June 25, 1999

To:Administration Committee

From:Chief Administrative Officer

Subject:1999 Allocations: Access and Equity Grant Program

Purpose:

This report presents the recommended allocations of $439,000.00 for the 1999 Access and Equity Grants Program.

Funding Implications:

The grants recommended in this report are within the 1999 Access and Equity Grants Program approved allocation of $444,000.00.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1)grants totalling $439,000.00 be approved as outlined in Appendix 1, 1999 Grants Allocations;

(2)the $5,000.00 balance be held in reserve for appeals subject to a further report recommending the allocation of this reserve; and

(3)the appropriate City of Toronto officials be authorized to take the necessary action to give effect thereto.

Council Reference:

On April 26, 1999, City Council approved $444,000 for the Access and Equity Grants Program, within the Consolidated Grants Program, as part of the 1999 Operating Budget.

On April 13, 1999, City Council approved a "Legislative Process for Grants Policy and Administration", assigning responsibility to the relevant standing committee for program related grants, and responsibility to a subcommittee of the Policy and Finance Committee for policy issues pertaining to all City grants.

The Access and Equity Grant Program was initiated in 1980 by the former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto as a Multicultural Grants Program. The purpose of the grants program was to promote respect and value for the City's ethno-racial communities and to strengthen positive race relations in the City. The "City of Toronto Grants Policy" approved by Council in December 1998 provides overall policy direction for all of the City's grants programs.

In April 1999, City Council approved an additional $137,000.00 to the Access and Equity grants program out of the Consolidated Grants Program to respond to the enhancement and harmonization needs. On June 9, 1999, the Task Force on Community Access and Equity recommended that Council increase the budget for the Access and Equity grants program in order to extend the City's support for advocacy activities to a wider range of equity seeking groups.

A.Program Objectives and Funding Categories:

The objectives, which must be met by all requests, are:

• to strengthen a positive race relations climate in the City of Toronto; and,

• to promote respect and value for Toronto's multicultural and multiracial character.

Applications can be made in one or more of the following funding categories:

(a)Anti-Racism and Equity:

Activities such as advocacy on human rights and race equity issues, public education programs and other projects which are designed to eliminate racial discrimination.

(b)Access and Equity Community Development:

Activities include those that are directed at improving ethno-racial and Aboriginal access to public sector services and at facilitating access to the decision-making of public institutions so that barriers preventing equal participation are identified and eliminated. Activities which promote civic participation of ethno-racial and Aboriginal communities are also included.

(c)Anti-Hate Activities:

Activities to combat hate activity, which involve the participation of residents, communities and public institutions.

B.Program Priorities

The allocation of the Access and Equity Grants Program are determined in the context of strategies to:

• support the community-based, race relations infrastructure of agencies assisting new communities to resolve issues;
• provide funds to organizations which have demonstrated their ability to carry out effective advocacy on anti-racism, access and equity issues;
• support cooperation, networking and coalition building within communities and between communities and institutions;
• provide support to projects to combat hate activity, including public education, data collection, victim assistance; and,
• support projects which facilitate community access to institutions.

C.Eligibility Criteria:

The organization:

·is incorporated as a non-profit organization. (Organizations which are not incorporated must demonstrate financial accountability or have another organization to sponsor or be its trustee (fill trustee form.).

·must have a board of directors or other governing structure, elected by the general membership and who must serve in a voluntary capacity. They should be representative of, and accountable to the community they serve or intend to reach.

·defines the process by which it will ensure accountability to the communities it serves.

·must be financially viable such that:

-the organization must demonstrate that it is receiving or has requested financial assistance, from other appropriate government, and private funding sources and through fund-raising.

-the organization must demonstrate that the proposed activity or project is financially viable.

D.Selection Criteria:

The Project:

• falls within the priorities of the Access and Equity Grants Program;
• identifies potential benefits for people who live, work and/or play within the boundaries of the City of Toronto;
• demonstrates potential of project to increase awareness of anti-racism, access, anti-hate promotion strategies and programs/services;
• responds to a demonstrated need;
• clearly states goals and objectives and the methods/activities that will achieve them;
• includes evaluation component to measure project effectiveness;
• demonstrates accessibility to target population;
• demonstrates that proposed work has a broad base of community and target group support and addresses culturally diverse groups;
• demonstrates ability to work cooperatively with other community organizations;
• demonstrates ability of the organization and its staff to carry out the project;
• demonstrates that the project is realistic, logical and attainable in terms of timing and resources;
• provides evidence of successful implementation of previously funded project(s), where applicable;
• demonstrates that the budget is reasonable and justified;
• provides evidence that the applicant has actively sought other funding or in kind support for the proposed projects, while not duplicating funding.

Comments/Discussion:

The following information is appended to this report:

• Appendix I lists the recommended allocations.
• Appendix II summarizes the applications.

The priorities of the Access and Equity grants program are based on a continuing high need to respond to expressions of racism and to increasing levels of reported hate crimes. This grants program provides support to projects being implemented by community organizaions to respond to need, as well as to support the community infrastructure. Recent studies and statistics have found that hate crime and ethno-racial inequality is on the rise. For example, the 1998 Toronto Police Services Hate Crime Statistics indicate that crimes motivated by hate, bias or prejudice have risen by 22 per cent in 1998 over 1997 in the Toronto area. Hate motivated crimes against racial minorities accounted for the highest number of occurrences. Blacks, South Asians, Asians, Gays and Lesbians were primarily victims of assaults. Jews were victims of mischief and threats.

According to York University's Institute for Social Research study, "Ethno-Racial Inequality in Metropolitan Toronto", the data shows that ethno-racial groups with the highest unemployment rates in 1991 are: Africans from specific nations (25.8 per cent),Mexican and Central Americans (24.7 per cent), Tamils (23.9 per cent), Sri Lankans (20.5 per cent), First Nations people (19.7 per cent). The study found that groups with the most unemployment are not those with the least education. Where poverty is concerned, while 19 per cent of all families in Toronto are defined as living below the "low income cut-off", the data shows that the highest levels of poverty are faced by Arabs and West Asians, Latin Americans, and Blacks and Africans at 37.4, 33.9, and 33.5 per cent respectively. Aboriginal and racial minority communities are seeking equitable treatment within Canadian laws and institutions, however, the disparity in access appears to be widening.

To address some of these issues, organizations are funded by this program to counter the spread of hate activity. Some conduct educational workshops which meet the linguistic and socio-cultural; needs of the respective communities they serve; others develop educational materials as well as mass media tools such as public service announcements and transit posters. Some organizations have taken a lead in Canada in providing assistance to victims of hate crimes.

In addition, grants are allocated to groups to advocate on behalf of disadvantaged communities. These groups are routinely consulted by different levels of government. They participate on various advisory committees of the municipal, provincial and federal governments, universities, hospitals, policing services and broader community sector with the objective of facilitating institutional change by introducing access and equity principles at the decision making level. Issues of major concern continue to be: access to employment, equitable treatment in the workplace, equitable treatment in the public and private housing sectors, access to services in municipal government, development of knowledge to own and operate businesses.

1999 Applications and Financial Allocations:

A.Method of Application and Assessment:

Applications were made available in February 1999 along with Guidelines and Criteria. Four information sessions were held in February, 1999 for interested applicants. Sessions were held at Metro Hall and Civic Centres in Scarborough, Etobicoke and North York. Applications were returned to the Access and Equity Unit by March 4, 1999.

Applications were assessed by staff of the Access and Equity Unit. Two teams of staff interviewed new applicants. Recommendations were discussed by a larger staff team, which included the staff of the access and equity unit who are involved in community based activities.

Recommendations are based on the need of the community being targeted by the project, priority of the activity with respect to identified needs within Toronto, the potential long-term impact of the project, the ability to complete the project, as well as the administrative capacity of the organization. Consideration has been given to the financial viability of the proposal, the state of development of the organization, its track record in the community as well as its level of financial need. Other sources of funding are included in grant applications as well as funding sought and approved from all other levels of government.

B.Conditions:

All recipients of grants and non-financial support are required to adopt and implement the City's Anti-Racism, Access and Equity policy approved by City Council in December 1998.

Agencies receiving support are required to acknowledge the City's financial support in their communication materials.

Additional conditions can be placed upon agencies to ensure that program objectives are met. In June 1999, the conditions recommended by the Community Services grant program for the following organizations are supported by the Access and Equity grant program. These are:

-Portuguese Inter-Agency Network is required to review and restructure its organization and to increase its volunteer and funding base.

-Toronto Community Training and Social Services (Mothers Against Poverty) is required to submit an audited financial statement or to obtain a trustee and submit a signed trustee agreement form to the Access and Equity Unit.

-Working Skills Centre is required to increase its volunteer base.

C.Synopsis of Allocations:

The following statistics provide a synopsis of the funding recommendation and a comparison with 1998 allocations: