The Youth-led Community Crisis Response Fund provides financial assistance of up to $3,000 for youth-led, youth-driven projects or activities that address the impacts of a violent traumatic incident within a neighbourhood or across multiple communities.
The Fund will help youth to develop or implement their own activities and initiatives and provide tools to improve community resilience and wellbeing in the event of a community-wide, trauma-inducing act of violence, such as a gun-related incident, stabbing, swarming, etc.
Funds are available to support a response to the impacts of violent incidents that have occurred since February 1, 2020. Funding will support projects for up to a six-month period or as amended with direction from the Medical Officer of Health.
The project or activity must meet all of the following:
Project funds requested for subsidizing individual needs and/or to fund existing community initiatives responding to COVID-19 needs, are not eligible.
a group, organization/agency or initiative that is predominately created, devised, governed, staffed and implemented by young people. Youth age for project participants: 13- 29
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.
For the purpose of the fund, a crisis is a community-wide, trauma-inducing physical act of violence (shooting, shots fired, stabbing, swarming) 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.
Your application must demonstrate that your initiative responds to a community-wide trauma-inducing incident with activities delivered and spaces cultivated specifically geared to MVP Youth. Funding priority will be given to applications that meet the following criteria and guidelines:
All projects and activities must clearly follow physical distancing guidelines and have a clear safety plan to engage and run activities online.
The following examples describe activities and initiatives that can be supported by the fund:
You must contact the Community Development Officer in your area prior to applying.
The fund will be used to support projects that will respond to violent incidents/community crisis that occurred as of February 1, 2020.
Applications will be reviewed on a weekly basis and a decision will be sent via email within five to 10 business days of the acknowledgement receipt of 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.
If you have any questions about the Community Crisis Response Fund, please contact the Community Development Officer for your area.