastings about supports available. There are currently three peer mentors in Belleville, who, as Debbie assures, have developed a solid work plan and are already doing a wonderful job of engaging youth to stay or get connected back to school, as well as teaching them about alternative routes to complete their diploma.  In the North, the collective comprised of a backbone team, youth embedded roles, Indigenous roles and a systems navigator is working with community partners to develop a Youth Centre to meet the needs of youth in the North.  The peer mentor in the North assists youth in accessing much-needed community resources.

What are the specific needs of Hastings County youth?

According to Debbie, it is important to take into account the special barriers that youth face on a daily basis and to create opportunities for them to voice their opinions. To find out about the specific needs of youth, the collaborative hosted several youth engagement consultations through LEGO Serious Play (LSP) workshops.

The unique and interactive method of LSP workshops allowed youth to express their ideas and plans by creating models from LEGO bricks. LSP was especially useful in conveying more complex thoughts that could not be otherwise easily communicated.  One key participant group in LSP workshops was CAS youth with lived experience of the justice system. The second participant group was from North Hastings.  The workshops helped to pinpoint specific issue areas and to learn about what prevented youth from achieving their high school graduation diploma. LSP workshops were also used by peer mentors to construct their work plan.

Through research and data collection, the collective has determined that approximately 55 % of CAS youth are able to obtain their high school diploma, which is significantly below the provincial and local average. As part of the project, the Hastings County Youth CI initiative will perform an environmental scan of the 350 youth currently in group home care in Hastings County to determine the high school completion percentage specific to youth in group home care. Next year, the collective will do the same for the other target groups.

What’s next for the Hastings County Peer Mentorship Program?

What makes the project unique is the fact that all of the work is directed by and completed with and for youth in the community.  Youth themselves have designed the project and are leading the collective, focusing on issues and challenges that are meaningful to them and working together to improve outcomes for youth.  Their work is trauma-informed. They recognize the importance of graduation because not earning a high school diploma often puts youth at risk for a number of challenges.

As for next steps, the Hastings County Youth CI initiative would like to expand its peer-mentorship program and to start removing some of the systemic issues that are contributing to the issue of low high school graduation rates.

In order to test the developed wraparound approach, the CI Group intends to run the pilot in 1-2 adult provincial correctional facilities, before going on to evaluate and determine the feasibility of replicating and/or scaling the project to a larger number of correctional facilities within Ontario.

The Collective Impact to Reduce Incarceration Group is supported by Youth CI’s Grassroots Youth Leadership in Collective Impact grant.

Grantee Spotlight: LITERAL CHANGE

In September 2018, Literal Change launched its Youth Literacy Initiative in the Jane/Finch community which currently has 10 Literacy Teachers and 8 Students. In 2020, the program will be expanded to include Toronto's east-end youth courts, open custody facilities, and additional students in need of remedial literacy support.

It is estimated that approximately 20% of the mainstream classroom does not learn in the same way as the majority. Literal Change’s volunteer teachers pride themselves on creating positive educational experiences that are individualized and student-centred. The goal is to help each learner reach his/her potential while acquiring the skills and strategies required for navigating a world that is overwhelmingly dominated by print and text.

Grantee Spotlight: MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS - POPUPS 2018 - Brantford Youth Council

This event was a partnership between Brantford Youth Council, Brantford Boys and Girls Club, and Brant County Health Unit. It was open to the youth and was held at Woodman Park Community Centre.

The one-night event took place on May 1st but was scheduled to be completed in early January. The group faced many difficulties organizing with the City Council as they were met with many excuses/reasons as to why some councillors could not attend. At one point, they even connected with the Foundation as they were concerned they would not meet the deliverables of their project. Staff provided the group with different ways on how to connect with the councillors, and even provided a few extensions on the project completion date.

With that being said, the group persevered and became more motivated than ever to have their meet and greet, and more importantly, have their voices heard and possibly make their concerns a priority for the councillors in attendance. The group was very happy with the turnout, although some city officials (including the Mayor) cancelled at the last minute. They did have an opportunity to ask questions to some recently appointed councillors on topics related to youth health and wellbeing.

Grantee Spotlight: 2019 Indigenous Youth and Community Futures Fund - Northern Indigenous Youth Council (NIYC) / National Indigenous Day CelebratioN

This fund provided NIYC with resources for honoraria for Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, materials for cultural activities and workshops, and to host their Central Algoma Secondary School National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration.

The group reported that the activities and workshops held prior to the celebration were rich and engaging; it inspired some students to seek new opportunities to learn about First Nation and Metis culture, and helped some youth connect with their own Indigenous identity. Over 50 students participated in the workshops which included cultural and land-based activities such as learning how to make hand drums and ribbon skirts, and creating a medicine garden. The group built intergenerational relationships with Indigenous knowledge keepers and school staff to organize and facilitate their workshops.

On the day of their National Indigenous Peoples Day Celebration, participants of the workshops were able to play their drums, wear their skirts and perform the opening ceremony to the school and community that included JK-12 students and staff, as well as some community partners, with a sense of pride and confidence.

The organizing and facilitating events provided leadership roles for some students and new experiences with land-based and cultural activities for others. Many participants felt a renewed sense of pride and identity as they experience new opportunities to connect with their culture and work together. The relationships they fostered with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, Elders and community members will assist NIYC members in the future to bring Indigenous perspectives, awareness to the community of Central Algoma.

News - Wake Up York Region: Profiling the Voices of York Region Youth Pushed out of the Education System

Unfortunately, across Ontario 13.5% of high school students do not graduate with an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. In York Region, approximately 7% of students from York Region District School Board (YRDSB) and 3.6% from York Region Catholic District School Board (YRCDSB) do not complete their high school diploma within 5 years.

From looking at the statistics, it makes one wonder what happened to the students who did not complete high school. What were their experiences like? What factors contributed to them not completing high school? What supports and resources were available to them? As a long time resident of York Region for over 20 years, a YRDSB graduate, and a community based researcher, I wanted to further explore these questions and took the opportunity from the Laidlaw Foundation to complete a Nathan Gilbert Youth Innovation Fellowship. I was awarded the fellowship in 2016 and more importantly it was the first youth led community based research project to happen in York Region.

To provide some context about York Region, it is a large geographic region between Lake Simcoe and the City Toronto (just north of the Steeles!) divided into 9 towns/cities. It is home to the third largest school district in Ontario, York Region District School Board, with over 123,000 students. The region is often misconceived of being comprised of solely affluent communities without poverty or social issues.  Obviously this is not the case, and my fellowship further explores this through consultations and discussions with youth, educators, and service providers.

The focus of my fellowship was to conduct a community based research project toPicture2 further understand factors that contributed to York Region youth between the ages of 15 – 29 who had been pushed out of the education system. The term “push out” is defined as school structure and practices that contribute to youth leaving and/or dropping out of high school.

In the initial phase of this community based research project, I conducted key informant interviews across York Region with educators, youth service providers, academics and community researchers to get a deeper understanding of the education system, practices and policies, and factors contributing to early push out. In addition, I also hosted a community consultation with 20 social service providers, youth advocates and educators to get their feedback on the project and insights on factors that contribute to youth being pushed out of the education system. This community consultation was a critical moment in the project as it helped frame the design of the next phase of focus groups and interviews with York Region youth. I quickly learned that sending out a poster was not the way I was going to connect with young people, it was all about developing relationships and gathering support from the community. Service providers who attended the consultation were extremely helpful in coordinating focus groups and interviews with approximately 15 York Region youth in Newmarket and Richmond Hill.

What I Have Heard So Far…….

“Crap going on at home you can’t deal with…and when I was at school I was the quiet kid….I got ignored a lot. I would come to class. I wouldn’t feel welcomed, and I felt this wasn’t worth it. I would skip for a few days, come back and felt overwhelmed with all the work I would have to catch up on” – YR Youth

 “Not completing high school is intergenerational” – Wrap Around Support Worker

“More intersections a student Picture1embodies, more  unlikely to graduate” – YR Teacher

 “If there were counselors and teachers that actually cared….I  would have stayed” YR Youth

 “I am not going to make it anyway, so what’s the point in  trying” – Georgina Youth Advocate

It is evident that there is a combination of individual, family and school factors that have contributed to youth not completing high school. These factors include homelessness, mental health, family instability, school environment and curriculum, bullying, and relationships with teachers. These factors will be further explored and discussed in my research report, which will be released later this summer.

The Nathan Gilbert Youth Innovation Fellowship is an opportunity for young community workers, researchers, changemakers, and activists to explore a policy issue that they are passionate about and craft youth focused approaches and solutions in the following sectors: the education system, the justice system, and the not-for-profit sector.

Katelynn Sampson’s body was found in 2008 by paramedics, having died as a result of multiple blunt force injuries at the hands of her guardians. Jeffrey Baldwin died of septic shock, caused by starvation, due to the negligence of his so-called caregivers, weighing only 21 pounds when he died in 2002.

Poor communication and limited oversight of CASs are partly to blame for the deaths of Katelynn and Jeffrey. In the case of Katelynn, at least a half-dozen calls had been made to various CASs concerning her well-being, but Katelynn’s file was lost between two different CAS agencies; she died before a child protection worker ever made contact with her. For Jeffrey, CAS’s failure to check their own records led to the then toddler being placed with grandparents who had a lengthy criminal history of abusing their own children. In both cases, CASs were not aware of their errors until after the children were found dead.

The deaths of these young children led to two separate inquests that resulted in the release of hundreds of recommendations to improve child protection services in Ontario. Some of these recommendations were incorporated into the new Child, Youth and Family Services Act (CYFSA), which came into effect on April 30, 2018. But were the changes enough?

A commitment of the new bill was to improve information-sharing and communication between CASs. The government believes that its existing strategy of implementing the Child Protection Information Network (CPIN), an information tracking and sharing system for CASs, will be enough to mitigate several of the issues identified in the Sampson and Baldwin inquests. Enhancing information-sharing abilities between CASs should only be considered a starting point, however. The fundamental problems within the child welfare system go far beyond poor communication. The issues arising in Katelynn and Jeffrey’s cases are, to a great extent, merely symptoms of a system that is severely decentralized.

Dissimilar to many other provinces across Canada, Ontario’s child welfare operational model is distinctively fragmented. Each of Ontario’s 49 CASs is run independently, similar to a franchise-model, with no standardized system of program delivery, siloed day-to-day operations, and unmanageable case-load numbers, which exacerbate communication and oversight challenges. If the government truly wants to make significant changes to the child welfare system, it should begin by reassessing the current operational structure of CASs.

Exploring the feasibility of amalgamating all CASs into one provincial agency was a recommendation of both the Sampson and Baldwin inquests, which the government rejected.

Without a centralized system with consistently-applied standards of care and coordinated service provision, children like Katelynn and Jeffrey will continue to fall through the cracks of a faltering system. The system as it stands is too fragmented – even when new legislation or policy directives are introduced, each organization has the power to interpret mandates differently, making barriers to oversight intractable.

We cannot allow the passing of this bill to slow down momentum or advocacy efforts on behalf of the province’s most vulnerable children. The potential consequences of complacency and inaction are far too dire. By continuing to allow CASs to operate independently, the government abdicates its duty to care for the province’s most vulnerable children and youth and remains complicit in reinforcing the existing problems within the system. We need to demand that the government enact meaningful, systemic change. We can start by calling for deeper centralization of children’s aid societies.

The government has refused to commit to granting amnesty to those previously convicted for cannabis possession, many of whom are suffering the socioeconomic and health consequences of having a criminal record.

In addition to young people being overrepresented in the criminal justice system for drug-related charges, Black and Indigenous people have been disproportionately targeted for drug possession across the country. This further heightens the need for the government to grant amnesty as Black and Indigenous communities have also unfairly dealt with the compounding consequences of having a criminal record.

A simple commitment to amnesty would not be enough however. The government needs to ensure that the process of wiping a record clean is both costless and straightforward. Instituting a fee to expunge a criminal record will further marginalize youth from lower-income backgrounds, who will be less likely to be able to pay legal fees in order to suspend their records.  In a time in which the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous young people in the justice system is evermore apparent, granting amnesty for cannabis possession is not only common-sense, it is a significant first step in beginning to address the devastating consequences resulting from the surveillance and targeting of young, racialized people.

Many are also critical of the Cannabis Act’s seemingly asymmetrical approach toward restricting youth cannabis use. The Act appears to be somewhat out of sync with the government’s purported goals of protecting young people’s health and reducing the burden on the criminal justice system. The inconsistency between the Bill’s goals and its likely impact is concerning for a number of reasons.

The new Cannabis Act is unlikely to reverse the trend of young people facing disproportionately high numbers of drug-related charges, as demonstrated by the government’s legislative decision regarding the “social sharing” of cannabis. The Government rejected a senate amendment to the Act which would have made sharing small amounts of marijuana with someone 17 or younger a ticketable offence rather than an indictable offence. Now, an 18-year-old who shares cannabis with their 17-year-old peer could theoretically be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison. The government provided justification for the severity of the penalty by stating that their goal was to “protect the health of young persons.”

The view that harsher punishments will deter drug use is controversial at best. At its worst, it systemically targets populations already overrepresented in the criminal justice system, sentencing them to a self-reinforcing cycle of socio-economic exclusion. The government’s justification of ‘protecting youth’ fails to recognize that the health consequences of consuming marijuana are likely far less dire than those resulting from having a criminal record.

The path forward is clear: as a starting point, the federal government should commit to granting amnesty for past marijuana possession convictions. We will continue to monitor this issue closely following the legalization of recreational cannabis in October, 2018.

Since not all issues are created equally, you may or may not need to speak directly to a Minister so keep this in mind.

Here are a few tips that may come in handy:

1. Be Issue Specific: Easier said than done. Many organizations approach government with a laundry list of items that are difficult to track or implement. It also becomes overwhelming for a Minister who is balancing multiple priorities daily. If you are approaching government, especially a Minister’s office, do so with one issue and a clear ask. Understanding realistic limitations on a Ministry, budget and competing priorities, what do you want that Minister to do specifically etc? When should it be done? Why should it be done? And how will it complement/oppose the Minister’s mandate/agenda?

2. It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know: Merits are nice, relationships are nicer. If your organization is not well known, it’s always helpful to partner with an organization that has broader name-recognition for the purpose of securing your first meeting and getting the attention of new, key staffers. After that meeting, you want to maintain good ties with those staffers as they are the gatekeepers between you and the Minister and determine whether or not you get a second meeting.

3. Your Ex Can’t Help You: Just because you had a great relationship with a previous government/political party, does not mean you are entitled to one with a new government. Mentioning your previous relationship with a previous Minister may or may not be helpful, instead focus on the previous work that your organization has done on relevant files to that Minister and what bills and legislation you had insight into.

4. Don’t Forget the Bureaucrats: Ontario’s Public Service employees are (supposed to be) non-partisan and often times, withstand changes in governments. They are not elected and they are not politicians, they are often unionized and work on the directives set by the new Minister and Deputy Minister. As they work directly on the issues, there is a lot of subject-matter expertise and knowledge that exists here. Before approaching any level of government, see if your issue needs to be in front of a Minister, an MPP or a member of the public service. Most community issues that don’t require legislative or policy change can be addressed at the public service level contrary to popular belief. Reach out to a Manager or a Director in the Ministry and department your issue falls under by visiting http://www.infogo.gov.on.ca/infogo/ and selecting the “Ministries, Secretariats and Offices” drop down menu. From there you can get direct contact information. See if you can ask your question by email and if necessary, set up a meeting.

5. When Government Throws Shade: If the government is not responsive to your issues/opposes your stance/ignores your organization/remains inactive on promises and so on, there are many options to consider:

Consider option #4, members of the public service can let you know some of the best ways of getting your proposals across. See if they can suggest a tested, method of approach.

Create a coalition/campaign: find organizations, including reputable ones that share your stance on your specific issue and are willing to see it through, see if they are willing to send letters to Ministers’ offices, march with you or work their connections.

Create a petition.

Engage the Media: this should be your last option if all else fails but it is a powerful one. Op-eds, interviews and press conferences can all help to bring the public’s attention to your issue and hopefully get you back on the agenda.

For more information or questions feel free to get in touch with us at www.laidlawfdn.org