Youth-Led Community Crisis Response Fund

Starting September 16th 2024, any new applications must abide by the following changes to the grant criteria:

• Applicants must connect with a local Community Development Officer on the CCRP team.
• Groups have a one month deadline to respond to any clarifying questions about their application.
• Applications may be declined if there are too many clarifying questions.
• There is a $1500 maximum on project coordination fees.

The Community Crisis Response Fund (CCRF) has two streams: General Applications and Youth-led Projects. If you are looking to submit an application that is not youth-led or youth-driven, please refer to the General Community Crisis Respond Fund application. Please note that your application will only be assessed under the fund stream that it is submitted under.

The project or activity must meet all of the following:

1. Occur within Toronto
2. Respond to a specific critical incident in Toronto (i.e. shootings, shots fired, stabbings and gang-related activity. Community violence based on gang-related activities can include: raids and threats of community harm and victimization)
3. Contribute to local community capacity building and/or community healing (see Funding Priority section)
4. For incidents that have occurred within three months of application date submission
5. Activities must adhere to public health guidelines and trustee procedures/policies with regards to physical distancing
6. The applicants must be a youth-led group and/or a youth-led not-for-profit (unincorporated/incorporated)
7. MVP (Most Vulnerable People) Youth will be the primary focus population of the activity
8. All youth-led groups must be mentored and assisted by a supportive adult such as a youth worker or a staff member from a community agency
9. Applicants must be supported by a City of Toronto Community Development Officer (CDO) from the Community Crisis Response Program (CCRP).

Project funds requested for subsidizing individual needs and/or to fund existing community programs, services and/or initiatives responding to COVID-19 needs, are not eligible.

MVP (Most Vulnerable People) Youth

Youth most vulnerable to being involved and impacted by serious crime and violence that are experiencing trauma from community violence exposure (PTSD and unresolved trauma).

The Toronto Youth Equity Strategy (TYES) recognizes that there are various and intersecting factors that affect youth’s resilience and vulnerability to involvement in serious violence and crime.

The term MVP Youth (Most Vulnerable People) is used to describe youth who face multiple and/or intersecting vulnerabilities identified in the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services’ Roots of Youth Violence report. These roots include: Poverty, Racism, Community Design, Issues in the Education System, Family Issues, Health/Mental Health, Lack of Economic Opportunity and Issues in the Justice System. Through the City’s work on gender-based youth violence, Ability, Homophobia & Transphobia have been added as roots of youth vulnerability.

Youth-Led

A group, organization/agency or initiative that is predominately created, devised, governed, staffed and implemented by young people. Youth age for project participants: 12 to 29.

The funding limit has now been increased to $5,000 per request. Your application must demonstrate that your initiative responds to a community-wide trauma-inducing incident with activities delivered and spaces cultivated specifically geared to youth. Funding priority will be given to applications that meet the following criteria and guidelines:

1. Community healing and resiliency activities or projects that:

• Provide opportunity for youth to connect and support one another to process feelings on the impact the incident has had or is having on the community (e.g. coping skills sessions or meditation sessions)
• Allow youth to reflect on the impact the incident has had or is having on the community and youth themselves (e.g. small, closed groups with appropriate facilitators for a number of sessions)
• Assist youth in identifying needs (e.g. using safe online platforms to ask what young people in the community might need as supports and resources specifically for youth)
• Provide youth with an opportunity to envision hope and direction for the future (e.g. creating and curating an art project that can be shared online)

2. Community capacity-building activities that:

• Involve youth input and participation in planning, implementation and feedback of activities (e.g. talking to or polling youth in the community to determine what is needed and tracking the number of young people who participate)
• Help youth to develop skills, resources and to initiate community change (e.g. creating a youth-specific resource guide that can be shared via online mediums such as email, SnapChat, Twitter and Instagram)
• Build on the strengths of the community (e.g. putting together a Google Map of virtual, community-based resources available for young people).

Projects are required to follow public health guidelines and trustee procedures/policies with regards to physical distancing.

Fundable Items, Activities or Initiatives

The following examples describe activities and initiatives that can be supported by the fund:

• Project Coordination to support planning, organizing and implementing your project
• Local neighbourhood engagement sessions on coping, healing and/or processing feelings, consultations (gathering input and feedback) for youth
• Training or workshops for youth
• Community mobilizing and/or planning activities
• Facilitation/speaker’s fee
• Honoraria for volunteers or participation in activities
• Other costs, activities/initiatives will be reviewed on a case-to-case basis

Applicants must connect with a Community Development Officer in your area before applying.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. The fund will be used to support projects that will respond to a critical violent incident that occurred within three months of the application submission date. This time-limited funding is available to fund projects for up to a six-month period or as amended with direction from the Chief Medical Officer of Toronto Public Health.

Please ensure that you download, complete and submit the Project Activity Workplan and Project Budget Template with your application.

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Decision Making

Applications will be reviewed weekly, and a decision will be sent via email as an acknowledgement receipt of the application. Any inaccurate or incomplete information could result in the application being removed from consideration for funding. Should the City require any clarification on the application, we will contact the applicant via email.

Questions

Should you have any questions about the Community Crisis Response Fund, please contact the Community Development Officer for your area.

This fund is intended to assist communities (local neighbourhood or community of common bond) with one-time funding to develop or implement their own crisis response projects and devise support tools in order to improve community resiliency and wellbeing.

For the purpose of the fund, a crisis is a community-wide, trauma-inducing physical act of violence (i.e. shooting, shots fired, stabbing or gang-related activity. Community violence based on gang-related activities can include: raids and threats of community harm and victimization) that may or may not result in life-threatening injury or death. The crisis must have an impact on the living conditions or health status of the community and prevent the normal coping ability within the community.