From: Children=s Advocate

Subject: Work plan and Budget for the Children=s Action Committee

The purpose of this report is to outline the Work plan and budget for the Children=s Action Committee.

The Children=s Action Committee is proposing a budget of $150,000.00 to support its activities. A request for $500,000.00 under a Corporate expenditure account to cover the budget requirements for all the task forces related to Community and Neighbourhood Services, including the Children=s Action Committee, has been made through the budget process. A report outlining how the $500,000.00 would be allocated to the task forces has been submitted for information to the March 26, 1998 Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee.

(1) Council approve the Work plan and budget for the Children=s Action Committee; and

On January 2, 6, and 8, 1998 Council adopted Report No. 1 of the Striking Committee which established the Children=s Action Committee and appointed Councillor Olivia Chow as the Children=s Advocate. At the February 12, 1998 meeting of Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee, a report outlining the proposed composition and mandate of the Children=s Action Committee was approved and it was identified that a more detailed Work plan and budget would be prepared for the March 26, 1998 Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee meeting. This report was forwarded to the Special Committee to Review the Final Report of the Toronto Transition Team. At the March 4, 5, and 6, 1998 meeting of Toronto Council, the Terms of Reference were adopted and the membership of the Committee was re-affirmed.

As identified in the terms of reference, the Children=s Action Committee is not a task force in the usual sense. It is an implementation committee established to operationalize and implement the directions originally outlined in AThe First Duty@ report from the previous Metro Task Force on Services to Young Children and Families, and to establish the Civic Commission on Children and Youth, as recommended in the Transition Team final report. As such, the Committee=s Work plan is very action oriented, and has an ambitious agenda for the year. The Work plan has been outlined in Appendix A of the report.

To implement the Work plan, the Children=s Action Committee has established sub-committees. Councillor Pam McConnell is currently chairing a sub-committee that focuses on service access (audit of existing services), the Report Card, and the Civic Commission on Children and Youth. Fiona Nelson, a community participant on the Committee, is chairing a sub-committee on developing a newsletter for the Children=s Action Committee. As well, sub-committees are being established to focus on youth issues, and children and youth civic involvement. The full Childen=s Action Committee will meet on a monthly basis. Two meetings of the Committee have been held, and meetings have been scheduled for April 6, May 8 and June 12, 1998.

The core staff team for the Children=s Action Committee includes representatives from Children=s Services, Social Development and Management Services, Public Health, Libraries, Parks and Recreation, the Planning Department and Healthy City Office. The Clerks Department is providing secretariat support to the Committee. As well, other in-kind staff resources have been identified to support specific initiatives within the Work plan. However, in addition to the in-kind staff support, resources totalling $150,000.00 will be required. These resources will be directed toward initiatives that will have direct positive impact on services to children and youth in communities, such as improving service coordination, rewarding best practices in service delivery and piloting local initiatives, educating and informing people about the benefits of high quality programs and services, and developing a report card to monitor the effectiveness of programs in meeting the needs of children in the City of Toronto.

The Children=s Action Committee has developed an action-oriented Work plan, consistent with its mandate to demonstrably improve the well-being of children in the City of Toronto. The Work plan, includes a range of initiatives that, once established, will improve the planning, coordination and delivery of services for children and youth in the City of Toronto. It is recommended that the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee approve the Work plan and budget.

General Manager, Children=s Services

Children=s Advocate

CCCC

Work Plan for the Children=s Action Committee

The Children=s Action Committee meets on a monthly basis. There are a number of initiatives proposed for the Children=s Action Committee falling generally within six areas - Service Access/ Audit, Research, Public Education, Civic Commission on Children and Youth, Children and Youth Involvement, and Youth.