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FSA Planning Day

On March 27, FSA Toronto kicked off its strategic planning process for 2009 - 2012 with a day of presentations and discussions with partners and leaders in the community sector, government and funding organizations. The more than 110 members of staff, board and community partners who attended the forum reflected very positive evaluations of the day.  Among other feedback, participants indicated that they learned more about the current situation in the City and that the forum laid a good foundation for the rest of the strategic planning process.

The program included panel presentations followed by group discussions on four different themes: the changing city; the service response to the changing city; what's the best role for city-wide agencies; and thriving in challenging times.

The Changing City
This theme involved a discussion about the realities of Toronto's most marginalized citizens. The panelists provided an environmental scan of the city as seen through the lens of their work.

Moderator: Armine Yalnizyan, Economist, Centre for Policy Alternatives
The panel included: Angela Robertson, Executive Director, Sistering; Sonia Singh, Organizer, Workers Action Centre; Alan Walks, Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Geography .

Highlights from Alan Walks presentation of  “The Three Cities within Toronto” report, Sonia Singh’s presentation on precarious employment and Angela Robertson’s presentation regarding the “Colour of Poverty Campaign”

Alan Walks summarized the findings of “The Three Cities within Toronto” research bulletin released in December 2007 by the Centre for Urban and Community Studies.

“The Three Cities within Toronto” looks at the income polarization among Toronto’s neighbourhoods from 1970 to 2000. It provides a new way of looking at Toronto’s neighbourhoods based on the socio-economic status of the residents and how the average status of the residents in each neighbourhood has changed over a 30-year period. The report concludes that Toronto’s neighbourhoods fall into one of three categories, based on neighbourhood change over time, creating three distinct Torontos.

Neighbourhoods are complex blends of physical, social and psychological attributes and can be subjected to various social, political, and economic forces – both internal and external – that can lead to neighbourhood change. The key determinant of neighbourhood stability or changes is the price of housing – higher-income households can always outbid lower-income households for housing quality and location.

Based on the average increase or decrease of individual income of people 15 years and older between 1970 to 2000, the research found that Toronto’s neighbourhoods have begun to consolidate into three geographic groupings or “the three cities”.

• City # 1: represents 20% of the city and includes neighbourhoods within which the average income of the population increased by more than 20% on average. These neighbourhoods are located near the centre of the city and close to the city’s two subway lines (some of the waterfront, much of the area south of Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue (where gentrification is taking place), and in central Etobicoke, an area that from the time of its initial development has been an enclave of higher-income people.
• City # 2: represents 43% of the city and includes neighbourhoods that have changed very little, in which the average income of individuals 15 years and over went up or down by no more than 20%. For the most part, this group of neighbourhoods is in the middle, located between the other two groups of neighbourhoods.
• City # 3:  represents 36% of the city and includes neighbourhoods within which the average income of the population decreased between 1970 and 2000. They are mainly located in the northern half of the city outside the central corridor along Yonge Street and the Yonge Street subway.

The report also provides information about:

• how the neighbourhoods changed;
• the decline in middle-income people;
• other characteristics of the three cities – such as size and population, ethnicity, income, owning and renting, immigrants, household size, employment and travel distance to work.
• the growing extent of family poverty  in particular neighbourhoods (Poverty by Postal Code);
• the trend that changes Toronto into the “city of disparities”  caused by the growing gap in incomes between the rich and poor.

Read the Three Cities within Toronto

Sonia Singh presented the case of workers in precarious jobs. Many low-income workers who tend to be recent immigrants, racialized workers, women and youth find themselves working in small workplaces, through temp agencies or with companies that hire staff indirectly through subcontractors. These workers often have no real power to negotiate wages or control their work; they do not get overtime pay, vacation or statutory holiday pay, maternity or sick leave, employment insurance or pension contributions; and, for the same work, are often paid less then other employees. Frequently, they are not paid their wages. Some pay a fee for work while others pay for their own training before they are hired or have to purchase and maintain the equipment needed to do the job.

Sonia indicated that Ontario’s labour law does not adequately protect such low-income workers. Even if the workers come forward and sue their employers for illegal practices and win their cases, the court decisions are difficult to enforce and often they do not receive the awarded compensations. Over the past three years, the government failed to collect over $59 million in workers’ wages while 98% of employers found guilty faced no fine or prosecution.

The Workers Action Centre advocates for changes to the Employment Standards Act (ESA) and effective enforcement of employment standards in all workplaces. Changes recommended to the ESA include:

1. a new section to protect temporary workers;
2. an expanded definition of employer and employees to ensure basic minimum labour standards for all who work;
3. a provision to make companies that control the work process jointly liable with intermediaries for all statutory obligations for workers;
4. and equality of treatment in pay and benefits for all workers regardless of form of employment.

For more information and/or to support the Workers Action Centre go to http://www.workersactioncentre.org

Angela Robertson reviewed The Colour of Poverty Campaign’s mandate to raise awareness about the growing social exclusion of racialized group members and the need to address the racialization of poverty collectively. She explained that the campaign aims at facilitating the understanding of the complex and layered causes of poverty and finding appropriate solutions. To this end, a series of fact sheets were developed priority topics such as health, well-being, income, employment, food security, immigration and newcomer settlement, justice and policing, housing and homelessness, and education and learning. These show how racialized group members face specific and particular hurdles and challenges in most important areas of life.

To read/download all fact sheets go to: http://www.colourofpoverty.ca

The racialization of poverty refers to the disproportionate exposure to low-income experienced by racialized groups in Canada. The evidence shows there are five socio-demographic groups who are disproportionately at risk of experiencing low-income: women, Aboriginal people, persons with disabilities, racialized workers and new immigrants. Racialized groups with intersecting identities such as disability, gender, newcomer status and sexual identity are more likely to suffer the consequences of poverty. They have higher levels of under-housing and homelessness; they are over-represented in the justice system; they experience poorer educational outcomes and those with professional qualifications are underemployed. They also face health status disparities arising from circumstances such as chronic stress, poor working conditions, under-serviced neighbourhoods and/or inadequate food or poor nutrition.

The Colour of Poverty Campaign advocates for a comprehensive plan to reduce and end poverty.  Going beyond increasing the minimum wage and social assistance rates, the plan would:

• focus on key determinants of poverty
• integrate an equity lens in the analysis
• respond with targeted strategies to the five groups disproportionately at risk of persistent low-income
• have measures and indicators that are disaggregated, and
• have long-term and sustained support and leadership mechanisms.

The Service Response to the Changing City

This session examined some of the key challenges and approaches used by community service organizations to meet the emerging needs of the city's most vulnerable people.
Moderator: Lorraine Duff, United Way of Greater Toronto
Panelists: Axelle Janczur, Executive Director, Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services (AAMHCS); Debbie Douglas, Executive Director, OCASI ; Kosal Ky, Executive Director, For Youth Initiative (FYI)

Highlights from Kosal Ky's speech about FYI model and Axelle Janczur's presentation of "neighbourhood hubs"

Kosal Ky spoke about the For Youth Initiative (FYI) model for responding to issues of youth disengagement, violence, alienation, crime and poverty.  FYI encourages civic engagement and increased access to educational, recreational, economic and cultural opportunities for Toronto youth.
FYI is youth-driven and engages youth to work at all levels of the organization as staff, board members, volunteers, and students. Youth decide the content and shape of programs by identifying issues of importance to them and their peers and they evaluate programs’ effectiveness and weaknesses. 
Employing a variety of methods and tactics, FYI creates safe, youth-friendly spaces as well as activities that resonate with youth and increase their participation in community.  From encouraging and supporting youth to be engaged civically to using art, hip-hop lyrics, movies and documentaries to identify and discuss the meaning which stereotypes, violence and media images have in their lives, FYI programs provide youth with the much needed support for engagement.
In spite of its success, FYI experiences challenges from lack of core funding and the need for new funding, limited ability to perform advocacy, the transient nature of youth, and youth staff not being taken seriously by other systems.
Kosal also shared what FYI members learned that can help youth most:

1. having staff that live, work and reflect the cultural make-up of the community served;
2. offering a mixture of gender specific and mixed gender recreational programs;
3. having preventive programming that gives youth many options and chances;
4. giving youth meaningful volunteer opportunities;
5. having youth leaders mentoring  younger youth to prepare the next generation of leaders; and
6. asking youth what they will find engaging rather than making assumptions.

Kosal addressed the use of certain labels such as “youth at risk” and “gang members” in the media and service sector. She invited everyone to ask some questions regarding the use and meaning of labels: who created them, for what use, what are they trying to solve.

Axelle Janczur spoke about Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services’ model and their work with newcomer communities. The organization is committed to working collaboratively to deliver off-site services in partnership with local agencies in underserved neighborhoods.
AAMHCS newest initiative is to create a neighbourhood hub in Crescent Town.  The hub will be multi-service (including clinical and health promotion services) and will foster neighborhood engagement. It will have anchor partners who would rent space to provide services that support the hub’s vision and objectives as well as itinerant partners who would deliver service on an occasional basis from the hub.  The hub will also provide a “community space” – a public space available to community groups and residents to meet and hold events and  activities. 
A neighborhood hub is designed to be more than services co-locating in one space: it envisions a way of working together as agencies and a way of engaging community members to ensure their active participation in defining the nature of the hub. To this end, the AAMHCS will work with a community advisory group to provide input into a variety of decisions including co-locating organizations and community space, service planning and integration, and processes to involve community members in an ongoing way in decision-making about the use of the community space.

Axelle indicated that Access Alliance wants the neighborhood hub in Crescent Town to be seen as a vital, activist initiative that by its very existence – based on the collaboration and partnership with community groups – promotes civic participation and positive change processes.  “We really do want to make a difference”, she said.

3.   What's the Best Role for City-Wide Agencies?

This panel discussed about the value of city-wide agencies in the context of neighbourhood priorities.

Moderator: Councillor Joe Mihevc;
Panelists: Maureen Fair, Executive Director, St. Christopher House; Waseem Syed Vice-President, Community Investment, United Way of Greater Toronto; Gillian Mason, Vice-President Strategic Initiatives and Community Partnership, United Way of Greater Toronto; Heather McGregor, Executive Director, YWCA

Highlights from Heather McGregor’s presentation

Heather began by defining city-wide agencies as United Way agencies that have  programs throughout  the City are mission-oriented, multi-service agencies, financially and programmatically large.

Their value is in their skills and wealth of experience acquired over decades of service on the front-line; a city-wide overview of the scope of problems; better resources; credibility; and the ability to advocate for improvements in the social sector.

While city-wide agencies should contribute their expertise and be invited to the decision-making table with the provincial government and major funders (with the exception of the United Way), they are consistently left outside. Heather asked whether the government simply takes advantage of the dedication of such agencies, under-funding them while depending on their efforts to continue to run much-needed programs for the most disadvantaged. The problem that these agencies face is that at all levels of government they are seen more as recipients of funds than partners in change.

Heather indicated that in the context of neighbourhood priorities the value of the city-wide agencies has been often overlooked. There has been an unspoken assumption that new services in underserved areas should be created fresh and this can be a disadvantage to communities who in all likelihood could benefit from the assistance of experienced agencies. These need not be city-wide, of course, but to begin anew without drawing upon the skills of agencies that have spent decades working on community development initiatives is very short-sighted.   Experienced agencies in this field have existed and still exist because of their ability to juggle resources, and develop meaningful programs that are reflective of current community needs and demographics.  

Heather completed her presentation by stating, “I hope that city–wide agencies make a distinct and helpful contribution.   I hope that we are generous with our resources and that we listen carefully to the whole sector – big and small and wonderfully diverse.”

4. Thriving in Challenging Times

In this presentation the challenges and successes of amalgamation were discussed, including the importance of involving clients (tenants in this case) in decision-making processes.

Derek Ballantyne, Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Community Housing

Derek explained that immediately after it was created in 2002, Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) faced a long list of challenges including poor housing conditions, the need for massive capital investment, disengaged tenants, inadequate management and administrative systems, poverty and highly racialized tenancies, and under-serviced neighbourhoods.

In 2003, TCHC launched its strategic plan setting forth a series of priorities aimed at making TCHC communities good and healthy places to live. TCHC engaged over 6,000 tenants, community agencies, elected officials and staff in the planning process. The main themes that emerged from the process included the need for a strong anti-racism and harassment policy, the need to work with youth and address youth problems, and the importance of tenant engagement.
When racism was identified as a critical issue for tenants, TCHC recognized that addressing it is important in the creation of a healthy community. Together with the anti-racism and harassment policy, TCHC initiated anti-racism study circles where tenants and community members learn, share and explore together issues of racism as they experience them. They also explore how they can address this in their behaviours and interactions with other individuals.

The approach to investment in youth has focused on building their personal and social skills through leadership training, civic engagement, peer mentoring, life skills support, work readiness and job experience.

Tenant engagement involved giving tenants the opportunity to participate in the decisions that affect them through a system of elected tenant representatives. The representatives form councils - to which operational managers are accountable – and participate in the business planning for their community. As a result of this process, currently tenants decide the allocation of 20% of the annual capital expenditures in the housing portfolio.

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