Grants Awarded 2006
Total disbursements for 2006 under the Metcalf Foundation’s Community Program equal $1,319,002. The following is a list that includes grants to quailified donee organizations and descriptions of contracted services for specific charitable work to be carried out on behalf of the Foundation.
Communities in Action
The Communities in Action Program supports people and organizations to create comprehensive collaborative long-term solutions to issues of poverty.
Access Alliance Multicultural Health Centre
$40,928 (year 1 of 2)
to work with low-income, ethno-racially diverse residents in the Black Creek neighbourhood to engage in participatory research that leads to a deeper understanding of the relationship between health, income security and race and generates evidence based action and advocacy.
ACORN Institute of Canada
$35,000
to support ACORN Toronto’s work with low-income residents living in high-rise buildings to address issues of safe, livable, affordable housing.
Agincourt Community Service
$35,000 (year 1 of 2)
to assist the Scarborough Civic Action Network (SCAN) to work collaboratively with diverse constituents on a range of cross-cutting issues disproportionately affecting poor communities in Scarborough including the Safe Schools Act and the closure of the Scarborough Grace Hospital.
Building Movement Project
$10,524
to engage with nonprofit organizations, funders and capacity builders to jointly advance learning about community building, constituent engagement, emerging leadership in the nonprofit sector, and social service and social change.
Canadian Women's Foundation
$100,000 (year 5 of 5)
to support the Economic Development Collaborative Fund which assists low-income women to achieve greater self-reliance and economic independence through micro-enterprise, self-employment training, community-based business or cooperative strategies. Funds will be used to provide grants, technical assistance, convening and research to community-based agencies working in the field of economic development.
Centre for Social Justice
$34,000
to create educational materials and web based tools that will support Toronto based organizations and individuals working to address issues of poverty reduction.
Dixon Hall
$77,826
to support Regent Park Neighbourhood Initiative and the Centre for Community Leadership and Development to assist social service agencies and grassroots leaders to collaborative plan and work together to respond to current Regent Park resident issues and the changing landscape of this neighbourhood.
East Scarborough Boys and Girls Club
$39,247 (year 1 of 2)
to assist the East Scarborough Storefront to strengthen resident leadership, mobilization and education efforts in order to reduce the impact of poverty in East Scarborough.
Foodshare
$50,000
to support the development of a sustainable farmers’ market model that would operate in low-income, high needs neighbourhoods in Toronto in order to address food in security issues of inadequate income, unsustainable agriculture and diet-related illness.
Kairos
$43,100
to strengthen the role of local churches in advocacy for public policy changes to address issues of poverty.
North York Community House
$47,000 (year 2 of 3)
to partner with Jane Finch Community & Family Centre and Delta Family Resource Centre to transform the three neighbourhood centres from a service delivery model to one emphasizing social change, resident leadership and community mobilization in order to take collective action on issues of poverty in North York.
Parkdale Community Legal Clinic
$50,000 (year 2 of 2)
to support of the Workers’ Action Centre to strengthen the capacity of contingent workers to act individually and collectively to address workplace practice, employment standards and labour legislation that negatively affects them. This grant will also support the Workers’ Action Centre to create new membership and committee structures that enable leadership and active participation of workers directly affected by precarious employment, low wages and employment standards violations.
Pathways to Education
$50,000
to work with the Lawrence Heights and Rexdale neighbourhoods to undertake a consultation process with community residents and local institutions to determine if they can implement and sustain a Pathways to Education program to address two key determinants of health: education and income.
Ralph Thorton Community Organization
$12,334
to undertake a community engagement process to identify the most pressing poverty related issues currently affecting local resident, and to work with residents, agencies and other key stakeholders to develop an integrated poverty reduction action plan.
Regent Park Community Health Centre
$63,104 (year 1 of 2)
to support the work of Health Providers Against Poverty to develop the capacity amongst Ontario healthcare providers and their professional organizations to target poverty, and inadequate social assistance rates in particular, as a health issue.
St. Christopher House
$80,100 (year 5 of 5)
to support the Children, Youth and Families program to: influence public policy to create a stable, coherent funding framework for this constituency; foster community-wide planning; develop grassroots parent leaders; engage in community development activities; and stabilize and grow the agency's Children, Youth and Families program.
St. Stephens Community House
$65,680
to assist the Toronto Drop-In Network to provide leadership opportunities for drop-in participants to realize their capacity to influence and advocate around issues of poverty and to connect their efforts to others in the City of Toronto.
The STOP
$60,000 (year 1 of 2)
to work in partnership with Davenport Perth Neighbourhood Centre, local residents and other key constituents to mobilize and influence policy on income security issues related to minimum wage and a diet supplement for social assistance recipients.
Toronto Neighbourhood Centres
$70,100 (year 1 of 2)
to strengthen community development practice in Toronto in order to enhance nonprofit agencies capacity to address issues of economic and social justice.
Leadership in Action
Leadership in Action is intended to contribute to fostering a reflective, diverse, robust community sector capable of responding to complex social challenges. We offer three distinct learning and leadership opportunities: Emerging Leaders- a Management and Leadership program, Innovation Fellowships, and Renewal Fellowships
York University Foundation
$84,228 (year 2 of 3)
to support the work of the Emerging Leaders Program, a joint initiative of Metcalf, United Way of Greater Toronto and the Schulich School of Business. This program builds the management skills and capitalizes on the inherent leadership abilities of middle managers in the social services sector. The long-term goal of the program is to assist the entire sector with succession planning and leadership diversification.
Renewal Fellowships
Renewal Fellowships provide a sabbatical opportunity for senior leaders in the sector to support their replenishment and professional development. This year's Renewal Fellows are:
Angela Robertson, Executive Director - Sistering - A Woman's Place
Angela will use her sabbatical to spend time with, and documenting by video the stories of her grandmother. She will travel to Nova Scotia to learn more about the history of African Canadians and their connections to the Caribbean. She will also undertake preliminary research on the creation of a pension plan for community sector workers.
Bill Worrell, Program Director - LAMP Community Health Centre
Bill will use his sabbatical to engage in research and reflection on the state of the community development field, and in particular, self advocacy for people who are labeled as disabled.
Innovation Fellowships
Innovation Fellowships support research and development of new ideas, models and practices that have the potential to positively benefit low-income communities and the charitable sector. This year's Innovation Fellows are:
Lynn Eakin, Lynn Eakin & Associates
to explore promising strategies for creating change in the regulatory and financing of nonprofit organizations in Ontario.
John Stapleton, St. Christopher House
to document the issues related to the impacts stemming from the interaction of different social benefit programs for low-income adults and families in Toronto, and to create a set of recommendations in order to build a new governance model for social benefit programs in Ontario.
Sherri Torjman, Caledon Institute for Social Policy
to explore the relevance and application of the concept of resilience in order to develop a conceptual and process framework that supports building strong, vibrant communities.
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