Oakville, Ont. 21st June 2018: On June 20th, The Oakville Community Foundation, during their Annual General Meeting and Speaker event, announced their next Vital Report will focus on Children and Youth in Oakville and North Halton – aligned to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set out by the United Nations.
The Foundation’s guest speaker, David Morley, President and CEO of UNICEF Canada, shared insights from their Youth Report Card, Oh Canada Our Kids Deserve Better, the companion to their UNICEF Report Card 14, Building our Future: Children and Sustainable Development Goals in Rich Countries.
Canada’s children are facing some of the biggest challenges and David challenged us to consider how we can address them as a nation. As David stated ‘Every child in Canada has the right to the best possible opportunities and outcomes. Right now, that’s not what many of them are getting.”
Some alarming facts were uncovered including:
- The UNICEF Report Card 14 shows Canada ranked 25th place out of 41 rich countries on the Index of Child and Youth Well-being and Sustainability.
- Canada’s middle ranking hasn’t improved in years; Canada placed 17th in 2013 and 26th in 2016 on similar indexes measuring how Canada’s kids are doing compared to other rich countries.
- Additionally, in Canada, about half of the indicators have improved and half have worsened.
The SDG’s set goals for the world, in which 193 countries including Canada are signatories and committed to ending extreme poverty and hunger, providing lifelong education for all, protecting the planet and promoting peaceful and inclusive societies by 2030.
“The Vital Youth Report will use these goals as the focus on how well Oakville and North Halton children and youth are doing and where we need to focus our attention to ensure no child gets left behind’ says Wendy Rinella, CEO of the Oakville Community Foundation.
‘Our focus on the well-being of children and youth in our communities is the right next step. In our Belonging in a Community of Contrasts report of 2017 we shared that 12.4%* of children (under 18), are living in poverty. The Foundation is focused on what and how we can do better for our children in Oakville and North Halton’. The Report includes the Community Foundation of Halton North and YMCA Oakville as partners and which will be launched November 1st.
Henderson Partners LLP, a local accounting and advisory firm joined The Foundation to announce their role as the title sponsor of the new report. ‘We are very passionate about our community and community building initiatives. The work The Foundation is leading on youth and children is so important and we want to ensure this work can and does support our children’ and the programs and services they need,” says Christie Henderson, Managing Partner.
Christie Henderson with David Morley, President of UNICEF Canada
The Foundation also shared exciting news as a result of a 2-year research partnership with Sheridan College. The specific research aligned with the issues identified in The Foundation’s 2015 Vital Signs report which led The Foundation to transition from a general grant application process to an evidence-based, solution driven RFP process called ‘BeCause Oakville’. Proposals were sought from organizations whose projects aligned with The Foundation’s granting priorities – Emergency Shelter, Alternative Housing and Centralized/Common Food InTake system. Proposals were eligible for single or multi-year support, as well as increased funding potential beyond The Foundation’s previous minimum of $10,000 for a single grant.
Five proposals were presented to Fundholders during The Foundation’s first-ever ‘Philanthropitch’. Following a month long process, they are excited to announce the approval of three projects totaling over $257,000 in community granting – complete descriptions of projects below
- Affordable Housing Halton: Alternative Housing for Halton: Position Paper; with partners Kerr Street Mission | Halton Housing Alliance | Home Suite Hope | Region of Halton – Housing | Halton Multicultural Council (HMC Connections) | Peel/Halton Cooperative Housing Federation | Summit Housing and Outreach Program | Support and Housing Halton | Community Living Burlington and Housing Alternatives New Directions et al.
- Home Suite Hope: Margaret Garden Community Project with partners Kerr Street Mission | Design Quorum Inc (DQI)
- The Faith & The Common Good (Centre for Social Innovation): Community Resilience Hubs with partners The Halton Environmental Network | The Town of Oakville.
About the Oakville Community Foundation: The Oakville Community Foundation is a leader in philanthropic stewarding and community building. Our Vision is to build a healthy, vital community where everyone has a sense of belonging, and the opportunity to connect, contribute and realize their potential. We invest the generosity of caring residents to build opportunities for generations.
For more information contact:
Sarah McPherson 905‐845‐3562, ext. 302
Director of Philanthropy & Communications sarah@theocf.org
*(Statistics Canada 2016)
Affordable Housing Halton: Alternative Housing for Halton: Position Paper
The project involves the development of a position paper that will bring together the efforts of multiple stakeholders into a coordinated push for regulatory, financing and zoning changes that would facilitate a more integrated, holistic response to meeting housing and related services gap in Halton.
Home Suite Hope: Margaret Garden Community Project (MGC) Design model
The MGC project calls for a design model for the development of 24 new, efficiently designed small family units (approximately 500-600 square feet). The project is a leading alternative housing initiative and a first for Oakville.
The Faith & The Common Good (Centre for Social Innovation): Community Resilience Hubs
This project seeks to pilot an Oakville neighbourhood extreme weather resilience hub model using places of worship and other neighbourhood organizations as neighbourhood engagement and care anchors. The goal is to create an Oakville resiliency hub network that engages diverse community stakeholders to increase community capacity and understanding around how we can work to support each other. Project plan is to pilot “neighbourhood hubs” in 3 geographic hubs based in the community of Oakville.