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TABLE OF CONTENTS

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

AND OTHER COMMITTEES

As Considered by

The Council of the City of Toronto

on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998

COMMUNITY AND NEIGHBOURHOOD SERVICES COMMITTEE

REPORT No. 1

1Administration of Municipal Grants Programs

2Role of the Children's Advocate and "The First Duty",Final Report of the Metro Task Force on Services to Young Children and Families.

3Required Changes to By-Laws of The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited.

4Tenant Benefit Fund - The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited.

5Metro Access to Social Housing.

6Use of Battery Park as an Alternate Location for the Western Beaches Storage Tunnel Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station.

7Other Items Considered by the Committee.

City of Toronto

REPORT No. 1

OF THE COMMUNITY AND NEIGHBOURHOOD SERVICES

COMMITTEE

(from its meeting on January 15, 1998,

submitted by Councillor Gordon Chong, Chair)

As Considered by

The Council of the City of Toronto

on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998

Administration of Municipal Grants Programs.

(City Council on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998, adopted this Clause, without amendment.)

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee recommends the adoption of the report dated January 2, 1998, from the Acting Executive Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports, for the information of Council, having:

(i) requested the Acting Executive Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services to:

(1) provide Members of Council with:

(a) a breakdown by Ward of the funding requests under General Grants and Recreation Grants; and

(b) a copy of each of the grant application forms;

(2) note Councillor Irene Jones' interest in serving on the Committee that reviews Community Services grants; and

(ii) received the communication dated January 9, 1998, from the Acting Secretary, Interim Board of Health, in that the Board reports directly to Council.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee submits the following report (January 2, 1998) from the Acting Executive Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services:

Purpose:

This report recommends guidelines for the administration of municipal grants programs under the jurisdiction of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee, including a policy for advances to organizations, and provides direction for the design of municipal grants programs for 1999.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

This report deals with the following grants programs incorporated in the 1998 estimate requests of the relevant departments: Access and Equity Grants, AIDS Prevention Program, Community Resources Fund, Drug Prevention Program, Emergency Support Fund, General Grants, Arts and Culture Grants, Breaking the Cycle of Violence, Homeless Initiatives Fund, and Recreation Grants.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1) for the 1998 transitional year, agencies in receipt of sustaining municipal grants funding from the former municipalities be reviewed in an expeditious manner, as described in the appendices, in order to provide continuity to agencies and to allow Council and staff adequate time to design and implement equitable and consistent City-wide grants programs for 1999;

(2) the review of 1998 grant applications use the existing 1997 eligibility requirements for grants, except for Arts and Culture Grants which will use a common set of eligibility criteria inclusive of all the former municipalities criteria;

(3) except in the instance of grants administered under the Board of Health and the Toronto Arts Council, all grants programs will submit allocations reports directly to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for recommendation to City Council;

(4) all agencies applying for funding under municipal grants programs will have an opportunity to appeal staff or review panel recommendations;

(5) except in the instance of grants administered under the Board of Health and the Toronto Arts Council, appeals will be heard at the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee;

(6) application forms sent out by the former municipalities, as detailed in the appendices, will be deemed to be applications for funding from the new City of Toronto;

(7) authority to provide advances to agencies which received sustaining funding from the former municipalities be given and administered under the conditions described in the appendices;

(8) advances not be made to agencies which received one-time only support in 1997;

(9) the Acting Executive Commissioner be directed to undertake the required administrative changes to implement the Transitional Grants Policy;

(10) the Acting Executive Commissioner be directed to undertake the research and consultation necessary to develop an integrated Municipal Grants Policy, including revised grants policies for each Service Area, for consideration by the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee at its meeting in September 1998; and

(11) the appropriate City officials be authorized and directed to take the necessary action to give effect thereto.

Council Reference/Background/History:

Under the general authority for making grants provided in Section 113 (1) of the Municipal Act, all of the former municipalities provided support to the not-for-profit sector through community service, cultural, and a range of miscellaneous line-item grants. A number of municipalities also provided program specific grants, usually in the form of project grants such as the AIDS Prevention Program.

The Toronto Transition Team's final report noted the value and importance of the former municipalities' partnerships with community-based service providers and included a number of recommendations, Nos. 103, 114, 122, regarding municipal grants programs. The Transition Team also identified that the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee should be responsible for services that provide key supports to family and neighbourhood life, including community grants.

This report provides guidelines for the administration of municipal grants programs under the jurisdiction of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee. Purchase-of-service agreements which are cost-shared with the Province are not considered grants and are therefore not addressed here. The Service Areas which administer community grants programs include arts and culture, parks and recreation, housing, public health, and community services. Each Service Area is described in greater detail in the appendices.

Several grants programs which are either staffed or budgeted outside the proposed Community and Neighbourhood Services cluster are also included in this report. They face essentially the same issues through the transition year, and the Transitional Grants Policy guidelines, described below, can be effectively applied to them. Appendices for the two programs, which are the Breaking the Cycle of Violence Grants and the Access and Equity Grants, have been included.

Throughout this report a distinction is made between sustaining grants such as community service grants and project funding, usually in a specific program area such as the AIDS Prevention Grants.

Staff responsible for the administration of municipal grants programs have been meeting over the past six months in the various Service Review Teams (and the Municipal Grants Workgroup for community service grants) to identify and plan for grants issues related to municipal amalgamation. Representatives of the Service Review Teams met with the member of the Interim Management Team responsible for Community and Neighbourhood Services to identify the immediate issues to be placed before the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee.

Transitional Grants Policy:

The Transition Team recommended that "during the year (1998), Council should review all the grants eligibility criteria of the former municipalities and establish a grants policy for the new City, to take effect in 1999." This recommendation is addressed below in the section titled "Municipal Grants Policy for 1999."

For grants administration in 1998, the Team recommended the development of "a transitional grants policy to apply to all municipal grants given by Metro and the six Area Municipalities." The key elements of the Transitional Grants Policy are: eligibility criteria, new applicants, review processes, approval and appeal processes, funding mechanisms, and advances. Each of these elements is described briefly here and in more detail in each Service Area Appendix.

Assuming a static budget, the general approach to allocations in 1998 will be to flatline allocations at 1997 levels to agencies that received sustaining support. With respect to project grants, existing programs' priorities will be used to guide allocations processes.

Eligibility Criteria:

The Transition Team recommended that "Council's review of 1998 grant applications should use the same eligibility requirements for grants as in 1997." This recommendation applies equally to programs that provide sustaining funding and project grants. All Service Areas have developed transition year administration plans that are consistent with this recommendation.

In making this recommendation, the Transition Team has suggested that the existing geographic criteria will also continue to be applied in 1998. This will mean, for example, that Homeless Initiatives grants made by the former City of Toronto will continue to be available only to agencies in the Toronto Community Council District.

The Arts, Culture and Heritage Service Review Team is recommending that a common set of criteria, inclusive of all existing criteria, be applied to all organizational applicants in 1998 under a unified grants program (see Appendix A for the detailed arts and culture grants eligibility criteria).

New Applicants:

All applicants are considered new applicants under project funding programs such as the Drug Abuse Prevention Program. There is a challenge in responding to new applicants applying under grants programs which provide sustaining funding such as community services grants. Given the status quo approach to allocations suggested by the Transition Team, little funding will be made available for redistribution to new applicants. At the same time, it is critical that open access to community grants support be maintained. In 1998, applications will be accepted from agencies not funded in 1997; however, new applicants will be informed of the constraints on the City's ability to provide sustaining support in 1998. This does not apply to project funding programs as all applicants are considered "new" each year.

Review Processes:

There are a number of challenges in considering how to approach the 1998 grants review process. Staff time must be freed up from the review process to carry out a comprehensive review of the existing programs resulting in consistent, equitable and effective City-wide programs aligned with City priorities in 1999. In the case of grants programs offered by more than one of the former municipalities, there are a range of administrative challenges to providing a combined program.

The recommended approach to the 1998 review is to modify existing review processes in favour of processes that meet accountability requirements for grants administration but that may not result in the previous depth of review offered by some programs. Grants programs that provide sustaining funding will not require applicants to attend an agency interview in 1998, provided they received funding in 1997 and staff have not identified performance concerns. Allocations staff maintain regular contact with the funded sectors, providing them an overview of how most agencies are performing on an ongoing basis.

In the case of arts and culture grants, the Transition Team has recommended a review process that assigns roles to the Toronto Arts Council, Etobicoke Municipal Arts Commission and the staff of the proposed Culture Office.

All agencies or groups requesting funding will be required to submit application forms containing, at a minimum, current financial information and program updates (agencies receiving support through line-item grants may not be required to submit an application). Each Service Area has developed a single application form for applicants which were previously funded by more than one former municipality. A number of former municipalities distributed existing application forms for the 1998 grants review process in 1997. Where this has occurred the existing applications will be accepted under the transition year grants programs, although agencies may be required to submit supplementary information in addition to the original application.

Where agencies dealt with municipal staff from more than one former municipality for similar funding purposes within a given Service Area, they will have a single funding liaison under the 1998 process.

Approval and Appeal Processes:

There is significant variation in both the approval and appeal processes for municipal grants programs. The Transition Team has identified that the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee should be responsible for services that provide key supports to family and neighbourhood life, including community grants. It is recommended that grants allocations should be forwarded to Council after consideration at the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee. There are two exceptions to this approach. First, public health grants would also be reviewed by the Board of Health and forwarded to the Committee. Second, grants administered by the Toronto Arts Council, under the terms of its 1994 grant agreement, are not required to be submitted to Committee or Council for approval, although the Toronto Arts Council is required to file quarterly reports on decisions taken.

The Transition Team has recommended Community Councils provide input on needs identification regarding community grants programs. This input may form a component of the annual "report cards" on how well community needs are being met in each Community Council District. The role of Community Councils in the provision of municipal grants should receive particular attention in the development of a new Municipal Grants Policy for implementation in 1999.

There is significant variation in appeal mechanisms under the various existing grants programs. A one step appeal process is recommended with the appeals to be heard at the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee. It is anticipated that the majority of appeals will be made by agencies not recommended for sustaining funding as a result of poor performance or new applicants not recommended due to insufficient availability of funds. Appeals by agencies not recommended for project funding will be as in past years.

Again, there are two exceptions: public health grants appeals would be heard by the review panels and appeals of Toronto Arts Council decisions are administered by the Toronto Arts Council itself under the terms of its grant agreement.

Funding Mechanisms:

Grants dollars are flowed to recipient agencies using a number of funding mechanisms. In most cases, once an allocations report with agency specific recommendations is approved by Council, staff request and forward grants payments. In a number of grants programs, a formal grant agreement is required in addition to Council approval before funds can be disbursed. Some service areas also use purchase-of-service agreements as the funding mechanism. For 1998, the existing funding mechanisms should be maintained.

Advances:

The Transition Team report included a number of specific recommendations with regard to the provision of advances to agencies funded in 1997. While there is general agreement with this recommendation, a policy resulting in automatic advances of 50 percent to all previously funded agencies is not recommended. It is recommended that advances be made available through grants programs which provide sustaining funding, if the agency has demonstrated the ability to provide services to the community on a consistent basis. Agencies will not be permitted to use advances on 1998 funding to cover existing deficits. Agencies will be eligible for an advance of up to 50 percent of the previous year's allocation, or 100 percent of the previous year's allocation where the allocation was $2,000.00 or less. In order to maintain a clear audit trail, agencies will be required to complete a simple request form before an advance is made.

Line-Item Grants:

Each of the former municipalities made grants recorded as line-items in corporate or departmental accounts (e.g., Scarborough Arts Council, AIDS Committee of Toronto, Federation of Metro Tenants). In many cases, funds are forwarded to recipients once the budget is approved without a formal staff review. In other cases the appropriate departments triggered payment of these grants. In yet others, these funds are used in the purchase of service from community organizations. The review reporting and assessment processes vary widely and would benefit from a further study to ensure order and consistency. In 1998, the Executive Commissioner, in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, should identify those grants that fall within the mandate of an existing grants program to consolidate the administration of the funds in 1998. Those line-item grants which do not clearly fall within a grants program will continue to be administered through the budget process as line-item grants in 1998.

Municipal Grants Policy for 1999:

The Toronto Transition Team Report identified the need for the City of Toronto to "review the existing criteria for grants and establish its own grants policy for the new City to take effect in 1999". The 1998 Transitional Grants Policy has been designed to free up limited staff time to support the development of a new Municipal Grants Policy. The Municipal Grants Policy should provide broad statements regarding policies and principles which apply to all municipal grant programs, as well as a set of revised grants policies and administrative practices specific to each Service Area.

The proposed "Social Charter" and "Cultural Policy" [Transition Team Recommendations Nos. 47 and 48] may provide some direction for the development of the Municipal Grants Policy. The Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Management Team will review the draft policy to ensure that there is a consistent approach to municipal grants at a corporate level.

Under the direction of the Executive Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services, each service area will undertake a broad-based review of existing grants programs, including: criteria, funding mechanisms, funding purposes, review and approval processes, the relationship to other municipal grants or purchase-of-service programs, and the relationship between the wide range of in-kind and financial supports provided by the City. A number of Service Areas will also need to address the issue of service levels where only one or two of the former local municipalities offered a particular grants program. The review will include consultation with all stakeholders, including: staff and board members of funded agencies, unsuccessful applicant agencies, Councillors, service users, citizens, other funders, and municipal staff. Consultations with common stakeholders will be co-ordinated to minimize the number of consultations required.

In the past, citizens have been involved in the review/approval process of some project grants. The role of citizens, representatives of target populations, and Community Councils in municipal grants programs will receive particular attention during the development of the Municipal Grants Policy.

The focus of the Transitional Grants Policy for 1998 has been to address the immediate questions of consistency and co-ordination of grants programs within each Service Area. The Municipal Grants Policy will address the broader questions of consistency and co-ordination of grants programs between Service Areas. The design process will also provide baseline information through the identification of best practices for grants program delivery. This baseline information will facilitate the development of appropriate benchmarking for municipal grants programs.

In order to ensure that there is overall consistency in the reviews, each Service Area will be asked to provide the Executive Commissioner with a service review plan early in 1998. Once approved by the Executive Commissioner, each Service Area will carry out the review between March and August 1998. A complete report with the results of the reviews and a draft Municipal Grants Policy will be submitted to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for its September 1998 meeting.

Conclusion:

The not-for-profit sector fulfils a critical role in the City's social and cultural infrastructure. Funded organizations contribute positively to the quality of life in their communities in a cost-effective and responsive way. Agencies understand that resources from all funding sources will continue to be constrained and have responded by making more extensive use of volunteers and increasing self-generated revenues.

Two recent reports underline the important role of municipal funding programs. The report "Profile of a Changing World", produced by the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto, the former City of Toronto and the former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, provides a current picture of a community-based service system in turmoil. The report states that: "The 1996 survey results paint a compelling portrait of a world that is changing. In this changing world, the importance of a strong social infrastructure is critical to maintaining a healthy, competitive, livable region. It is crucial that governments at all levels commit to restoring and preserving the stability of the full range of services provided by this sector. This requires, above all, adequate and stable funding levels so that all residents can find the necessary supports in the community to live full and active lives."

These sentiments are echoed in the results of the "1996 Survey of the Cultural Sector" published by Metropolitan Toronto in 1997. The survey results show that even though cultural organizations are developing new strategies to increase earned revenue in the face of funding reductions from senior levels of government, there is still an important, stabilizing role for local government in maintaining the cultural infrastructure of the City.

Municipal grants programs play a critical role in ensuring the continued existence of a strong and responsive community and cultural infrastructure.

The Transitional Grants Policy has been designed to minimize any potential impacts of municipal amalgamation on not-for-profit organizations in 1998. The Municipal Grants Policy will provide the foundation for consistent, equitable and effective City-wide programs aligned with City priorities in 1999.

Contact Name:

Chris Brillinger: Tel: 392-8608/Fax: 392-8492

John Elvidge: Tel: 392-9046/Fax: 392-3355

________

Appendix A

Arts and Culture Grants

Purpose:

To support organizations and individuals in the creation and presentation of arts and cultural activity on both a recreational and professional basis.

1997 Service Level Indicators:

(1) Grants to Organizations:

(a) Number of applications: 715.

(b) Number of organizations: 419.

(d) Number of organizations funded by two or more former municipalities: 198.

(e) Total amount awarded: $10,502,672.00.

(2) Grants to Individuals:

(a) Number of applications: 675.

(b) Number of awards: 155.

Background:

Prior to amalgamation, each of the former municipalities made grants for arts and cultural activities. All except one provided grants through categories especially earmarked for arts and culture. Two of the municipalities--York and Toronto--provided grants to individual artists.

In all but the former City of Toronto, cultural grant allocations were approved by Councils on the recommendations of a standing committee. At Metro allocations were recommended by staff based on the comments of peer advisory panels in each of the disciplines. Arts commissions or committees comprising Councillors and citizens formulated recommendations in Etobicoke and York. Panels comprising citizens, councillors and staff were used in North York. An interdepartmental staff committee made recommendations in Scarborough.

The former City of Toronto delegated its grant-making authority to the Toronto Arts Council (TAC), a privately incorporated not-for-profit organization, under a five-year grant agreement dated April11,1994. The agreement, which expires March31,1999, provides, inter alia, for:

(1) the TAC to receive, assess, and approve grants to organizations and individuals without requiring Council approval of individual allocation decisions;

(2) the TAC to submit an annual budget submission in support of a grant from the City to the TAC to cover its administrative costs (1997: $557,254.00);

(3) City Council to appoint five members (two of whom must be Members of Council) to the 26-member TAC Board of Directors; and

(4) the TAC to provide quarterly and annual reports to Council on its activities and finances.

In most respects the eligibility criteria governing the former arts and culture grant programs were similar, with some differences in the areas of organizational status and activity considered. Because of the similarity, a set of integrated criteria has been recommended for the transition year. These interim criteria will not restrict access to applicants who might have enjoyed access to the grants programs prior to 1998 and will provide the benefits of eliminating duplication, reducing confusion for the applicant, and starting the process of integration in the transition year.

The principal area of difference--and hence the most important service level issue in arts and culture grants--is the eligibility of individual artists. The Arts, Culture and Heritage Service Review Team has recommended that, in the transition year, applications from individual artists be limited to those residing in the former cities of York and Toronto under the prevailing criteria unless additional funds can be made available to enlarge the program for city-wide delivery.

The final report of the Transition Team addresses these grants under Recommendation No. 114. It recommends that the review of 1998 grant applications should use the same criteria as in 1997, that Community Councils be asked for input on needs identification, that allowances be made for advance payments, and that new policies be developed for 1999.

In addition to Recommendation No. 114 regarding a transitional grants policy, the Transition Team made the following specific recommendations (Recommendation No. 103) concerning arts and culture grants:

(1) "Council should establish a new citywide Toronto Arts Council as an arm's-length funding peer review body to administer grants to arts and cultural organizations, according to policy guidelines established by Council."

(2) "The Arts Council should be based on the existing Toronto Arts Council, and it should report to Council through the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee."

(3) "Until new arrangements are in place, the current City of Toronto Arts Council should continue to allocate grants within its existing area of jurisdiction under the terms of its current legal agreement; and the Etobicoke Municipal Arts Commission should make recommendations to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee on the allocation of grants within its existing area of jurisdiction, working with the City's Culture Office. The City's Culture Office should recommend the allocation of grants in all other parts of the new City and to those organizations currently funded by Metropolitan Toronto rather than the current City of Toronto."

Transition Year Administration:

(1) Application Forms:

(a) A common application form will be provided to applicants in 1998.

(b) Applications already issued for 1998 by the former municipalities will be deemed to be 1998 applications to the City of Toronto.

(2) Eligibility Criteria:

The recommendations of the Transition Team call for the maintenance of the same criteria as in 1997. The following transitional, common eligibility criteria will be used:

(a) Applications will be considered in two categories:

(i) Ongoing - including those known by the former municipalities as operating grants, unrestricted grants, core-funding grants, program grants, and annual project grants; and

(ii) Project - including first-time applicants, one-off projects, travel grants, development grants, equipment grants, and applicants that request funding annually for different projects.

(b) All organizations receiving arts and culture grants from one or more of the seven former municipalities shall be eligible to apply in 1998.

(c) All other organizations must meet the following criteria in order to be eligible to apply for arts and culture grants in 1998:

(i) the applicant must be a not-for-profit organization or collective;

(ii) the applicant must be organizing arts and cultural activities based in the new City of Toronto;

(iii) the applicants must demonstrate support from other sources than public funds;

(iv) the applicant may apply for only one grant in the transition year; and

(v) audited financial statements will not be required for grants less than $15,000.00 unless requested.

(d) Unless additional resources are provided, the grants-to-individuals programs administered by the Toronto Arts Council shall be limited to individuals living in the former City of Toronto. If additional resources are provided through the 1998 Operating Budget, the grants-to-individual programs administered by the Toronto Arts Council shall be opened up to all residents of the new City and, notwithstanding the terms of Clause No. (3) below, shall be administered by the Toronto Arts Council.

(3) Assessment Process:

(a) The Toronto Arts Council (TAC) shall receive and review applications originating in the former City of Toronto under the terms of its grant agreement with the City of Toronto.

(b) Staff shall receive and review all other applications, including applications from organizations previously funded by Metro and not the TAC, including the major regional cultural institutions.

(c) The Etobicoke Municipal Arts Commission (EMAC), with the assistance of staff, shall review all applications originating in the former City of Etobicoke.

(d) All applications will be reviewed in an expeditious manner to allow Council, staff and the appropriate agencies the time to redesign the grants process for 1999.

(4) Approval and Appeal Process:

(a) Under the terms of its 1994 grants agreement with the former City of Toronto, approval of allocations and the review of appeals has been delegated to the Toronto Arts Council.

(b) For grants reviewed by staff and the Etobicoke Municipal Arts Commission, the following will apply:

(i) recommendations developed by staff teams will be forwarded to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for approval by June1998;

(ii) applicants will be notified of their recommended grant in advance, and can appeal this recommendation to the Committee; and

(iii) recommendations and appeals approved by the Committee will be forwarded to Council for final approval.

(5) Staffing and Administration:

(a) Until a departmental structure is adopted, the Executive Commissioner shall recruit and assign the necessary staff of the cultural offices of the former municipalities to administer those grants not being reviewed by the TAC. Upon the adoption of a departmental structure, responsibility shall be assumed by the department or office responsible for culture.

(b) The TAC shall provide its own staffing for the administration of grants under its jurisdiction, under the terms of the grant agreement.

(6) Interim Advances:

(a) In keeping with past practice, the large grants received by the major four cultural organizations--Art Gallery of Ontario, Canadian Opera Company, National Ballet of Canada and Toronto Symphony Orchestra--will be paid in 12 monthly instalments. Until Council adopts the 1998 allocations, these organizations will be paid monthly an amount equal to one-twelfth of their 1997 grants under the authority provided in the interim estimates. If required, the monthly payment will be adjusted thereafter.

(b) In addition to the major regional organizations, the Executive Commissioner shall be authorized to make advance payments of up to 50 percent of 1997 levels (or up to 100 percent in the case of grants of $2,000.00 or less) to ongoing or core-funded organizations where:

(i) the organization would normally have received funds from one of the former municipalities earlier in the year than when Council is scheduled to approve the 1998 grant allocations; or

(ii) the organization merits the assistance of the municipality in addressing cash-flow requirements; or

(iii) the Executive Commissioner, in his or her discretion, believes supporting a request for an advance upholds the spirit of the transitional grants policy.

(7) New Applicants:

New applications will be accepted with the caution that funds may be limited.

Contact Name:

Kathleen Sharpe: Tel: 392-5225/Fax: 392-3355

m._kathleen_sharpe@metrodesk.metrotor.on.ca

Appendix B

Community Service Grants

Purpose:

To support the development and maintenance of a community-based social infrastructure which increases the ability of communities to identify and respond to community needs.

1997 Service Level Indicators:

(1) Number of applications: 709.

(2) Number of awards: 599.

(3) Number of organizations funded: 407.

(4) Number of organizations funded by two or more former municipalities: 166.

(5) Total amount awarded: $11,805,710.00.

Background:

Prior to amalgamation, each of the former municipalities made Community Service grants. While there is some variation in the priorities, most community service grants programs have emphasized the following: disadvantaged and/or under-served communities; proposals to fill gaps in service; small and medium sized organizations; and requests consistent with the municipality's own mission and goals. In addition, some of the former municipalities favoured innovative and/or preventative approaches.

In all cases, Council approved the final allocations on the recommendations of one or more standing committees. In three cases, the assessment process leading up to the recommended allocations was undertaken by staff alone. In two cases, staff led the process with the involvement of one or more members of the community. Two programs involved Members of Council. All but two of the former municipalities allowed applicants to appeal funding recommendations by appearing before the standing committee.

Each program has similar criteria addressing financial accountability, accountability to the community, and service efficiency and effectiveness. There are some variations in criteria with respect to incorporation status and financial reporting.

Some former municipalities made additional funds available to organizations in need of urgent assistance as a result of unforeseeable circumstances. These emergency funds were provided using either unallocated community service grants funds or contingency funds. Such emergency funding will not be available as a part of the interim 1998 community service grants program; however, this support will be considered as part of the 1999 grants design process.

In addition to this general recommendation, the Transition Team recommended (Recommendation No. 122) the consolidation and harmonization of community service grants into one single system for 1999, and the maintenance of the total amount of funding for community grants at no less than 1997levels.

Transition Year Administration:

(1) Application Forms:

(a) A common application form will be provided to applicants in 1998.

(b) Applications already issued for 1998 by the former municipalities will be deemed to be 1998 applications to the City of Toronto.

(2) Eligibility Criteria:

(a) The existing eligibility criteria of the former municipalities will be used to assess applications.

(b) All applicants that were eligible for funding in 1997 will continue to be eligible in 1998.

(3) Assessment Process:

(a) All applications will be reviewed in an expeditious manner to allow Council and staff the time to redesign the grants process for 1999.

(b) A team of grants staff will assess applications against existing criteria, principally using information provided in the application form.

(c) Each applicant will be assigned only one staff liaison, even if they previously received funding from a number of different community service grant programs.

(d) Interviews will be conducted only with the following applicants: organizations with previously identified funding conditions; organizations with identified performance issues; and new applicants.

(4) Approval and Appeal Process:

(a) Recommendations developed by staff teams will be forwarded to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for approval by June 1998.

(b) Applicants will be notified of their recommended grant in advance, and can appeal this recommendation to the Committee.

(5) Staffing and Administration:

Until a departmental structure is adopted, the Executive Commissioner shall recruit and assign the necessary staff of the former municipalities to administer the grants program. Upon the adoption of a departmental structure, responsibility shall be assumed by the department or office responsible for social development.

(6) Interim Advances:

(a) Until the 1998 appropriations are approved by Council, the Executive Commissioner shall be authorized to make advance payments of up to 50 percent of 1997 levels (or up to 100 percent in the case of grants of $2,000.00 or less) to ongoing or core-funded organizations where:

(i) the organization would normally have received funds from one of the former municipalities earlier in the year than when Council is scheduled to approve the 1998 grant allocations; or

(ii) the organization merits the assistance of the municipality in addressing cash-flow requirements; or

(iii) the Executive Commissioner, in his or her discretion, believes supporting a request for an advance upholds the spirit of the transitional grants policy.

(b) All qualified organizations requesting an advance payment shall complete a request form supplied for that purpose.

(7) New Applicants:

Requests for support from new applicants will be accepted. Funds for new applicants will be provided from performance-related grant reductions and attrition (some previously funded applicants fail to reapply). As a result, funding available for new applicants will be limited.

Contact Name and Telephone Numbers:

Eric Gam: Tel: 392-8238/Fax: 392-8492

eric_gam@metrodesk.metrotor.on.ca

Appendix C

Recreation and Sports Grants

Purpose:

To support organizations that provide recreation and/or sports activities on both recreational and elite levels that enhance or dovetail with those services provided by the Parks and Recreation Department.

1997 Service Level Indicators:

(1) Number of applications: 110.

(2) Number of awards: 100.

(3) Total amount awarded: $1,004,212.00.

Background:

Prior to amalgamation, each of the former municipalities except Metro provided grants for recreation and sports activities. Eligibility criteria vary among the programs. Some programs support travel costs and equipment purchases while others do not. Some support programs similar to those offered by the Parks and Recreation Departments. Both recreation and elite programs are supported to allow participants to reach their own levels of achievement, but are not supported consistently across the new City. Priorities also vary, but community development is the cornerstone of these grant programs.

Staffing, assessment and approval processes also vary widely. Staff responsible for the administration of recreation and sports grants programs included those in Clerk's, Finance, and Parks and Recreation Departments. Some staff were designated to the grants program only, while others were seconded to review grants on a part-time basis. Applications were reviewed using various methods that may or may not have included interviews. These interviews were conducted by staff only, staff and community representatives, or staff, political and community representatives. The number of steps in the approval process ranged from one to three. However, Council had the ultimate approval in all of the former municipalities. Four of the six programs have an appeal process. Approval dates ranged from February to July.

Transition Year Administration:

(1) Application Forms:

(a) A common application will be provided to applicants in 1998.

(b) Applications already issued for 1998 by the former municipalities will be deemed to be 1998 applications to the City of Toronto.

(2) Eligibility Criteria:

(a) The existing eligibility criteria of the former municipalities will be used to assess applications.

(b) All applicants that were eligible for funding in 1997 will continue to be eligible in 1998.

(3) Assessment Process:

(a) All applications will be reviewed in an expeditious manner to allow Council and staff the time to redesign the grants process for 1999.

(b) A team of grants staff will assess applications against existing criteria, principally using information provided in the application form.

(4) Approval and Appeal Process:

(a) Recommended allocations will be submitted to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for recommendation to Council.

(b) Appeals will be considered at the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee.

(5) Staffing and Administration:

(a) Until a departmental structure is adopted, the Executive Commissioner shall recruit and assign the necessary staff of the former municipalities to administer the assessment process. Upon the adoption of a departmental structure, responsibility shall be assumed by the department or office responsible for parks and recreation.

(6) Interim Advances:

(a) Until the 1998 appropriations are approved by Council, the Executive Commissioner will be authorized to make advance payments of up to 50 percent of 1997 levels (or up to 100 percent in the case of grants of $2,000.00 or less) to ongoing or core-funded organizations where:

(i) the organization would normally have received funds from one of the former municipalities earlier in the year than when Council is scheduled to approve the 1998 grant allocations; or

(ii) the organization merits the assistance of the municipality in addressing cash-flow requirements; or

(iii) the Executive Commissioner, in his or her discretion, believes supporting a request for an advance upholds the spirit of the transitional grants policy.

(b) All qualified organizations requesting an advance payment will complete a request form supplied for that purpose.

(7) New Applicants:

New applications will be accepted with the caution that funds may be limited.

Contact Name:

Joe Halstead: Tel: 395-6188/Fax: 395-0105

jhalstead@city.north-york.on.ca

Appendix D

Public Health Grants

Purpose:

To strengthen community capacity and ensure delivery of varied, target-specific and community-sensitive programming. As such, grants are an integral component of a program plan and budget; they extend and complement work carried out by City staff.

1997 Service Level Indicators:

(1) AIDS Prevention Grants:

(a) Number of applications: 57.

(b) Number of awards: 39.

(2) Drug Abuse Prevention Grants:

(a) Number of applications: 73.

(b) Number of awards: 58.

Background:

Prior to amalgamation, only Toronto had on-going public health grants programs: these were for AIDS prevention and drug abuse prevention. In addition, Toronto provided an annual line-item grant to the Toronto Board of Education for school food programs.

AIDS prevention grants support innovative, targeted education programs to influence behaviours and situations that put people at risk of acquiring HIV. Drug abuse prevention grants support projects designed to prevent and reduce inappropriate drug use. In all cases, grants are awarded on a program-specific basis; no operating grants are provided through these programs.

Transition Year Administration:

(1) Application Forms:

Applicants will be provided with an application form based on the form used in 1997 by the former City of Toronto.

(2) Eligibility Criteria:

The existing criteria for public health grants shall be continued in the transition year. These grants will be limited to organizations from the former City of Toronto in the transition year.

(3) Assessment Process:

(a) All applications will be reviewed in an expeditious manner to allow Council and staff the time to redesign the grants process for 1999.

(b) The Interim Medical Officer of Health shall convene review panels for each of the grants programs under the authority being concurrently sought in a separate report to be considered by the Board of Health in January 1998. The panels will comprise a balance of citizen members with appropriate expertise representing various sectors in a manner consistent with previous years.

(4) Approval and Appeal Process:

(a) Recommendations developed by the review panels will be forwarded to the Board of Health for recommendation to Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee and Council.

(b) The appropriate review panels, in keeping with past practice, will consider appeals.

(5) Staffing and Administration:

(a) Until a departmental structure is adopted, the Acting Medical Officer of Health shall recruit and assign the necessary staff of the former municipalities to administer the grants. Upon the adoption of a departmental structure, responsibility shall be assumed by the department or office responsible for public health

(6) Interim Advances:

(a) At its meeting of June 23 and 24,1997, the former City of Toronto Council approved 1997/1998 AIDS prevention grants which require a second and final payment to be made out of the 1998 budget on January15,1998. These instalments will be paid under the authority provided in the interim estimates.

(b) In addition to the payments described in Clause No.6(a), until the 1998 appropriations are approved by Council, the Acting Medical Officer of Health shall be authorized to make advance payments of up to 50 percent of 1997 levels (or up to 100 percent in the case of grants of $2,000.00 or less) to ongoing or core-funded organizations where:

(i) the organization would normally have received funds from one of the former municipalities earlier in the year than when Council is scheduled to approve the 1998 grant allocations; or

(ii) the organization merits the assistance of the municipality in addressing cash-flow requirements; or

(iii) the Acting Medical Officer of Health, in his or her discretion, believes supporting a request for an advance upholds the spirit of the transitional grants policy.

(7) New Applicants:

As these programs are project-specific, requests for support from new applicants will be accepted.

Contact Name:

Dr. Sheela V. Basrur: Tel: 469-8540/Fax: 461-8564

Appendix E

Housing Grants

Purpose:

To assist community based non-profit agencies to respond to long term and emergency issues related to homelessness in the former City of Toronto.

1997 Service Level Indicators:

(1) Number of grants awarded: 37.

(2) Total amount awarded: $1,038,500.00.

Background:

The Homeless Initiatives Fund, created in 1992 by the City of Toronto Council, has grown out of a strong foundation of community partnerships and acknowledgment of the importance of a continuum of services for a wide variety of people who are homeless or are in danger of being homeless.

The Homeless Initiatives Fund is based on the former City of Toronto's "Off The Streets" policy which recognizes that homelessness is a multifaceted problem that requires different problem solving approaches depending on individual circumstances. Program priorities are established annually after consultation with the City's Alternative Housing Sub-Committee. The Fund has the following components:

(1) Emergency Street Projects:

(a) Street Outreach;

(b) Shelter Alternatives; and

(2) Off the Streets:

(a) Survival Fund Initiatives; and

(b) Innovations and Longer-Term Initiatives.

Transition Year Administration:

(1) Application Forms:

Applicants will be provided with an application form based on the Homeless Initiative Fund form used in 1997 by the former City of Toronto.

(2) Eligibility Criteria:

(a) The existing criteria for the Homeless Initiatives Fund shall be continued in the transition year pending review of the program.

(b) In the transition year, grants will be limited to applicants from the former City of Toronto.

(3) Assessment Process:

All applications will be reviewed by staff in an expeditious manner to allow Council and staff the time to redesign the grants process for 1999.

(4) Approval and Appeal Process:

(a) Recommendations developed by staff teams will be forwarded to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for approval by June 1998.

(b) Applicants will be notified of their recommended grant in advance, and can appeal this recommendation to the Committee.

(5) Staffing and Administration:

Until a departmental structure is adopted, the Executive Commissioner shall recruit and assign the necessary staff of the former municipalities to administer the grants.

(6) Interim Advances:

(i) the organization would normally have received funds from one of the former municipalities earlier in the year than when Council is scheduled to approve the 1998 grant allocations; or

(ii) the organization merits the assistance of the municipality in addressing cash-flow requirements; or

(iii) the Executive Commissioner, in his or her discretion, believes supporting a request for an advance upholds the spirit of the transitional grants policy.

(b) All qualified organizations requesting an advance payment shall complete a request form supplied for that purpose.

(7) New Applicants:

Requests for support from new applicants will be accepted.

Contact Name:

Joanne Campbell: Tel: 392-6135/Fax: 392-3974

Appendix F

Access and Equity Grants

Purpose:

To support voluntary, non-profit organizations to undertake activities designed to eliminate racial discrimination, improve ethno-racial and Aboriginal access to public sector services, and combat hate activity.

1997 Service Level Indicators:

(1) Number of applications: 48.

(2) Number of awards: 36.

(3) Total amount awarded: $307,000.00.

Background:

Prior to amalgamation, Metropolitan Toronto was the only municipality with an Access and Equity grants program with the above-stated purpose.

Council approved the allocations on the recommendation of a standing committee. The assessment process leading up to recommended allocations was undertaken by staff.

Transition Year Administration:

(1) Application Forms:

Applicants will be provided with an application form based on the form used by Metro in 1997.

(2) Eligibility Criteria:

The existing eligibility and funding criteria for the Access and Equity Grants Program will be continued in the transition year pending review of the program.

(3) Assessment Process:

(a) Staff shall receive and review all applications against existing criteria.

(b) All applicants will be reviewed in an expeditious manner to allow Council and staff the time to redesign the grants process for 1999.

(4) Approval and Appeal Process:

(a) Recommendations developed by a staff team will be forwarded to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for approval by June 1998.

(b) Applicants will be notified of their recommended grant in advance, and can appeal this recommendation to the Committee.

(5) Staffing and Administration:

Until a departmental structure is adopted, the Commissioner of Human Resources shall recruit and assign the necessary staff of the former municipalities to administer the grants program. Upon the adoption of a departmental structure, responsibility shall be assumed by the department or office responsible for access, equity and race relations programs.

(6) Interim Advances:

(i) the organization would normally have received funds from one of the former municipalities earlier in the year than when Council is scheduled to approve the 1998 grant allocations; or

(ii) the organization merits the assistance of the municipality in addressing cash-flow requirements; or

(iii) the Executive Commissioner, in his or her discretion, believes supporting a request for an advance upholds the spirit of the transitional grants policy,

(b) All qualified organizations requesting an advance payment shall complete a request form supplied for that purpose.

(7) New Applicants:

Contact Name:

Brenda Glover: Tel: 397-9802

Appendix G

Prevention of Violence Grants

Purpose:

To increase community safety through the participation of local organizations in safety initiatives and education for prevention of violence, with an emphasis on the safety concerns of women and other vulnerable groups.

1997 Service Level Indicators:

(1) Number of applications: 86.

(2) Number of awards: 56.

(3) Total amount awarded: $485,000.00.

Background:

The Breaking the Cycle of Violence grants program of the former City of Toronto is the only grants program specific to violence prevention among the seven former municipalities.

This grants program was initiated in 1993 as a result of community consultations and the recommendations of the Safe City Committee. In 1995, Toronto City Council declared community safety to be a corporate priority, and the grants program continues to provide a key resource for meeting municipal objectives for increased community safety. Project grants are provided in several categories to strengthen local groups' capacity to engage in targeted programs which support a continuum of services for communities and neighbourhoods.

Community organizations must meet criteria for management and program delivery capacities which are similar to those of the community service grants programs. Groups must be incorporated in order to receive demonstration grants (over $10,000.00). Unincorporated groups are eligible for prevention grants for education and local community development activities (under $10,000.00).

Grants are intended to assist community groups to: increase the accessibility of services to First Nations, immigrant, disabled, visible minority women and women with special needs, through frontline, ethno-specific and multicultural services; undertake innovative educational and community development programs directed at prevention of violence; and provide education and training in intervention and prevention strategies for staff and volunteers. The Safe City Committee provides direction each year on outreach priorities to identify communities in need of support for community safety initiatives. 1998 outreach priorities are: organizations serving disabled women; youth; and low income women and children.

Staffing was provided by the Healthy City Office (grants review) and Finance Department (secretariat). The review process included application forms and, in some cases, meetings with applicants. Recommendations were made by a grant review board and a Councillor representative from the Safe City Committee. This group also heard the appeals. Grant recommendations have gone to Council for approval through the former Neighbourhoods Committee.

Transition Year Administration:

(1) Application Forms:

Applicants will be provided with an application form based on the form used in 1997 by the former City of Toronto.

(2) Eligibility Criteria:

(a) The existing criteria for the Breaking the Cycle of Violence grants program shall be continued in the transition year.

(b) In the transition year, grants will be limited to the applicants from the former City of Toronto.

(3) Assessment Process:

Staff will assess applications against existing criteria, seeking input from the Task Force on Community Safety.

(4) Approval and Appeal Process:

(a) Recommendations developed by staff will be forwarded to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for approval.

(b) Applicants will be notified of their recommended grant in advance, and can appeal this recommendation to the Committee.

(5) Staffing and Administration:

(6) New Applicants:

Requests for support from new applicants will be accepted.

Contact Name:

Fran Perkins: Tel: 392-0099/Fax: 392-0089

fperkins@city.toronto.on.ca

________

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports, for the information of Council, also having had before it during consideration of the foregoing matter a communication (January 9, 1998) from the Acting Secretary, Interim Board of Health, advising that the Board on January 7, 1998, approved a report dated January 6, 1998, from the Acting Medical Officer of Health, wherein she recommended that:

(1) the Board of Health authorize the Acting Medical Officer of Health to finalize schedules, undertake promotion and revise the 1997 application package as needed to implement the AIDS and Drug Abuse Prevention funding programs in keeping with grants-related decisions made by the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee and City Council; and

(2) the Board of Health authorize the Acting Medical Officer of Health to recruit members to review panels for the AIDS and Drug Abuse Prevention funding programs that reflect representation according to the membership guidelines in place in 1997. Such review panels will make funding recommendations to the Board of Health in May/June 1998.

Councillor Pam McConnell, Don River, appeared before the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee in connection with the foregoing matter.

Role of the Children's Advocate and "The First Duty",

Final Report of the Metro Task Force on Services

to Young Children and Families.

(City Council on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998, amended this Clause by adding thereto the following:

"It is further recommended that the report dated January 29, 1998, from the Acting Executive Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services, entitled 'AChildren's Agenda for the City', embodying the following recommendations, be adopted:

'It is recommended that:

(1) the principles of the Children's Strategy as recommended in "The First Duty" report and the principles underlying the public health report "Child Poverty: A Public Health Perspective", be endorsed by Council and Council support their continued use to guide the work of the Children's Advocate and the Children's Action Committee;

(2) the Children's Action Committee develop and submit terms of reference outlining the composition and mandate of the Committee to both the Special Committee to Review the Final Report of the Toronto Transition Team and the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee;

(3) the Children's Action Committee develop a workplan and an estimate of resources needed to undertake these planned initiatives and activities for discussion during the budget process; and

(4) the appropriate City officials take the necessary action to give effect thereto.'" )

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee:

(1) recommends that the Ministry of Health be requested to reinvest $13.0 million of the savings from hospital restructuring immediately back into public health, raising funding from 1.7 percent to 2 percent of current health care spending in the new City of Toronto; and

(2) reports having received the communication dated January 12, 1998, from CouncillorOlivia Chow, Children's Advocate, and having directed that it be forwarded to Council for information.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee further reports, for the information of Council, having requested:

(i) the appropriate staff of the Community Services Department to prepare a briefing for Council at its meeting on February 4, 1998, on the Children's Strategy; and

(ii) the Acting Medical Officer of Health to identify current gaps in public health services for children and families across the new City of Toronto and report thereon to the Children's Action Committee, Interim Board of Health, and Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee submits the following communication (January 12, 1998) from Councillor Olivia Chow, Children's Advocate:

At this inaugural meeting of the City's Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee, I want to advise members of some early actions I intend to take in my role as Children's Advocate and invite their interest and support. To assist in shaping the City's Agenda for Children and developing a Children's Strategy for the new City, I will be writing to members of Council to survey their interest in serving on the Children's Action Committee. The Children's Action Committee will report through this Committee to Council. For those who are interested, I will also be hosting an orientation service tour of the variety of children's programs currently in operation followed by a discussion of the issues and initiatives to be included on the Children's Action Plan.

To assist the Children's Action Committee in the development of the Children's Agenda, the Children's Strategy and the Children's Action Plan, I will also be assembling a small reference group of community leaders knowledgeable about the needs of children and how they can best be met. Together, we will further develop the proposal for a Toronto Civic Commission on Children and Youth and bring forward for your review recommendations concerning its mandate, leadership and structure as well as a proposed strategy and schedule for its implementation. Where appropriate, presentations will also be made to the Review Committee chaired by Councillor Miller, which will be considering recommendations made by the Toronto Transition Team.

With respect to timing, I hope to present the proposed approach for the development of the Children's Strategy for the new City at the next meeting of this Committee to allow its early consideration by City Council. The workplan of the Children's Action Committee should be available for your review by March. Recommendations regarding a Toronto Civic Commission on Children and Youth will be developed and presented by April.

I look forward to working with you and members of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee on all matters affecting the needs of children and families within the City of Toronto.

________

Summary of the Recommendations of the

Metro Task Force on Services to Young Children and Families

embodied in "The First Duty".

A Children's Strategy:

Recommendation 1:

The Council of the new City of Toronto should formally adopt a Children's Strategy that explicitly embodies these principles:

- the situation of children must be improved;

- no public policy will adversely affect children;

- investment in children must be a top priority to ensure the future social and economic health of the community;

- all policy and budgetary decisions must be evaluated in terms of the impact those decisions will have on young children;

- the full range of services supporting children and families must be accessible and adequately funded; and

- there must be a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of children's services for maximum operating effectiveness and cost-efficiency.

Recommendation 2:

The Council of the new City of Toronto and the Transition Team responsible for setting up the new administration should organize civic operating structures in a way that is consistent with the principles of the Children's Strategy. To provide better service to children and families, the new organizational structures should enable and ensure a high level of co-ordination between those responsible for delivering child care, public health, recreation, housing and police services. A single structure should be established that would be responsible for both implementing the Strategy and for managing the delivery of all services to young children under six, including child care and public health.

Children's Advocate:

Recommendation 3:

The Council of the new City of Toronto should appoint a Children's Advocate to ensure that the principles of the Children's Strategy are being upheld. The Advocate would monitor the policies and activities of the civic government, consult with service providers, volunteers, consumers, clients, advocacy groups and other members of the community, and consider suggestions and complaints from the public regarding the city's success in implementing the Children's Strategy. The Advocate would report annually to Council on the progress of implementation.

Recommendation 4:

The Children's Advocate should convene a Children's Services Forum to establish greater co-operation and co-ordination among children's services providers. Participants in the forum should include representatives of the municipal government (including child care, recreation and public health services), as well as the education, children's mental health and child protection sectors. The forum should meet regularly to consider such issues as information sharing, shared accommodation, joint capital projects, joint purchasing arrangements, rationalization of data management procedures, collaborative research projects and other joint initiatives that would encourage more co-ordinated delivery of services to children and families. The forum would be a framework within which inter-sectoral working groups could be established to deal with specific issues.

Community Mobilization:

Recommendation 5:

As part of the Children's Strategy, governments and school boards in the Metropolitan Toronto area should create a major community-wide public information initiative to build understanding and support for the needs of young children and the benefits of early investment in them.

Recommendation 6:

Businesses and business organizations, and community organizations and unions in Metropolitan Toronto must play an expanded leadership role in a community mobilization in support of children.

Monitoring Progress:

Metro Report Card on Children:

Recommendation 7:

To measure progress in implementing the Children's Strategy, the municipal government should continue to produce the Metro Report Card on Children. The Children's Advocate should assume responsibility for public release and dissemination of the report card.

Recommendation 8:

In order to produce a more comprehensive and useful report card on the situation of children, the various children's service sectors must co-operate in the development of additional indicators of children's health and well-being.

Recommendation 9:

Goals and targets linked to indicators of health and well-being must be developed to measure progress in improving the situation of children. The Provincial and Municipal Governments and school boards should formally adopt these goals and implement policies that serve to achieve them.

Data Collection and Sharing:

Recommendation 10:

Agencies must adopt the policy of freely sharing data with each other in a manner that does not compromise the privacy and confidentiality of clients. To more easily share data, agencies must work together to harmonize their data collection procedures and technologies.

Improving Services to Children and Families:

Culturally Appropriate Service:

Recommendation 11:

Children's service providers must put a high priority on anti-racist strategies and cultural sensitivity in the design and delivery of programs and in the hiring and training of staff. Placements and other decisions affecting children must be handled in a culturally appropriate manner.

Healthy Starts:

Recommendation 12:

In order to decrease the incidence of low birthweight babies and to maximize infant health, information programs on prenatal and postnatal nutrition and the avoidance of health hazards must be readily available to all expectant mothers.

Recommendation 13:

Public health authorities should establish a comprehensive home-visiting program to identify children at risk and refer their families to appropriate services and community support systems. This system of prevention and early intervention must be guided by an understanding of the benefits of co-operative service delivery.

Supporting the Role of the Family:

Recommendation 14:

All levels of government must recognize how critically important it is that young children receive nurturing and stimulating care and that they adopt social and tax policies which offer parents a wider range of options.

Recommendation 15:

The Provincial Government should mandate that schools, in collaboration with school advisory councils and parents, should strengthen curriculum units on life skills, nutrition, responsible sexual behaviour, parenting skills and addiction avoidance to assist young people in making informed choices about parenthood and developing appropriate life skills.

Child Care:

Recommendation 16:

Federal, Provincial and Municipal Governments must make a renewed commitment to formal, accessible high-quality child care. This commitment should recognize that in most instances care for young children is most appropriately provided by trained professional staff working under Provincial standards that are vigilantly monitored by licensing authorities.

Recommendation 17:

By the year 2000 the Provincial and Municipal Governments should have in place a plan to provide a full range of quality child care services to meet the needs of all families in the Metropolitan Toronto community.

Recommendation 18:

The Provincial and Municipal Governments must recognize that, while short-term informal care arrangements are sometimes necessary to help clients exit social assistance, these arrangements are transitional and intended to provide care only until the client can access the formal child care system.

Recommendation 19:

The Provincial and Municipal Governments must reaffirm their commitment to a stable child care system in Metropolitan Toronto, planned and managed in such a way as to ensure equity of access for families in all parts of the Metro area. To ensure a full mix of care options for parents, such a system must continue to include both centre- and home-based options provided directly by the municipality or purchased from community operators.

Recommendation 20:

Both Provincial and Municipal Governments must recognize the social value of the work performed by child care employees and adopt policies that will gradually improve compensation for employees of both the commercial and the non-profit sectors.

Recommendation 21:

Governments must commit the resources necessary to increase the number of child care spaces available for infants and toddlers.

Recommendation 22:

Municipal governments and child care providers must work together to develop more flexible access to child care services.

Recommendation 23:

Private and public sector employers must work together with employee groups to develop more comprehensive child care arrangements that are suitable for varying parental timetables.

Recommendation 24:

The needs of parents must be reflected in employee benefit packages, allowing parents to take leave when a child is sick, to accompany a child to medical appointments or to attend meetings at school.

School Readiness:

Recommendation 25:

The Provincial Government must recognize that junior kindergarten is an important part of the developmental and learning continuum, and reinstate it as a mandatory program.

Recommendation 26:

The Provincial Government and school boards should develop an early childhood education program that would build on the strengths of the child care and school systems, and would ensure that children enter the primary grades ready to learn.

Health and Nutrition:

Recommendation 27:

Municipal and Provincial Governments must make the commitment to adequately fund quality nutrition programs wherever they are needed in Metropolitan Toronto, and to provide necessary support to ensure these programs can continue to serve children.

Recommendation 28:

The Provincial and Municipal Governments must work together to expand community health promotion and monitoring services for young children and families.

School-age Child Care:

Recommendation 29:

The Provincial and Municipal Governments and the school boards must co-operate to develop a new model for school-age child care. The starting point for discussion of a new model should be the framework described in the proposal on pilot projects, submitted by the Task Force to the Provincial Government in June 1996.

Child Protection:

Recommendation 30:

The child welfare, education, health, children's mental health, and child care sectors should develop joint program initiatives to identify children at risk and to prevent child abuse.

Sharing Facilities:

Recommendation 31:

The Provincial Government should revise its current policy and provide capital funding for the construction and renovation of child care centres in school facilities.

Recommendation 32:

Schools, community centres or other public facilities should be used as the hub for the delivery of children's services in communities.

Recommendation 33:

New schools and community centres should be planned as multi-use facilities that accommodate a full range of children's services.

The First Steps:

Recommendation 34:

Existing municipal councils and school boards should endorse the recommendations of the Task Force with a strong statement on the value of investing in young children and forward them to the municipal Transition Team and the Education Improvement Commission, as well as the new Council and school boards.

Recommendation 35:

Early in their term, the new Council and school boards should adopt the Children's Strategy and develop an implementation plan that describes the details of action, outlines the implementation process and specifies time frames and budgets."

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee submits the following communication (October 6, 1997) from the Assistant City Clerk, formerly City of Toronto:

City Council, at its regular meeting on September 22 and 23, 1997, gave consideration to Clause 8 contained in Report No. 9 of the Board of Health, titled "Child Poverty - A Public Health Perspective."

Council endorsed the following action taken by the Board of Health:

(1) requested the Minister of Health to reallocate at least $13 million of the savings from Metro hospital restructuring to support community-based public health programs, raising funding from 1.7 percent to 2 percent of current Metro health spending to combat the serious long-term health impacts of child poverty;

(2) forwarded the report (September 3, 1997) from the Medical Officer of Health to the Toronto Transition Team, the Board of Health for the new City of Toronto and the new City of Toronto Council with a request that it be reviewed in conjunction with the First Duty report; and to the Boards of Education in Metropolitan Toronto for their information;

(3) forwarded the report (September 3, 1997) from the Medical Officer of Health to the other Boards of Health in Metro Toronto requesting that they direct the Medical Officers of Health to work together to identify public health services and programs to be offered throughout the new City of Toronto which will reach low income children and families;

(4) requested the Medical Officer of Health for the new City of Toronto to report to the Board of Health and new City of Toronto Council by March, 1998, outlining a public health service strategy, and the costs of that strategy, to combat child poverty for the new City, including the best ways to co-ordinate with other municipal services and community agencies;

(5) forwarded the report (September 3, 1997) from the Medical Officer of Health to the Federal Minister for Human Resource Development, who is Co-chair of the Ministerial Council on Social Policy Development, and to the Minister of Health Canada; and

(6) endorsed the following recommendations contained in the communication (September 8, 1997) from the Toronto Board of Education:

"1. The Toronto Board of Education endorse the formation and purpose of the Metro Community Partners for Child Nutrition.

2. The Toronto Board of Education approve the participation of, and support by, staff to the Metro Community Partners for Child Nutrition."

--------

(Clause 8 embodied in Report No. 9 of The Board of Health)

Child Poverty - A Public Health Perspective)

The Board of Health advises that it has taken the following action and recommends Council's endorsement:

(4) requested the Medical Officer of Health for the new City of Toronto to report to the Board of Health and new City of Toronto Council by March, 1998 outlining a public health service strategy, and the costs of that strategy, to combat child poverty for the new City, including the best ways to co-ordinate with other municipal services and community agencies;

(6) endorsed the following recommendations contained in the communication (September8,1997) from the Toronto Board of Education:

"1. The Toronto Board of Education endorse the formation and purpose of the Metro Community Partners for Child Nutrition.

2. The Toronto Board of Education approve the participation of, and support by, staff to the Metro Community Partners for Child Nutrition."

The Medical Officer of Health made a presentation to the Board.

The Board of Health submits the report (September 3, 1997) from the Medical Officer of Health:

Origin: Medical Officer of Health, September 3, 1997 (p:\1997\ug\cms\hld\hl970071.hld)

Recommendations:

(1) That the Board of Health request that the Minister of Health reallocate $13 million of the savings from Metro hospital restructuring to support community-based public health programs, raising funding from 1.7 percent to 2 percent of current Metro health spending to combat the serious long-term health impacts of child poverty.

(2) That this report be sent to the Toronto Transition Team, the Board of Health for the new City of Toronto and the new City of Toronto Council with a request that it be reviewed in conjunction with the First Duty report.

(3) That the Board of Health send this report to the other Boards of Health in Metro Toronto requesting that they direct the Medical Officers of Health to work together to identify public health services and programs to be offered throughout the new City of Toronto which will reach low income children and families.

(4) That the Medical Officer of Health for the new City of Toronto report to the Board of Health and new City of Toronto Council by March, 1998 outlining a public health service strategy to combat child poverty for the new City, including the best ways to co-ordinate with other municipal services and community agencies.

(5) That the Board of Health send this report to the Federal Minister for Human Resource Development, who is Co-chair of the Ministerial Council on Social Policy Development, and to the Minister of Health Canada.

Background:

While the issue of child poverty is not new in Canada, its incidence continues to grow. Recent reports have highlighted the extent of the problem in Metro. "The First Duty," a report of the Metro Task Force on Services to Young Children and Families, outlined the growing nature of the problem and made a number of recommendations for better service co-ordination and support which the Board of Health endorsed at its July 2, 1997, meeting. Subsequently, the United Way released a report, entitled "Metro Toronto: A Community at Risk," which also documents the growing trend toward more low income families and greater income polarization. Public health, with its emphasis on the basic determinants of health (income, education, housing, food, etc.) and its community-based approach, has a vital role to play in supporting children and families in need.

The purpose of this report is twofold:

- to detail the type and range of services provided by public health in the City of Toronto which support children and families in the community who are on low incomes; and

- to propose a process for consolidating and enhancing the role of public health in the megacity in terms of ameliorating the impact of poverty on children and their families.

In this discussion the focus is on young children from 0 to 10 years of age, not youth.

Comments:

"How swiftly moved the finger of poverty, soiling and contaminating". (Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry.)

Section 1: Dimensions of the Problem:

(1.1) Canada

Child poverty, as the phrase implies, is rooted largely in the distribution of income and wealth which leaves many families without adequate income. Inadequate income reduces opportunities for health and increases exposure to conditions that adversely affect children from before birth through every stage of their life. While public services can do much to ameliorate the effects of low income, their impact can be much greater if families and communities are not in economic deprivation. Poor health outcomes are one of the most costly consequences of socio-economic inequality.

Compared to other industrialized countries, Canada has a high level of children living in poverty. Canada and Australia have the second highest proportion of children in poverty after the U.S. (UNICEF, 1996). Forty-five percent of lone parent families in Canada have incomes below Statistics Canada's Low Income Cut-off Point compared to 10 percent in Sweden and the Netherlands (Statistics Canada, 1992). Statistics Canada also reports that of those who relied on government transfer payments, the majority of both lone parent and two parent families have low incomes. In 1990, over one million children were growing up in families with low incomes.

Certain groups are more likely to have the problem of low/inadequate income:

- two parent families employed in low paying jobs;

- single parent (women headed) families;

- teen parents;

- unemployed;

- diverse ethno racial groups;

- refugees and new immigrants.

A major reason for the growth of the problem is a reduction in government funding of basic family support services: child care, welfare, family benefits, child support, etc., as well as a decline in jobs and overall income levels. As a result, the gap between the poor and non-poor is widening and the depth of poverty is worsening (Little, 1996 and 1997). Relative living standards have been shown to be more closely related to negative health outcomes (i.e., mortality) than absolute income (Wilkinson, 1997). In turn, income disparities can lead to residential segregation, isolation, loss of social cohesion and erosion of public institutions and standards (Kawachi, 1997).

An effective way to ameliorate poverty is through a social safety net: government tax and income transfer policies. In some countries these policies have been very effective; for example, the UK and Ireland would have poverty rates of 30 percent but for such policies which have reduced the rate to 10 percent and 11 percent respectively. Both the US and France have poverty rates of around 25percent before taxes and transfers, but France has reduced its rate to 7 percent whereas the US remains at 22 percent (UNICEF, 1996).

How does Canada fare with its policies? Compared to many other industrialized countries with a similar per capita level of GNP, Canada still has a higher level of child poverty after taxes and transfers: Australia is the same while only the US has higher levels (see Table No. 1).

Table 1: Level of Child Poverty in Selected Countries

Child Poverty Child Poverty

GNP Per Capita (Before Taxes (After Taxes

Spent on Safety Net) Spent on Safety Net)

% %

United States $ 25,860.00 26 22

Australia 17,980.00 20 14

Canada 19,570,00 23 14

Italy 19,270.00 12 10

United Kingdom 18,410.00 30 10

Netherlands 21,970.00 14 6

Belgium 22,920.00 16 4

Finland 18,858.00 12 3

Source: UNICEF, "The Progress of Nations" 1996.

Note: Poverty line is defined as 50 percent of national median income.

In Canada, provincial welfare levels vary but all fall below the poverty line: from 46 to 72 percent of a poverty line income in 1994 and only 24 to 38 percent of average provincial income. Social assistance levels are higher in Europe: in the Netherlands a lone mother receives about 75 percent of a production worker's net average wage; in Sweden 109 percent. Other supports to child care, such as income for mothers to stay at home etc., are also available (Canadian Council on Social Development, 1996).

(1.2) Metropolitan Toronto and the City:

Child poverty is primarily an urban problem. Because 82 percent of children in Canada live in cities, national and provincial trends and policies have their biggest impacts on the urban areas. In Metropolitan Toronto and the City of Toronto, which have been hard hit by the recession of the 1990s, the situation is worsening as the data below indicate:

- According to a recent report by Metro's Community Services Department, 36 percent or 89,000 children under 11 years old are living below the poverty line. A similar proportion holds for the City with the number being 35,000. Child poverty estimates for Metro and the City of Toronto are as much as seven times greater than neighbouring municipalities in the GTA.

- If children of the working poor are included, the proportion could be as high as 40 percent.

- Metro serves approximately 60 percent of all Ontario homeless people, of whom half (1,828) of those served nightly in shelters are families. About 30,000 people use Metro hostels for emergency shelter each year.

- Between 1990 and 1993 a total of 158,478 jobs were lost in Metro. The City lost over 81,000 jobs or half of all jobs lost in Metro. Unemployment rates have dropped since the early 1990s when the recession was at its peak but the unemployment rate remains over 10percent higher in Metro than the provincial average.

- Low birthweight rate for Metro rose to over 7 percent in 1993 and 1994. The rate for the Province was 6.2 percent in 1993 and 6.6 percent in 1994, and for Canada 5.5 percent. Metro accounted for 48 percent of the provincial increase in the number of babies with a low birthweight between 1991 and 1994.

- The birth rate among adolescents (15 to 19 years old) is stable at about 24 births per 1,000 and about 4 percent of all births in the City. This is higher than the Metro and Ontario rates which are 21 and 23 respectively. In 1995, 362 babies were born to women under age 19 in Toronto. Many of these women are likely to be poor and 58 percent were single.

- Ethnoracial diversity is increasing. Metropolitan Toronto has 53 percent of the non-European ethnoracial population in Ontario and most of these ethno racial communities have average incomes that are 50-70 percent of the Metro average.

- A 1994 study showed young families (with a head under 35) in Metro were worse off than older or previous generations in terms of income, temporary jobs, unemployment, part-time work and social assistance. Specifically, while two-thirds of those under 25 years old were employed in 1989, only one-half were in 1993 and the number who could only find part-time work doubled.

- Between 1985 and 1990, family poverty increased 16 percent in the City which was 76percent higher than the provincial increase.

- In Metro, children in families receiving social assistance increased from 70,000 (16.8 percent) in 1990 to 127,037 (29.3 percent) in 1995.

- Over 27,000 Toronto children lived in households on social assistance in 1995. The proportion of people on social assistance increased in all City neighbourhoods between 1990 and 1995. Ninety-five percent of children under six in families on social assistance were affected by the 21.6 percent cut to welfare payments in October 1995. As a result, more than two-thirds of families with children have to use money for food and other basic needs to pay for housing.

- Hostel use by mother-led families increased by 53 percent from 1994 to 1995, and homeless families who were clients of Metro Children's Aid doubled.

- Children are the fastest rising groups of hostel/shelter users increasing from 3,991 in 1991 to 5,584 in 1995.

- In 17 out of 45 neighbourhoods in the City, one-third to three-quarters of children live in families on social assistance.

- The median incomes of lone parent families dropped 19 percent between 1990 and 1993.

- In Toronto, only 15 percent of all potentially eligible children are receiving subsidized care in 1993. Families who qualify for subsidized care have a waiting period of more than 18months and in June 1997 there were 3,508 children in the city on the waiting list.

- Pre-school children are the most over-represented in food bank using families. Children under five are 25 percent of all children in the GTA, but 31 percent of the children supported by the Daily Bread Food Bank. A recent study found that almost one child in 20 in any given month lives in a family needing food bank help (Daily Bread Food Bank, 1996).

- The latest survey of food bank users in the GTA found that two out of five of the children of parents using the food bank went hungry occasionally, largely because the reduced cuts to social assistance means that more single mothers pay a higher proportion of their income for rents. The situation was similar for couples with children: the proportion of couples unable to cover their rents from the shelter allowance increased from 23 percent in 1995 to 78percent in 1996. Consequently, almost 20 percent of children in these families occasionally went hungry, almost 10 percent once a week (Daily Bread Food Bank, 1996).

- Hundreds of social service agency programs have been cut and others severely reduced as provincial funding has been drastically reduced. Many of these programs serve low income families and children (Metro Social Services, 1996).

(1.3) Conclusion:

At a time when the economy is picking up and forecasts are for future strong growth, it is easy to miss the hardship and deepening crisis that is happening for a substantial number of families in Metro. The data cited above presents a picture of an increasingly polarized society in which those at the lowest end of the income scale are less and less able to provide their children with the basic care and support necessary for healthy development. At the same time, the services which can provide the essential underpinnings to keep these families going are being gradually eroded. If left unchecked, the current trends will have severe consequences.

Section 2: Poverty: Why is it a Public Health Concern?

The roots of public health lie in developing measures to deal with the effects of poverty and inadequate income. In 1918, Dr. Charles Hastings, who was later to become the Medical Officer of Health in Toronto, placed health and adequate income squarely in the same camp as other essential rights:

"Every nation that permits people to remain under the fetters of preventable disease, and permits social conditions to exist that make it impossible for them to be properly fed, clothed and housed, so as to maintain a high degree of resistance and physical fitness and that endorses a wage that does not afford sufficient revenue for the home, a revenue that will make possible the development of a sound mind and body, is trampling a primary principle of democracy under its feet." (MacDougall, 1990).

A major focus for public health interventions is in the area of child health and, given that low income is a barrier to good health for children, child poverty, especially in the context of child development, is a fundamental issue for public health. This was recognized by the public health nurses in the early 1900s who, then as now, saw that citizens could not adopt modern health practices because they were poor, and joined forces with the network of charitable organizations in the community (MacDougall, 1990).

A recent Ontario study found a significant correlation between low income (especially under $10,000.00 income) and psychosocial morbidity (defined as psychiatric disorders, poor school performance and social impairment). The authors conclude that "poverty, particularly for the very young, is a strong independent predictor of poor psychosocial health" (Lipman et al, 1994).

Other studies (National Forum on Health, 1996) have found a similar link. Inequity, marginalization and powerlessness which accompany poverty add to the distress of low income families, creating an environment that disadvantages their children. The outcomes for children of a life in poverty include higher rates of conduct disorders, school problems, emotional disorders, chronic diseases and hyperactivity among poor as compared to non-poor children. In both Britain and the US, the statistical links between increasing relative deprivation and growing psychosocial problems (crime, drug use and suicide) among young people has been demonstrated in a number of studies (Roberts, 1997).

Studies of income distribution, infant mortality and public policy show a strong relationship between income inequality and the rate of infant mortality (Sullivan, 1996) as well as low birthweight which predisposes children to neonatal mortality as well as infant and childhood morbidity. Compared with children from rich neighbourhoods, children in communities in economic hardship and with high housing costs more likely have low birthweight (Roberts, 1997).

Incidence of injuries, which are the leading cause of death for children over one year of age, is higher among families with low socio-economic status (Morrongiello, B., 1996).

Poor nutrition in early childhood can continue to hinder intellectual performance into adulthood. Households with low incomes are much less likely to consume foods rich in protective nutrients (like fruits and vegetables) and more likely to eat sweet and salty foods. As a result, children suffer from more dental caries, recurrent infections and anaemia (James, 1997). Even for children living in poor social and economic circumstances, having adequate nutrition during infancy and later can lessen the cognitive deficits created by poverty (Brown & Pollitt, 1996).

Children who have lived in poverty a long time are at a developmental disadvantage which reduces their life chances considerably (Campaign 2000, 1996). Child welfare research has found that the stress of poverty results in higher incidence of child neglect and abuse among poor families (op. cit.). Shout Clinic in Toronto for homeless youth reported an increase in visits from single mothers and their children under two from 66 in 1994 to 508 in 1996 (Shout Clinic, 1997).

Studies have found that unfavourable socio-economic conditions in childhood predispose to increased risk of coronary heart disease in adulthood due to poor fetal development and childhood growth (Smith, 1997).

Many homeless people have had violent, abusive experiences in childhood which has led to emotional disorders, suicide attempts and chronic medical problems (Babiuk, 1996). As homelessness is becoming more common for families due to economic factors, more and more children are exposed to dangerous and uncertain circumstances which will have lasting consequences. Of particular concern are health problems, hunger, poor nutrition developmental delays, anxiety, depression, behavioural problems and educational underachievement (Rafferty, 1991).

Children living in poverty may be at greater risk to exposure to environmental contaminants in air, soil, drinking water, and food and have higher rates of morbidity. While some possible linkages between environmental contaminants and children's health have been identified, including respiratory, reproductive, neuro-developmental, immunological, hormonal and cancer outcomes, the nature and magnitude of exposures of children living in poverty to these contaminants are less well understood. Much of the research has focussed on children living in inner-city areas of the United States and it is not known to what extent their findings would apply to children living in poverty in Canada.

Public Health studies in South Riverdale, an economically disadvantaged neighbourhood of Toronto with adjoining industrial areas, documented significantly higher blood lead levels in children as young as two years old, versus children in comparison neighbourhoods. Research in the United States indicates that the prevalence of elevated blood lead levels remains highest among inner-city, underprivileged children living in deteriorating pre-1970's housing containing lead-painted surfaces (US Department of Health and Human Services, 1997). Lead poisoning in children has been associated with a range of potential adverse health impacts, including IQ deficiencies, reading and learning disabilities, and impaired hearing, reduced attention spans, hyperactivity, and antisocial behaviour.

Recent studies have shown that the following interventions can reduce inequalities in health for children and their families (Smith, 1997):

- targeting effective healthcare promotion and services at those groups with the greatest health needs;

- providing social, financial, and psychological support during pregnancy and childbirth;

- providing smoking cessation programs to pregnant women;

- providing folic acid supplements before and around the time of conception;

- providing personal support for breast feeding;

- providing free school milk;

- targeting effective interventions to reduce accidents of children who live in low-income communities;

- providing sex education and available, accessible, and acceptable services to reduce teenage pregnancy; and

- improving oral hygiene, reducing sugar intake, and promoting use of fluoride among people in deprived communities.

These are basic public health interventions, most of which can be provided through the existing community health system.

In summary, income inequality places children at risk for a lifetime of health problems. It is now a basic tenet of public health that the key to the health of the population lies in providing a range of socio-economic interventions and supports in the social and physical environment beyond the traditional health care system. The role of public health practitioners and agencies is to ensure that all vital elements are in place, including the basic prerequisites for health and lack of discrimination and racism, for all members of society.

Section 3: Public Health Responds:

While strategies that permit families to have a reasonable income (through government transfers, full employment policies, etc.) are the critical factor in alleviating poverty, family and community support initiatives are also vital. For example, it has been shown that non-economic factors, such as low maternal education, family dysfunction and social isolation, also have negative outcomes for children (Lipman, 1994). Also, controlled studies have shown that a well-designed home visiting program for mothers of newborns can reduce child abuse by 75 percent (Steinhauer, 1996) and comprehensive interventions which include health services, such as the Head Start program in the US, prepares children for school and enhances physical health and well-being through public health interventions such as nutrition, public health nursing and dental (Zigler, 1993).

Public health professionals play a unique role in dealing with the breadth of needs in families which try to cope with and/or overcome major problems related to low socio-economic status. In Toronto, this is the area where considerable public health service lies. Although there is overlap among current programs, there are six main areas where staff are working on this issue:

(3.1) Providing the Basics:

All children need to grow up in a safe, clean environment in secure, stress-free families with access to food, housing and education. Much of the work of the Department of Public Health is directed to ensuring a basic level of health service to all members of the community. Initiatives which provide general health services also reach children in need, such as the following:

- communicable disease control, especially through immunization of school and daycare children;

- environmental health protection through food safety, monitoring of water quality for drinking water, pools and beaches, inspections and enforcement of environmental safety regulations, and public education to minimize exposures to contaminants in air, soil, drinking water, and food;

- food handling and infection control education to staff in schools and daycares;

- food quality workshops for daycare personnel given by a community nutritionist and environmental health officer;

- breastfeeding promotion and corporate breastfeeding policy; mother to mother breastfeeding support groups;

- work directly with local hospitals to provide 24-hour home follow-up to new mothers who are experiencing shorter hospital stays.

- preconception and prenatal education and health promotion;

- food coupons and food to ensure adequate nutrition for mothers in the prenatal programs;

- programs to prevent teen births which often result in children living in poverty, specifically, school-based education and clinics, and access to supportive, confidential medical services and counselling;

- provision of dental screening, treatment and education for children and mothers with high need but low income through nine clinics located throughout the City;

- promotion of fruits and vegetables in community programs, such as markets, school meals, and parenting programs;

- parenting programs to enhance the capacity of families to foster the development of their children, including visiting child drop-in programs, working with schools and agencies to provide community resources, provision of snacks, babysitting and TTC tickets at high risk parenting programs;

- youth employment through special programs, such as the Peer Sex Education Program;

- co-ordination of school food programs in partnership with boards of education to provide nutritious meals/snacks to school children. Department of Public Health co-chairs the School Food Program Committees for both public and separate schools, assists with menu planning, provides food handler training, conducts facility inspections and participates in program reviews;

- administration of $1.9 million of the Food Access Grants from City Council which have expanded school food programs, increased food skills education and alternative food distribution systems and the formation of community networks which are increasing food access in their neighbourhoods. In addition, five community groups are running community economic development projects and a commercial Incubator Kitchen has been established;

- support to community, school and rooftop garden projects which provide additional food to families and information on home preserving;

- community development which helps groups and agencies to get funding, eliminate systemic barriers to healthy development and develop appropriate programs for disadvantaged groups; and

- community economic development to provide skills on food preparation and business development.

(3.2) Ensuring Healthy Growth and Development:

A great deal of the work of public health is in the area of prevention: providing education on ways to lay a solid foundation for future good health. Much of this work focuses on children either directly or through parents and caregivers.

For instance, the first three years are critical in ensuring that children have a good start to their lives. Recent research shows that brain development, which determines overall development, in the early years is extensive and highly vulnerable to environmental influences (Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children, 1994). Children who are resilient (able to adapt in the face of severe stress) are able to survive and succeed even in the face of adversity (Steinhauer, 1996). Many public health interventions are directed to addressing issues that arise in the early years; specifically:

- prenatal and postnatal programs directed to improve mother's nutrition, reduce smoking and alcohol drug use during pregnancy and to improve social support and a successful role transition to parenthood;

- postnatal programs which help mothers cope with stress and promote attachment (e.g., infant parenting, breastfeeding, home visits, response to early discharge);

- nutrition promotion with parents and in schools to assist with making healthful food choices;

- mental health promotion through stress management, conflict resolution, violence prevention, abuse disclosure workshops to parents and staff of community agencies and information on accessing community resources;

- parenting groups (including raising sexually healthy children). In 1995, about 20 percent of first time mothers were reached;

- injury prevention initiatives;

- education programs aimed at reducing substance use;

- skills for Food Shopping is a community presentation for new immigrants to assist them make wise food choices in a new setting. "What Should My Children Eat to Be Healthy?" is a slide presentation for youth by community groups following training by Department of Public Health nutritionists; and

- programs to prevent teen pregnancies and births.

(3.3) Intervening for High Risk Groups:

Low income families can be strengthened through targeted interventions that focus on building capacity in key areas, such as parenting, accessing the health system, developing employment skills and so forth. Over the years, the Department has developed a range of programs in this vein.

- Home visiting for high risk families on a range of issues from helping new mothers adjust, stress management, breastfeeding etc. Nurses, lay visitors and others provide support for parents facing barriers to good parenting outcomes. The Ministries of Community and Social Services and Health have recently allocated $762,150.00 to the City of Toronto and a total of $10 million to Ontario Health Units to provide assessment, referral and home-visiting to expectant parents and young children. These monies will enhance current services to high risk families.

- Parents for Better Beginnings, a primary prevention research demonstration project involving numerous organizations in Regent Park and Moss Park areas combining infant home visiting, parent relief with community development and integration of services.

- Growing Together provides home visiting by public health nurses and other services to high-risk multicultural families with young children living in a dense apartment complex in downtown Toronto.

- Cooking Healthy Together is a nutrition education program for community groups that provides hands-on experience in cooking, menu planning and safe food handling.

- Healthiest Babies Possible supports mothers at risk for having low birthweight babies by providing milk supplements, nutrition and lifestyle behaviour counselling by Department of Public Health dietitians and health education and counselling by PHNs.

- The Parkdale Parents' Primary Prevention Project is a community collaborative in Parkdale that provides a variety of supports, including nutritional supplements, pre and postnatal counselling and supports, information sessions, parent relief with community development and co-operation among local services, arts and crafts as well as community economic development for women, etc.

- Parents Helping Parents is a peer support program in which trained lay home visitors, with nursing support, provide support and assistance to high risk, mothers from eight ethno racial communities to improve their parenting skills and enhance the mental and social development of their babies and toddlers.

- Prenatal classes to pregnant teens, single mothers, specific ethnic groups and newcomers to Canada to improve birth outcomes and parenting skills.

- Nobody's Perfect is a parenting program for young, single, low income, isolated mothers of children under six with limited formal education. It assists parents to develop the knowledge skills, self-confidence and social support essential to child rearing.

- Mental health education (stress management, violence prevention, etc.) for parents and children, as well as crisis intervention.

- Perinatal nutrition and support programs. In 1995 more than 200 pregnant women and their families were served weekly by six prenatal food supplementation programs.

- Breaking the Cycle and the Family Reconnection Centre assist women who are pregnant or parenting a child under six years of age deal with problems of substance abuse and recovery along with enhancing their parenting capacity.

- Ready or Not parenting program is a series of six-eight sessions directed to parents of pre-teens who may have difficulty accessing other programs related to social isolation, literacy and income. The program is designed to increase parent-child communication and provide information regarding prevention of substance abuse by their children. Training of community and parent facilitators have been culturally specific for three communities and parent booklets have been translated and culturally adapted in Portuguese.

- As members of the Family Sub-Committee of the Mayor's Task Force on Drugs, public health staff have been involved in the planning, development, implementation and evaluation of the City of Toronto One-On-One Mentoring program, which was piloted in two schools during the 1996-1997 academic year. Volunteers were recruited through two Divisions of the Corporation to provide time with an individual child on a regular basis in a school setting. The pilot will be expanded this year.

- Community Kitchens are group education programs targeted to low income people, including single mothers with children, and assist with menu planning, food preparation and nutrition knowledge.

- Support to the underhoused and homeless.

(3.4) Advocating for Socio-economic Policies Supportive of Children's Health:

With the goal of achieving greater health equity, public health professionals have long recognized the importance of reducing income disparities. The Department and Board of Health have urged Federal and Provincial governments to enact policies which provide adequate income support for vulnerable populations and maintain the social safety net. As well, Department of Public Health supports many networks and coalitions working towards this end.

In particular, staff:

- work with Campaign 2000 to pressure governments to provide better income supports for poor families as well as the other basic prerequisites for children's health;

- call for enhanced social services support for supplies for breastfeeding mothers and to reduce fees such as the $25.00 charge for birth registrations;

- provided submissions and support through a range of venues, such as, to a collaborative nurses conference on Child and Family Poverty in 1995; presentations to community hearings on child poverty in Toronto and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; deputations for Federal committees;

- support the Food Policy Council which develops long-term strategies and short-term interventions to ensure access to adequate nutrition. One example is a recent discussion paper on "Food Retail Access and Food Security for Toronto's Low-income Citizens" which recommends long-term strategies for ensuring more equitable access to food retail stores for all communities; and

- participate in strategy development and implementation with the Metro Coalition for Better Child Care.

(3.5) Supporting Service Integration:

Recognizing the need for co-ordination among social and health services to fully address community needs, public health has put considerable effort into building networks, coalitions and partnerships in all aspects of its work from policy formation to program delivery. Some specific examples:

- Prevention and Early Intervention Initiative. Members include wide representation from all sectors working with parents and children up to age six.

- Child Health and Breastfeeding Promotion Workgroups of the Ontario Public Health Association have poverty as a focus.

- Metro Task Force on Services to Young Children and Families.

- Infant Mental Health Promotion Project of Metro Toronto.

- City of Toronto Perinatal Coalition of Nutrition and Support Programs.

- Multicultural Perinatal Network of Metro Toronto.

- Parent Coalitions, such as PAIS and FILHOS, based in the Portuguese community and the African-Caribbean Cultural Coalition.

- Metro Toronto Breastfeeding Network includes 250 community, public health and hospital members.

- SETO which is a network of agencies working in South East Toronto developing several joint projects, such as food buying clubs, gardens and meal programs.

- OPHA Food Security Network.

- Metro Toronto Coalition for Child Nutrition.

- Metro Community Kitchen Network.

- Parkdale Coalition Against Woman Abuse.

(3.6) Tracking the Problem:

A key component in dealing with the problem of child poverty is identifying its depth, nature and location so that specific measures can be taken to deal with it. The Department has been monitoring changes in income levels and health status outcomes for a number of years and using this information for program planning. Specific work in this area includes:

- development of "neighbourhood profiles" which identify key indicators related to poverty and health on a geographic basis. Using this information, trends can be tracked and programs delivered on a small area basis;

- production of a regular health status report which documents a wide range of social and health indicators over time and identifies specific geographic areas of the City at high risk;

- annual epidemiological reports on specific diseases and services which also identify high risk populations including children;

- special studies which examine a specific health issue or social problem (low birth rate study; analysis of food bank users; survey of health needs among the homeless; hunger in schools);

- linking with the University of Toronto to undertake research on related issues, such as, kidstrack, a project to develop and monitor indicators to support neighbourhood action for children; working with child welfare agencies to develop a common data base to track child maltreatment trends and contexts;

- facilitating community needs assessment, such as the Parkdale Audit project, and maintaining an up-to-date listing of community development projects on child poverty; and

- development of a nutrition monitoring system in collaboration with North York Health Unit and University of Toronto to track data on indicators relating to food access and nutritional status.

Section 4: Issues for Public Health:

At the moment there are a number of factors in the overall environment in which public health is operating which present challenges to our efforts to deal with this problem. They are described here and addressed with solutions in the Recommendations Section.

- The size of the problem and shrinking resources. Cutbacks in government support across the board have both increased the magnitude of child poverty and reduced the capability of social and health agencies to deal with it.

- How to avoid adding to the problem. Within public health departments fiscal restraint has resulted in service cuts. Often this has been done expediently but without an overall framework of priorities. Such cuts may have added to the overall fragmentation of services to high risk families.

- Child poverty is not generally seen as a public health issue. Although the health consequences of low income are recognized as important in the field, the role of public health units in tackling the roots of the problem has not always been widely recognized. Fortunately, this attitude is changing in some areas. The recent announcement of $10 million a year to boards of health in Ontario to run the Healthy Babies/Healthy Children Program for high risk families is an acknowledgment of the importance of home based visiting and supports under public health supervision. Also, hospitals in Toronto are now contracting with the Department of Public Health to follow-up new mothers after hospital discharge.

While the programs and initiatives listed in this report are available in City of Toronto, they are not necessarily provided throughout Metro, even though there are comparable serious needs across the megacity. Services such as those offered by public health in Toronto should be equalized across the new Toronto so that all citizens in need are served.

- Funding downloading. Provincial downloading of major funding responsibility to the municipalities in the areas of social assistance, social housing, long-term care and child care places a fiscal burden on local governments which threatens their capacity to continue to provide discretionary community support programs, Municipal community grants programs currently support parent/child resource centres, multicultural services, neighbourhood service centres, to name a few. Under the new municipal funding burden, the continuation of discretionary grants programs is in jeopardy. Low income families are primary consumers of these services and would lose significant supports with service reduction or elimination.

In addition, the Toronto Board of Education is anticipating major funding reductions with the assumption of educational funding by the Province. This move threatens the continuation of key programs which support education access for low income and ethno racially diverse students.

Conclusions:

In many ways it is difficult to reconcile the image of Toronto as portrayed in international studies as one of the best cities in the world in which to live with the image of a city with growing poverty as shown in this report. Yet both pictures are true. The question is, which image should prevail? If asked, most Torontonians would reject the model of big cities south of the border with their decaying urban cores where the homeless and members of the drug subculture live in the abandoned buildings, where the disadvantaged have access to fewer supermarkets and other amenities and where there is what is called "the urban health penalty" (Andrulis, 1997). But unless positive measures are taken, this could be our fate. The signs are already there.

One necessary step is to maintain the services we know can make a difference, especially those that are preventive and community-based. In the long-run, they are more cost-effective than treatment or rehabilitation. Recently, the Minister of Health Jim Wilson stated "Health-care restructuring is not about saving money. Every penny found in getting rid of waste, duplication and unnecessary administration will be invested in expanded and improved services... There will be no cuts in services. In fact, the government will expand services....we need to develop a truly seamless system where every penny is spent on providing services like....health promotion, prevention programs and public health." (Wilson, 1997). In the face of drastic cuts to welfare and provincial downloading of health and social program funding to municipalities, this is good news indeed.

Presently, only $87 million is spent on public health services in Canada's largest city which is only 1.7percent of the total health spending in Metropolitan Toronto and which does not even meet current needs. By restructuring hospitals in Metropolitan Toronto the Ministry of Health says it will save $470 million annually. An addition of $13 million from these savings directed to public health would allow more services for disadvantaged children and their families. This would amount to less than 3 percent of the savings from restructuring and bring the public health budget up to only 2percent of total health spending in Metro.

Public health is in a unique position to assist in the fight against child and family poverty: the nature of their mandate and ways of working has long put them in the forefront of preventing and ameliorating the effects of poverty. The specific features of public health that make it a key player in this area are:

- it is multidisciplinary, combining a range of health and other practitioners;

- it is collaborative working with a variety of disciplines, community groups and agencies to co-ordinate services and programs;

- it is community-based; staff work directly with clients and agencies in their neighbourhoods;

- it is preventive in orientation and therefore very cost-effective;

- it combines epidemiology and social epidemiology with needs based planning;

- it combines both a population and individual focus where appropriate;

- it engages the community in identifying and solving its own issues through community development and support; and

- it provides a linkage between the community, individual clients and the health care and social service systems.

If the new City Council chooses to make child poverty a priority, a number of steps should be taken early in 1998; namely:

- review and implement the Recommendations Nos. 1 and 3 to 35 of the Metro Task Force on Services to Young Children and Families report, as previously recommended by the Board of Health;

- identify current gaps in public health services for children and families across Metro and ensure consistent provision to address needs;

- allocate sufficient funding for public health to maintain and enhance necessary services for children and families;

- request the Ministry of Health to reinvest $13 million of the savings from hospital restructuring immediately back into public health. The reallocation should raise the public health component from 1.7 percent to 2 percent of health care spending in Metro.

________

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports, for the information of Council, also having had before it during consideration of the foregoing matter a communication (November27, 1997) from the Senior Political Advisor for The Honourable ArthurC.Eggleton forwarding a copy of the response received from The Honourable Pierre Pettigrew, Federal Minister of Human Resources Development, regarding "The First Duty," Final Report of the Metro Task Force on Services to Young Children and Families.

(A copy of each of the list of references embodied in the aforementioned report and the additional material attached to the report was forwarded to all Members of Council with the agenda of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for its meeting on January 15, 1998, and a copy thereof is on file in the office of the City Clerk.)

(City Council on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998, had before it, during consideration of the foregoing Clause, the following report (January 29, 1998) from the Acting Executive Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services, headed "A Children's Agenda for the City":

Purpose:

The purpose of this report is to seek Council's endorsement of the principles which will guide the work of the Children's Action Committee. The Children's Advocate, Councillor Olivia Chow, has requested that a brief presentation be made directly to City Council. This report provides the background for this presentation on the needs of the City's children and the programs currently available to address these needs.

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

A staff team comprised of senior representatives from Public Health, Parks and Recreation, Library Services, Children's Services and Social Development and Management Services is currently providing support to the Children's Advocate and the Children's Action Committee established by Council. As the workplan of the Children's Action Committee is developed and the future resource needs identified, a more detailed report will be brought to Council through the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee. The future financial implications of the intended work of the Children's Action Committee will require resolution through the budget process.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1) the principles of the Children's Strategy as recommended in "The First Duty" report and the principles underlying the public health report, entitled "Child Poverty: A Public Health Perspective," be endorsed by Council and that Council support their continued use to guide the work of the Children's Advocate and the Children's Action Committee;

(3) the Children's Action Committee develop a workplan and an estimate of resources needed to undertake these planned initiatives and activities for discussion during the budget process; and

(4) the appropriate City officials take the necessary action to give effect thereto.

Council Reference/Background/History:

The report of the Metro Task Force on Services to Young Children and Families, entitled "The First Duty" recommended the creation of a Children's Advocate and Children's Action Committee to develop and implement a Children's Strategy within the new City of Toronto. This report was unanimously endorsed by Metropolitan Toronto Council on July 2 and 3, 1997 and was also endorsed by all the former Boards of Education who had been party to the task force process as well as by the former Toronto Board of Health. " The First Duty" report, which contained the first Report Card on Children's Well-being within what was then Metro Toronto, discussed the effects of poverty on children and how access to high quality services might begin to address the issue. On September 22, 1997 the former Toronto City Council approved a Board of Health report, entitled "Child Poverty - A Public Health Perspective". This report confirmed "The First Duty" message and outlined a public health service strategy to combat child poverty in the new City, including the best ways to co-ordinate with other municipal services and community agencies.

Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:

The values and principles which underlie both of these reports and which are summarized in Recommendation No. (1) of " The First Duty" report clearly suggest that the situation of the City's children must be improved; that public policy must benefit and not adversely affect children; that investment in children must be a top priority to ensure the future social and economic health of the community; that policy and budgetary decisions must be evaluated in terms of the impact those decisions will have on young children; that the full range of services supporting children and families must be accessible and adequately funded; and that there must be a coordinated approach to the delivery of children's services for maximum operating effectiveness and cost-efficiency.

In the months following the release of both " The First Duty" and the " Child Poverty - A Public Health Perspective" reports, there has been growing public interest and support for investing in children. This is also evident on the national level where the federal government is actively working on the development of a National Children's Agenda. Like " The First Duty" and the " Child Poverty - A Public Health Perspective" reports, the National Children's Agenda believes that children are everyone's concern and that all citizens must be involved in achieving positive outcomes for them.

Council's decision to establish a Children's Advocate and a Children's Action Committee, as recommended in the Transition Team report, entitled " New City, New Opportunities" , is both timely and prudent. In a brief presentation planned for Council, the opportunity presented by the amalgamation process to build on the tradition of high quality services to children in this community will be highlighted. The presentation will describe the current service capabilities of the various program areas now amalgamated under one governance structure, begin to identify some of the service gaps and service challenges ahead, and suggest some of the opportunities for improved co-ordination. The presentation will underline the need for a Children's Agenda within the new City and seek Council's approval for the principles that should guide the necessary action planning. A report to both the Special Committee to Review the Final Report of the Toronto Transition Team and the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee, detailing the composition and mandate of the Children's Action Committee, is also recommended. As part of the work-planning process of the Children's Action Committee, a more detailed estimate of resources needed to support its activities and initiatives will be developed for discussion during the budget review process.

Conclusions:

This report has been prepared to provide a context for the presentation planned for Council concerning the services available to and needed by children within this City. The report outlines the set of principles which will guide the work of the Children' Action Committee and requests Council's endorsement. Follow-up reports detailing the composition, mandate, workplan and resource needs of the Children's Action Committee are also recommended.

Contact Name:

Marna Ramsden, General Manager of Children's Services

Tel.: 392-8128

Fax: 392-4576

E-mail: ramsden@csis.csis.csd.metrotor.on.ca)

(City Council also had before it, during consideration of the foregoing Clause, a copy of the presentation material (February 4, 1998) submitted by the Acting Executive Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services.)

Required Changes to By-Laws of The

Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited.

(City Council on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998, adopted this Clause, without amendment.)

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee recommends the adoption of the following communication (December 5, 1997) from the Corporate Secretary, The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited:

The Board of Directors of The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited at its meeting held on December5, 1997, had before it a report (November24, 1997) from the Metropolitan Solicitor advising that the legislation creating the new City of Toronto will not affect the existence of the Housing Company (the Housing Company's sole shareholder will change from The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto to the new City), but the Housing Company's by-laws should be amended to reflect the existence of the new City and its officers and organization as of January1, 1998; submitting a draft of By-law No. A-15 in this regard; and recommending that:

(1) the draft amending by-law attached to this report be enacted as a by-law of the Housing Company;

(2) the amending by-law enacted pursuant to Recommendation No.(1) be forwarded to the Clerk of the new City of Toronto for confirmation by the Council thereof; and

(3) the appropriate members of the Housing Company staff be authorized to take the necessary action to give effect to Recommendation No.(2).

The Board of Directors adopted, without amendment, the aforementioned report.

________

(Report dated November 24, 1997, addressed to the

Board of Directors, The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited,

from the Metropolitan Solicitor)

Purpose:

To amend, as of January 1, 1998, those provisions of the by-laws of the Housing Company which make reference to the Metropolitan Corporation, its officers or its organization effective so that the references are instead to the new City of Toronto, its officers and its organization.

Recommendation:

It is recommended that:

(1) the draft amending by-law attached to this report be enacted as a by-law of the Housing Company;

(2) the amending by-law enacted pursuant to Recommendation No. (1) be forwarded to the Clerk of the new City of Toronto for confirmation by the Council thereof;

(3) the appropriate members of the Housing Company staff be authorized to take the necessary action to give effect to Recommendation No. (2).

Background:

The legislation creating the new City of Toronto will not affect the existence of the Housing Company (the Housing Company's sole shareholder will change from The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto to the new City), but the Housing Company's by-laws should be amended to reflect the existence of the new City and its officers and organization as of January 1, 1998.

Discussion:

Section 1 of the draft amending by-law contains the amendments relating to organizational By-law No. A-1, as follows:

Draft by-law	Organizational By-law No. A-1
1(1)	New clause 1(1)(b.1) is inserted to define City. In clause 1(1)(d), the reference to Metropolitan Corporation with respect to the Council is altered to "City." Clause 1(1)(f) defining Metropolitan Corporation is repealed.
1(2)	Reference to North York in the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto is deleted from subsection 2(1) specifying location of registered office where Housing Company's books and records must be kept.
1(3)	References to Chairman in clause 3(2)(a) and area municipality in subclause 3(2)(d)(ii) are replaced by Mayor of the City of Toronto and City of Toronto respectively.
1(4)	Subsection is 7(2) re-enacted to refer to the City of Toronto and its Clerk rather than the Metropolitan Corporation and the Metropolitan Clerk.
1(5)	Reference to Metropolitan Corporation is changed to City of Toronto in connection with allotment of capital stock.

Borrowing By-law No. A-2 contains no Metropolitan references and requires no changes.

By-law No. A-3 (financial matters) is dealt with in section 2 of the draft amending by-law: clause3(1)(b) is reworded to correct the name of the Ministry and to specify debentures of the new City of Toronto or any of its corporate predecessors (i.e., the Metropolitan Corporation and any of the area municipalities) rather than only those of the Metropolitan Corporation as eligible investments for Housing Company reserve accounts.

By-law No. A-4 (Housing Company officers) is dealt with in section 3 of the draft amending by-law, as follows:

Draft By-law	Officers By-law No. A-4
3(1), (2)	Subsections 1(1) and (2) are reworded to refer to City of Toronto officers, social programmes and committees in connection with the office and responsibilities of the Executive Vice-President.
3(3), (4)	Subsections 2(1) and (4) and clause 2(5)(c) are reworded to refer to the City of Toronto and its administrative structure in connection with the office and responsibilities of the General Manager.

By-laws Nos. A-5 to A-7 are all amending by-laws and require no amendment.

Procedural By-law No. A-8 is dealt with in section 4 of the draft amending by-law: the references to The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto are changed to City of Toronto in subclause 12(1)(a)(ii) [independence of a majority of the Finance Committee members from the shareholder], in subsection12(2) [newly appointed Finance Committee after every annual meeting] and in subclause12(4)(a)(v) [review by the Finance Committee of points raised by the auditor of the shareholder].

By-law No. A-9 (disposition of real estate) is dealt with in section 5 of the draft amending by-law: clause 1(d) is reworded so that the Act in which land is defined is the Municipal Act rather than the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto Act, and the reference for rates charged for document copying in subsection 4(4) is changed from The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto to the City of Toronto.

The remaining by-laws of the Housing Company are amending by-laws requiring no change.

Section 6 of the draft amending by-law provides that the amending by-law is to come into force on January 1, 1998.

Although every by-law passed by the Board of Directors becomes effective in accordance with its terms as soon as it is passed, its effectiveness will cease unless the by-law is confirmed at the next shareholders' meeting, which in the case of the Housing Company is a meeting of its shareholders' Council at which shareholder functions with respect to the Housing Company are carried out. Recommendation No. (2) therefore calls for transmittal of the enacted by-law to the Clerk of the new City for confirmation by the new Council in due course.

________

DRAFT

THE METROPOLITAN TORONTO HOUSING COMPANY LIMITED

By-law No. A-15

BE IT ENACTED as a By-law of the Company as follows:

1. (1) Section 3(2) of By-law No. A-1 is amended by:

(a) inserting immediately following clause (b) thereof the following new clause(b.1):

(b.1) "City" means the City of Toronto incorporated by the City of Toronto Act, 1997 (No. 1);

(b) striking out "Metropolitan Corporation" at the end of clause (d) and substituting therefor "City";

(2) Subsection 2(1) of By-law No. A-1 is amended by striking out "of North York in the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto" without replacement.

(3) Subsection 3(2) of By-law No. A-1 is amended by:

(a) striking out "Chairman thereof" at the end of clause (a) thereof and substituting therefor "Mayor of the City";

(b) striking out "an area municipality of the Metropolitan Corporation" in the first line of subclause (d)(ii) thereof and substituting therefor "the urban area of the City".

(4) Subsection 7(2) of By-law No. A-1 is amended by striking out that part thereof from and including "Metropolitan Clerk" in the third line to and including "Metropolitan Council" in the second last line and substituting therefor "Clerk of the City to the members of such committee and in the documentation distributed by the said Clerk to the members of the Council".

(5) Subsection 8(1) of By-law No. A-1 is amended by striking out "Metropolitan Corporation" in the first line and substituting therefor "City".

2. Clause 3(1)(b) of By-law No. A-3 is amended by:

(a) striking out "Ministry of Housing" in the third line and substituting therefor "Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing";

(b) striking out "The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto" in the third and fourth lines and substituting therefor "the City of Toronto incorporated by the City of Toronto Act, 1997 (No. 1) or by any of the corporate predecessors of such City".

3. (1) Subsection 1(1) of By-law No. A-4 is amended by striking out that part thereof from and including "Commissioner" in the second line to the end of the subsection and substituting therefor "Executive Commissioner, Community and Neighbourhood Services for the City of Toronto".

(2) Subsection 1(2) of By-law No. A-4 is amended by:

(a) striking out that part of clause (a) from and including "programmes" in the first line to and including "Metropolitan Toronto" in the second line and substituting therefor "social programmes provided the City of Toronto".

(b) striking out "Metropolitan Council" in the second line of clause (b) thereof and substituting therefor "the Council of the City of Toronto"; and

(c) striking out that part of clause (c) thereof from and including "Metropolitan Corporation's" in the first line to and including "Council" near the end of the second line and substituting therefor "Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee, Executive Committee and/or the Council of the City of Toronto".

(3) Subsection 2(1) of By-law No. A-4 is amended by striking out that part from and including "Housing Division" in the second and third lines and substituting therefor "division of the operating department of the City of Toronto responsible for housing accommodation".

(4) Clause 2(5)(c) of By-law No. A-4 is amended by striking out "The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto" in the last line and substituting therefor "the City of Toronto".

4. Section 12 of By-law No. A-8 as amended by By-law No. A-11 is further amended by striking out "Metropolitan Corporation" wherever same appears in subclause (1)(a)(ii), subsection (2) and subclause (4)(a)(v) thereof and substituting therefor "the City of Toronto".

5. (1) Clause 1(d) of By-law No. A-9 is amended by striking out "Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto Act" and substituting therefor "Act".

(2) Subsection 4(4) of By-law No. A-9 is amended by striking out "The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto" in the second and third lines and substituting therefor "the City of Toronto".

6. This By-law shall come into force on the 1^st day of January, 1998.

ENACTED this 5^th day of December, 1997.

WITNESS the Corporate Seal of the Company.

PRESIDENT SECRETARY

Tenant Benefit Fund - The Metropolitan

Toronto Housing Company Limited.

(City Council on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998, adopted this Clause, without amendment.)

The Board of Directors of The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited at its meeting held on December5, 1997, had before it a report (December3, 1997) from the General Manager advising that the Tenant Benefit Fund was established in the early 1980s through the Seniors' Advisory Committee to the Board, as a by-law of the Housing Company; that the fund was to be used for the benefit of Housing Company tenants in the manner and to the extent determined from time to time by the Board of Directors; submitting Appendix"A" - the current By-law No.A-3 in this regard, Appendix"B", entitled "Tenant Benefit Fund - Terms of Reference", which describes a new structure for the Fund, devolving responsibility from the Board of Directors to the Tenant Council, and Appendix"C" - By-law No.A-16 which would amend the aforementioned By-law No.A-3; and recommending that:

(1) the Board of Directors approve the new structure for the Tenant Benefit Fund outlined in this report and its Appendices;

(2) By-law No. A-3 be amended in accordance with the draft amending by-law attached to this report as Appendix "C";

(3) the amending by-law enacted pursuant to Recommendation No. (2) be forwarded to the Clerk of the new City of Toronto for confirmation by the Council thereof; and

(4) the appropriate members of the Housing Company staff be authorized to take the necessary action to give effect to Recommendations Nos. (1) to (3).

The Board of Directors:

(i) adopted the aforementioned report; and

(ii) requested the General Manager:

(a) to submit a report to the Board of Directors in the fall of 1998 providing an update on the Tenant Benefit Fund, including the financial aspects thereof; and

(b) to forward a copy of this report and its Appendices to the Race Relations Committee and to each of the Tenant District Councils, for information.

________

(Report dated December 3, 1997, addressed to the

Board of Directors, The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited,

from the General Manager)

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1) the Board of Directors approve the new structure for the Tenant Benefit Fund outlined in this report and its Appendices;

(2) By-law No. A-3 be amended in accordance with the draft amending by-law attached to this report as Appendix C;

(3) the amending by-law enacted pursuant to Recommendation No. (2) be forwarded to the Clerk of the new City of Toronto for confirmation by the Council thereof; and

(4) the appropriate members of the Housing Company staff be authorized to take the necessary action to give effect to Recommendations Nos. (1) to (3).

Background:

The Tenant Benefit Fund was established in the early 1980s through the Seniors' Advisory Committee to the Board as a by-law of The Housing Company. The fund was to be used for the benefit of Housing Company tenants in the manner and to the extent determined from time to time by the Board of Directors (see Appendix A).

The fund's revenue has been chiefly from polling stations located in Housing Company buildings. It has been used in the past for events such as the annual President's luncheon and volunteer recognition festivities. More recently, expenditures have included printing and translation costs of biannual tenant newsletters developed by a committee of the Housing Company Tenant Council. The balance of the fund is approximately $48,000.00.

Several factors combine to make a tenant-driven process for the Tenant Benefit Fund timely. These are:

(1) Over the past three years the Resident Involvement Plan has developed structures for elected and responsible tenant representation at all levels of the organization.

(2) Resident Involvement is not funded by any level of government so there is reliance on a fund such as this to offset the costs of Resident Involvement.

(3) Polling station revenue, which was the chief source of income to the Tenant Benefit Fund, will be reduced or eliminated given new regulations for Municipal and Provincial elections. New sources of revenue need to be explored.

(4) Use of Space policy and guidelines have been developed and piloted (see separate report to this Board). Revenue from fees for Use of Space could become a significant source of revenue for the Tenant Benefit Fund. The governance of such a fund should be in the hands of tenant representatives, particularly as much of the fund is generated at the building level.

Comments:

Appendix B describes a new structure for the Tenant Benefit Fund, devolving responsibility from the Board of Directors to the Tenant Councils. The structure was developed by members of the Housing Company Tenant Council, with staff support. These members are: Elaric Kissoon, John Alleyne, Charles Hodge and Stewart McKeown. The Housing Company Tenant Council approved the proposed structure at their November 17, 1997, meeting.

Although every by-law passed by the Board of Directors becomes effective in accordance with its terms as soon as it is passed, its effectiveness will cease unless the by-law is confirmed at the next shareholders' meeting, which in the case of the Housing Company is a meeting of its shareholders' Council at which shareholder functions with respect to the Housing Company are carried out. Recommendation No. (3) therefore calls for transmittal of the enacted by-law to the Clerk of the new City for confirmation by the new Council in due course.

________

Appendix A

THE METROPOLITAN TORONTO HOUSING COMPANY LIMITED

By-law No. A-3

BE IT ENACTED as a By-law of the Company that:

1. The Directors of the Company shall have power, by resolution, to fix the remuneration of the Auditor of the Company appointed by the shareholder.

2. (1) The Board of Directors shall appoint a Treasurer as an officer of the Company, who shall have such powers and perform such duties

(a) as are usually conferred upon a treasurer of a company; and

(b) as may be delegated to the Treasurer by the Board or required by law.

(2) Sections 3 and 4 shall not limit the generality of subsection (1).

3. (1) The Company shall

(a) continue to maintain the reserve accounts established by the Company's corporate predecessor "The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited" with the Company's bank and deposit therein each year monies equal to the annual credits allocated thereto pursuant to the Company's funding arrangements pending investment of such monies; and

(b) invest from time to time available monies in the reserve accounts described in clause (a) in such securities as may be acceptable to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Ontario Ministry of Housing, and for such purpose, debentures issued by The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto shall be deemed an eligible investment, subject to the approval of the said Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the said Ministry.

(2) The monies of the reserves described in clause (1)(a) shall be applied as the Board of Directors may from time to time determine in accordance with the funding arrangements therein referred to.

4. (1) The Company shall

(a) continue to maintain the interest-bearing account established by the Company's corporate predecessor "The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited" with the Company's bank identified by the name "Tenant Benefit Fund" and deposit therein:

(i) all polling booth fees paid to the Company during the course of various government elections;

(ii) all donations, and grants appropriate for allocation, to such Fund; and

(iii) the proceeds of any investments made pursuant to clause (b);

(b) invest from time to time any funds deposited in the Tenant Benefit Fund described in clause (a) in such securities as may be permitted for trustees under the Trustee Act as amended from time to time.

(2) The monies of the Tenant Benefit Fund described in clause (1)(a) shall be applied to benefit the tenants at any of the buildings owned or operated by the Company in the manner and to the extent determined from time to time by the Board of Directors.

ENACTED this day of , 1993.

WITNESS the Corporate Seal of the Company.

PRESIDENT SECRETARY

Appendix B

Tenant Benefit Fund - Terms of Reference

The Tenant Benefit Fund shall consist of:

(1) The General Tenant Benefit Fund; and

(2) The District Tenant Benefit Funds.

(1) The General Tenant Benefit Fund (GTB):

The General Tenant Benefit (GTB) Fund shall be used for the benefit of tenants across the Housing Company and to support and strengthen the Resident Involvement Plan (RIP). The Fund shall be administered by the GTB Fund Committee, a standing committee of The Housing Company Tenant Council (HCTC).

(A) Functions of the GTB Fund Committee:

(i) To develop and promote ways of generating revenue for the Tenant Benefit Fund through fundraising, sponsorship, grants, etc.

(ii) To review all expenditure requests for approval or denial and to refer any requests on which it cannot reach a decision to the HCTC.

(iii) To review the GTB fund statement of revenue and expenditures, which will be updated on a quarterly basis, including a breakdown by District.

(iv) To report to the HCTC on a regular basis to review revenue and approved expenditures.

(v) Prepare an annual statement for Board presentation, in conjunction with the annual review of Use of Space.

(B) Membership of the GTB Fund :

(i) 4 HCTC members: One per District. At least one member must be a Board member. Each member will have an alternate.

(ii) 2 Housing Company Staff: Staff are ex officio members (no vote); each staff will have an alternate.

The term of office for tenants shall be three years, to correspond with the term of the HCTC. An interim committee shall be selected to act until the new HCTC is in place following the 1998 elections.

(i) Proceeds from tenant benefit fundraisers.

(ii) Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from rental of common space in Housing Company buildings, including polling booths.

(iii) Honoraria, gifts or bequests to the Housing Company.

(iv) May include grants that support Resident Involvement.

(v) Accumulated interest from both the General and District Tenant Benefit Funds.

(D) Expenditure Guidelines for the GTB Fund:

(i) Support for tenant Board members.

(ii) Housing Company Tenant Council (HCTC) training or other functions.

(iii) Company-wide communications with tenants, including newsletters, tenant forums/consultations.

(iv) Company-wide RIP elections or other functions.

(v) Translation, interpretation, alternate formats, transportation or other access needs that support Resident Involvement.

(vi) May include administration of grants that support Resident Involvement.

(2) The District Tenant Benefit Funds:

The District Tenant Benefit (DTB) Funds shall be used for the benefit of tenants in the buildings and across the district, and to support and strengthen the Resident Involvement Plan (RIP) at the Building and District Level. The Fund shall be administered by the District Tenant Benefit Fund Committee, a standing committee of each District Council.

(A) Functions of the DTB Fund Committee :

(i) To develop and promote ways of generating revenue for the District Tenant Benefit Fund through fundraising, sponsorship, grants, etc.

(ii) To review expenditure requests for approval or denial and to refer any requests on which it cannot reach a decision to the District Council. Each District will need to determine under what conditions expenditures may be made at a building level without the approval of the DTB Fund Committee.

(iii) To review the DTB fund statement of revenue and expenditures, which will be updated on a quarterly basis, including a breakdown by building.

(iv) To report to the District Council on a regular basis to review revenue and expenditures.

(v) To prepare an annual statement to be brought to the District Council and forwarded to the HCTC in conjunction with the annual review of Use of Space.

(B) Membership of the DTB Fund Committee:

(i) 4 District Council members - One will be the District representative on the GTB Fund Committee of the HCTC. The remaining three will be selected in a way that represents the District portfolio.

(ii) Housing Company staff - Supervisor, Casework and Community Services, and all Community Development Workers in the District (two or three staff depending on the District). Staff are ex officio members (no vote).

The term of office for tenants shall be three years, to correspond with the term of the District Council. An interim committee shall be selected to act until the new HCTC is in place following the 1998 elections.

(i) Proceeds from District tenant benefit fundraisers.

(ii) Seventy-five percent of the proceeds from rental of common space in buildings within the District, including polling booths.

(iii) Honoraria, gifts or bequests that are directed to a particular District.

(iv) May include grants to a specific District that support Resident Involvement.

(D) Expenditure Guidelines for the DTB Fund:

(i) Equipment, furnishings, etc., for building common areas (purchase, upkeep, insurance, replacement).

(ii) Beautification of building public areas including cultural materials.

(iii) Upgrades to building public areas.

(iv) Tenant involvement at the building level.

(v) Loans for enterprises that will benefit tenants.

(vi) District Council Training, materials, volunteer recognition, or other functions.

(vii) Translation, interpretation, alternate formats, transportation or other access needs that support Resident Involvement at the building or District level.

Appendix C

THE METROPOLITAN TORONTO HOUSING COMPANY LIMITED

By-law No. A-16

BE IT ENACTED as a By-law of the Company as follows:

1. Clause 4(1)(a) of By-law No. A-3 is repealed and the following substituted therefor:

"(a) continue to maintain the interest-bearing account established by the Company's corporate predecessor The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited with the Company's bank identified by the name Tenant Benefit Fund and deposit therein:

(i) proceeds from events held for the purpose of raising funds to benefit tenants described in subsection (2);

(ii) proceeds from fees from the use of common space in Company buildings, including polling booths;

(iii) all donations, and grants appropriate for allocation, to such Fund; and

(iv) the proceeds of any investments made pursuant to clause (b)."

2. Subsection 4(2) of By-law No. A-3 is repealed and the following substituted therefor:

"(2) The monies of the Tenant Benefit Fund described in clause (1)(a) shall be applied to benefit the residential tenants at any of the buildings owned or operated by the Company in the manner and to the extent determined from time to time by the Board of Directors, which may delegate to representatives of such tenants the power to make such determination in accordance with principles determined by the Board of Directors."

ENACTED this 5^th day of December, 1997.

WITNESS the Corporate Seal of the Company.

PRESIDENT SECRETARY

Metro Access to Social Housing.

(City Council on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998, adopted this Clause, without amendment.)

The Board of Directors of The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited at its meeting held on December5, 1997, had before it a report (November24, 1997) from the General Manager advising that the Board of Directors adopted the proposal, entitled "Metro Access to Social Housing: A Proposal for Co-ordinated Access in Metropolitan Toronto" at its meeting in October, 1996; that this proposal was in response to a directive from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing that all provincially funded social housing providers must participate in a co-ordinated access system for social housing in their communities; that over 100social housing providers, community information centres and housing help agencies endorsed the MASHproposal; that in May, 1997, the Ministry approved MASH as the co-ordinated access plan for Metropolitan Toronto: providing an update on the implementation phase of MASH, together with various documents pertaining thereto; and recommending that:

(1) the Board of Directors endorse the implementation phase of Metro Access to Social Housing (MASH) as described in this report;

(2) staff be authorized to continue participating in the implementation of MASH, the co-ordinated access system for social housing in Toronto; and

(3) this report be forwarded to the Council of the new City of Toronto with a request to endorse the implementation of MASH.

The Board of Directors adopted, without amendment, the aforementioned report.

________

(Report dated December 5, 1997, addressed to the

Board of Directors, The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited,

from the General Manager)

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1) the Board of Directors endorse the implementation phase of Metro Access to Social Housing (MASH) as described in this report;

(2) staff be authorized to continue participating in the implementation of MASH, the co-ordinated access system for social housing in Toronto; and

(3) this report be forwarded to the Council of the new City of Toronto with a request to endorse the implementation of MASH.

Purpose of Report:

This report provides an update on the implementation phase of Metro Access to Social Housing (MASH) and recommends that The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited (MTHCL) Board of Directors endorse the work that is currently underway to implement a co-ordinated access system for individuals and families applying for social housing in the new City of Toronto.

Background:

At its October 4, 1996, meeting, the MTHCL Board of Directors adopted the proposal, entitled "Metro Access to Social Housing: A Proposal for Co-ordinated Access in Metropolitan Toronto." This proposal was in response to a directive from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing that all provincially funded social housing providers must participate in a co-ordinated access system for social housing in their communities. The MASH proposal was developed with the active participation of MTHCL staff and many housing providers and community partners. Over 100 social housing providers, community information centres and housing help agencies endorsed the MASH proposal. In May 1997, the Ministry approved MASH as the co-ordinated access plan for Metropolitan Toronto.

The main features of this co-ordinated access system are:

(a) "one stop shopping" for individuals wishing to apply to a variety of social housing providers;

(b) common application form for all applicants to social housing;

(d) assistance to housing providers through the maintenance of up-to-date waiting lists for individual buildings; and

(e) printed and on-line materials describing social housing opportunities in the city.

The MASH co-ordinated access system will use the existing applicant intake resources and expertise within MTHCL and MTHA's amalgamated Housing Registry and Cityhome. Smaller housing providers currently contribute staff time and in-kind donations to MASH. It is anticipated that they will continue to play an important role after the start-up date (June 1, 1998) by distributing MASH materials and assisting individuals with their applications to particular waiting lists. Providers will continue to have autonomy in selecting new tenants from their specific waiting lists. Dozens of existing community information and referral agencies, housing help centres, and emergency services throughout the new City are also integral to the MASH network. They will assist the public and their clients with the application for social housing and housing choices. The proposal recommends using the computer technology which exists within The Housing Registry to maintain the application and project information database.

Common Application Form:

A common application form for use by all social housing providers has been developed and field-tested by agencies across Metro. The form allows applicants to apply for one or more social housing projects, removing the need for applicants to approach dozens of different organizations when applying for social housing. Final revisions to the application are currently underway.

Building the Information Database:

MASH is gathering comprehensive information about each housing provider in the MASH network through a "Housing Project Profile Questionnaire." More than 60 percent of housing providers have completed the questionnaires with the remaining forms expected to be returned within the next few weeks. The information will be added to The Housing Registry's existing project database. From this database, a "Guide Book to Social Housing" will be produced as will on-line and electronic data files for the convenience of housing providers and information centres wishing to locate information quickly by computer.

Policies, Procedures and Governance:

Drawing on the expertise and experience of MTHCL staff and other housing providers in the MASH network, a policy and procedures document is being drafted to guide the work of MASH staff and participating housing providers and community agencies. A draft of this manual will be reviewed in detail with the MASH network of providers and agencies through focus groups in January and February 1998, and at a public meeting in February.

The MASH steering committee recently passed a motion to endorse the concept of an Advisory Council governance structure. The Advisory Council will be composed of representatives from the municipal non-profit housing agency, MTHA, the supportive housing, co-operative and private non-profit sectors, community information and advocacy agencies, as well as consumers. The proposed structure recommends that representatives from the new City Council, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and CMHC sit on the Advisory Council as ex-officio members.

Developing a Network of Access Centres:

To ensure a broad based network of access centres, MASH is currently doing extensive outreach to encourage community agencies such as shelters, drop-ins, housing help centres, and information centres to be access points in the MASH system. MASH identifies the need for different types of access points in different areas of the new City as key to ensuring MASH is accessible to all individuals who need to apply for social housing, including individuals in shelters and the chronically homeless. Final decisions about access points are expected by March 1998.

Summary:

During this implementation phase, MASH continues to receive positive feedback and support from housing providers in the co-operative, non-profit, and supportive housing sectors as well as from agencies who help their clients find housing. With over 200 housing providers operating 700 - 800 buildings in the new City, MASH will make it easier for social housing applicants to obtain comprehensive information about housing choices and to apply to waiting lists of their choice. Components of the MASH system, such as centralized waiting lists, information resources, and a common application form will assist social housing providers in filling their units, information-sharing, and maintaining up-to-date waiting lists. Full implementation of this system in 1998 will demonstrate support for Ministry and municipal directions towards improving access to publicly funded services and facilities.

Attached to this report are materials providing more detailed information about the work of MASH during the implementation phase.

(A copy of the material, referred to in the foregoing report, was forwarded to all Members of CityCouncil with the agenda of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for its meeting on January 15, 1998, and a copy thereof is on file in the office of the City Clerk.)

(Councillor Mammoliti, at the meeting of City Council on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998, declared his interest in the foregoing Clause, in that he is technically employed with The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Authority.)

Use of Battery Park as an Alternate Location

for the Western Beaches Storage Tunnel

Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station.

(City Council on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998, adopted this Clause, without amendment.)

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee recommends the adoption of the following report (January 8, 1998) from the Commissioner of Works for the former Metropolitan Toronto:

Purpose:

To authorize the use of Battery Park as an alternate location for the Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station for the Western Beaches Storage Tunnel (WBST).

Funding Sources, Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

Funding for the WBST Phase I contract, in the amount of $38.5 million gross, has been provided as part of the (former) City of Toronto 1994, 1995 and 1997 Capital Sewer Budgets.

Permission to use Battery Park as a location for the WBST Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station would result in approximately $0.5 million savings.

The impact of the construction activities related to the Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station on the public and on the recreational uses in the park areas south of Lake Shore Boulevard West in the vicinity of Strachan Avenue is less at the Battery Park site than at the previously approved Coronation Park site.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1) authority be given to utilize Battery Park as an alternate location to Coronation Park for the WBST Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station, subject to finalizing arrangements with Heritage Toronto related to protection/relocation of the Lancaster Bomber, tank and artillery pieces, and subject to satisfying the requirements of the (former) Metropolitan Toronto Parks and Culture Department; and

(2) the appropriate City Officials be authorized and directed to take the necessary action to give effect thereto.

Council Reference/Background/History:

The Council of the (former) Metropolitan Toronto Corporation, at its meeting of August 13 and 14, 1997, inter alia, granted approval and easement rights to the (former) City of Toronto for locating the Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station for the WBST in Coronation Park (Clause No. 22 of Report No. 19 of The Corporate Administration Committee).

Subsequently, the (former) Metropolitan Council, at its meeting of October 8 and 9, 1997, in considering the report dated September 8, 1997, from the Commissioner of Corporate and Human Resources recommending, inter alia, that authority be given to utilize Battery Park as an alternate location to Coronation Park for the WBST Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station if required, decided to refer a decision on this issue to the Council of the new City of Toronto, with a request that the impact on the public use of this space be assessed (Clause No. 72 of Report No. 23 of The Corporate Administration Committee).

Comments and/or Discussion and/or Justification:

The purpose of the WBST, located generally south of Lake Shore Boulevard West between Strachan Avenue and Parkside Drive, is to intercept and store, during periods of rainfall, polluted sewer discharges to Lake Ontario from the City's combined sewer system for subsequent treatment before release to the Lake. Intercepting and treating the polluted sewer discharges will improve the water quality along the Western Waterfront and substantially reduce the postings of the beaches as unsuitable for bathing and swimming during the summer season.

The Board of Management of the (former) City of Toronto, at its meeting of December 18, 1997, in considering the report dated December 17, 1997, from the City Engineer regarding the Revised Proposal Call for the WBST, approved, inter alia, the award of Phase I of the Design/Build Project at a cost of $32,035,800.00 to the McNally-Frontier Joint Venture. Funds for this purpose had been provided as part of the (former) City of Toronto 1994, 1995 and 1997 Capital Sewer Budgets.

The total cost for Phase I and Phase II of the WBST project, as quoted by the successful contractor, amounts to $49,294,000.00. Therefore, the implementation of Phase II will require approval of additional funds, in the amount of approximately $18.0 million, by the Council of the new City of Toronto as part of the 1998 and 1999 Capital Budgets.

However, it is noted that Phase I of the project, which involves the construction of the storage tunnel and shafts between Strachan Avenue and Dufferin Street, is a complete project and can operate on its own. The terms of the contract for Phase I will obligate the Joint Venture to design/construct Phase II of the project at the price quoted, however, there is no obligation on the part of the new City of Toronto to proceed with Phase II of the project. Upon completion of Phase I, the tunnel would provide water quality improvements in the area of Ontario Place/Exhibition Place and the Toronto Yacht Club.

The successful bidder, the McNally-Frontier Joint Venture, submitted two alternative proposals for the WBST which only differ with respect to the location of the Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station. Alternative A, at a total Phase I cost of $32,035,800.00, proposes to locate the Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station in Coronation Park, south of Lake Shore Boulevard West, immediately east of Strachan Avenue. Alternative B, at a total Phase I cost of $31,500,800.00, proposes to locate the Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station in Battery Park, south of LakeShore Boulevard West, immediately west of Strachan Avenue.

It is noted that, at both locations, the Pumping Station would be underground and the land to be occupied as working area during construction and the location of access hatches to the Pumping Station, as well as the overall restoration of the site, will be subject to approval by the Commissioner of Parks and Culture.

In Coronation Park, the Main Shaft and Working Area would occupy the westerly part of the park and require the temporary closure of one of the two baseball diamonds for a period of up to thirty months. This location has been previously approved by Metropolitan Council and, accordingly, the project could proceed immediately at this location.

In Battery Park, the Main Shaft would be located to the south of the area where the plane, tank and artillery pieces are currently located, in an area which is generally not used by the public or for recreational purposes. The working area to be occupied during construction would extend beyond the Main Shaft to the north and would require the temporary relocation of the tank and the artillery pieces. The Lancaster Bomber could stay in place and be protected from the construction site by means of a solid hoarding. The Battery Park location requires approval by the Council of the new City of Toronto, as noted above.

The advantages and disadvantages of the two locations are as follows:

Coronation Park:

Advantages:

(a) Available space for the contractor to be used as working area is less restrictive.

(b) Removal of trees not necessary.

Disadvantages:

(a) Additional Project Cost in the amount of approximately $0.5 million.

(b) Requirement to close one baseball diamond for a period of up to thirty months.

(c) Greater impact of construction activities on recreational activities in Coronation Park, e.g., requirement to close one baseball diamond, construction traffic, and construction-related noise, etc.

Battery Park:

Advantages:

(a) Lower Project Cost resulting in savings of approximately $0.5 million.

(b) Virtually no impact on recreational activities in the park area south of Lake Shore Boulevard West.

(c) Opportunity to combine the requirement for the Main Shaft and Pumping Station with plans of Heritage Toronto to relocate/rehabilitate the weaponry and plane.

Disadvantages:

(a) Available working area for contractor more restrictive.

(b) Requirement for removal of several small trees and subsequent replacement following completion of construction.

(c) Requirement for relocation of the tank and artillery pieces within Battery Park to allow for contractor's working area during construction.

Staff of City Works Services have discussed the alternative location with the (former) Metropolitan Toronto Parks and Culture staff, who have found the alternative location in Battery Park to be preferable to the Coronation Park site for the Main Working Shaft. Naturally, the relocation of small trees and bushes and subsequent replacement after construction will be carried out by the Parks and Culture Department at a cost to the WBST project.

Discussions have also been held with staff from Heritage Toronto, who have advised that there are plans to relocate the Lancaster Bomber and tank and artillery pieces, however, these plans have not been finalized at this time. Heritage Toronto has requested that the Lancaster Bomber not be moved at this time but appears agreeable to the temporary relocation of the tank and artillery pieces. The City would be required to construct a hoarding around the Lancaster Bomber and relocate or protect the tank and artillery pieces to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Parks and Culture and Heritage Toronto. There may also be opportunities to financially assist Heritage Toronto in relocating/rehabilitating the weaponry and plane by combining the requirement for relocation to make space for the Working Area and Main Shaft with Heritage Toronto's long term plans for the relocation/rehabilitation of the historic pieces.

Staff of City Works Services are currently consulting with Heritage Toronto in order to reach a final agreement regarding the details of protecting or relocating the weaponry and plane.

Mobilization and commencement of work at the Main Shaft and Pumping Station had initially been scheduled to commence in mid-January, 1998, but has now been delayed to February, 1998 to allow for obtaining the necessary approval for the Battery Park location. Accordingly, in order to avoid further delays to the contractor, a decision on the Main Shaft location is required as soon as possible.

Conclusions:

In my opinion, the Battery Park location, as an alternative site for the WBST Main Working Shaft and Pumping Station, is acceptable and indeed preferable. The Commissioner of Parks and Culture has advised that he concurs.

Contact Name and Telephone Number:

Werner Wichmann: Tel: 392-7703.

Other Items Considered by the Committee

(City Council on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998, received this Clause, for information.)

(a) Standing Committee Briefing.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports having:

(1) expressed its appreciation to the following staff for their presentations; and

(2) directed that the Acting Executive Commissioner be requested to report to the March 26, 1998, meeting of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee on the feasibility and cost of providing services, such as snow removal and gardening, to assist senior citizens and those disabled who remain in their own homes:

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee received overhead presentations from the following regarding the programs and services under the responsibilities of the Committee:

- Ms. Shirley Hoy, Acting Executive Commissioner, providing an overview of the priority issues under the Community and Neighbourhood Services cluster;

- Ms. Heather MacVicar, General Manager, Social Services Division, Community Services Department;

- Ms. Marna Ramsden, General Manager, Children's Services Division, Community Services Department;

- Mr. John Jagt, Director of Hostel Services, Community Services Department;

- Ms. Sandra Pitters, General Manager, Homes for the Aged Division, Community Services Department;

- Ms. Joanne Campbell, General Manager, The Metropolitan Toronto Housing Company Limited, on behalf of The Housing Company and Cityhome;

- Mr. Joe Halstead, Interim Functional Lead, Parks and Recreation;

- Ms. Kathleen Sharpe, Interim Functional Lead, Arts, Culture and Heritage;

- Ms. Alice Lorriman, Interim Functional Lead, Toronto Library Board;

- Dr. Sheela Basrur, Acting Medical Officer of Health; and

- Mr. Eric Gam, Executive Director, Social Development and Management Services Division, Community Services Department.

(b) Fundraising Program for a Community Performing Arts Centre.

(October 28, 1997) from the Chair, Etobicoke Municipal Arts Commission, recommending that an amount of $25,000.00 be allocated to the Etobicoke Municipal Arts Commission to permit it to embark on a fundraising program for a Community Performing Arts Centre during 1998; and that the allocation be contingent on a positive report emanating from the current study being carried out by Genovese Vanderhoof and Associates.

(c) Millwood Park Rejuvenation Project.

(November 26, 1998) from Ms. S. Farrell, Ms. C. Wilding and Ms. D. Miziolek, Millwood Park Rejuvenation Project, respecting the rejuvenation of playground equipment in Millwood Park, which is located in Markland Wood at the intersection of Bloor Street West and Mill Road; noting that the goal is to raise $30,000.00; and requesting a grant from the City in the amount of $10,000.00 for this project.

(d) Establishment of Task Force on Free Transportation for Jobless People in Toronto.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports having:

(1) referred the following communication and briefs to a sub-committee to be established to meet with Mr. John Maclennan of the Unemployed Workers Council, Dr. Philip Webb, Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto, Ms. Beth Brown, Daily Bread Foodbank, representatives of the Homeless Strategy Task Force, and appropriate staff of the Community Services Department, on the issue of free transportation for jobless people in Toronto, with a request that it report thereon, as soon as possible, to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee; and

(2) requested the Secretary of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee to canvass members to determine their interest in serving on such sub-committee:

(December 17, 1997) from the General Secretary, Toronto Transit Commission, advising that the Toronto Transit Commission on December 16, 1997, had before it a report from the Chief General Manager, Toronto Transit Commission, responding to a request for information on free transportation for jobless people in Toronto; and indicating that the Commission approved forwarding the following motion by Vice-Chair Councillor Moscoe, together with the report of the Chief General Manager, to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for consideration:

"That a Task Force be established to address the issue of transportation for jobless people in Toronto and that the Task Force be comprised of the following members:

- Chair - Toronto Transit Commission;

- Member of the Toronto Transit Commission, other than the Chair;

- Chair - Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee, new City of Toronto;

- Member of Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee, new City of Toronto, other than the Chair;

- Deputy Mayor, new City of Toronto;

- Staff from the Mayor's Office, new City of Toronto;

- Staff from the Community Services Department, new City of Toronto; and

- Staff from the Toronto Transit Commission;

and further that the foregoing report of the Chief General Manager be referred to the Task Force for consideration and investigation of possible solutions."

________

The following persons appeared before the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee in connection with the foregoing matter:

- Mr. John Maclennan, Unemployed Workers Council; and submitted a brief in regard thereto;

- Ms. Beth Brown, Daily Bread Foodbank; and

- Dr. Philip Webb, Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto; and submitted a brief in regard thereto.

(e) Implementation of Healthy Babies, Healthy Children Program.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports having:

(1) endorsed the recommendations embodied in the report dated December 30, 1997, from the Acting Medical Officer of Health on the implementation of the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children Program; and

(2) directed that the Acting Medical Officer of Health report to the Children's Action Committee, the Interim Board of Health, and the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee, on the requirements necessary to ensure that the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children Program meets current standards;

and further directed that City Council be advised accordingly:

(i) (December 30, 1997) advising that the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children Program is a joint Ministry of Health/Ministry of Community and Social Services initiative designed to screen all families prenatally or at birth, to link families with identified needs with community services, and to provide "lay home visiting services" for high risk families"; and outlining recommendations in regard thereto; and

(ii) (January 9, 1998) from the Acting Secretary, Interim Board of Health, advising that the Interim Board of Health on January 7, 1998, approved the recommendations contained in the report dated December 30, 1997, from the Acting Medical Officer of Health on the Implementation of Healthy Babies, Healthy Children Program.

(f) Request to Establish a Political Liaison Group Regarding Social Housing Program Reform.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports having directed that a sub-committee, comprised of Councillor Gordon Chong, CouncillorMichael Feldman and Councillor George Mammoliti, be established as the political liaison group referred to in the following communication:

(October 16, 1997) from the Metropolitan Clerk advising that Metropolitan Council on October 8 and 9, 1997, adopted, as amended, Clause No. 8 of Report No. 16 of The Financial Priorities Committee, headed "Report of the Advisory Council on Social Housing Reform", wherein it was recommended that:

"(5) Metropolitan Council recommend to the 1998City of Toronto Council that it establish a political liaison group to oversee the new City's involvement in social housing program reform and to collaborate with housing sector organizations in the reform process."

(g) Formulation of Management Model to Maintain Social Services Program Standards and Services in the new City.

(August 19, 1997) from the Metropolitan Clerk advising that Metropolitan Council on August13 and 14, 1997, adopted, as amended, Clause No. 3 of Report No. 14 of TheFinancial Priorities Committee, headed "Implementation Team Update", wherein it was recommended that Metropolitan Council:

"(c) recommend to the new City of Toronto Council that it employ the results of the Round Table Consultation on Social Services as the basis for formulating a management model that, at a minimum, maintains social service program standards and services in the new City."

(h) Profile of a Changing World - The 1996 Community Agency Survey.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports having referred the following communication to the Budget Committee for consideration during the budget process:

(July 21, 1997) from the Assistant City Clerk, City of Toronto, advising that City Council on July 14, 1997, adopted, without amendment, Clause 22 of Report No. 10 of the Neighbourhoods Committee, headed "Profile of a Changing World - The 1996 Community Agency Survey", and in so doing took the following action:

"(4) Requested the Transition Team and the new Megacity Council to ensure that funding from the municipality for agencies within the current City of Toronto are maintained at least at current levels."

(i) St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts: Capital Improvement Fund.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports having referred the following communication to the Budget Committee for consideration during the budget process:

(October10, 1997) from the Assistant City Clerk, City of Toronto, advising that City Council on October 6 and 7, 1997, adopted Clause 53 of Report No. 23 of its Executive Committee, headed "St.Lawrence Centre for the Arts: Capital Improvement Fund", wherein Council took the following action:

"(1) Authorized the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts to make use of its Capital Improvements Funds in the amount of $8,000.00 for the purpose of engaging a theatrical consultant to carry out the preliminary design work with respect to renovations to the Jane Mallett Theatre.

(2) Authorized the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts to engage in a consultative process with appropriate City staff, including staff from the Property Services Division and the Budget Planning and Policy Office.

(3) Directed that the above consultation be extended to include any appropriate working group/s that may be implemented under that new amalgamated City and that the proposal be reviewed in context of the new City of Toronto's overall strategic plans.

(4) Directed that the proposal be submitted to the Budget Review Group, or other appropriate funding committee for approval by the new City of Toronto Council."

(j) Senior's Golf Fees.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports having referred the following communication to the Acting Executive Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services with a request that she review both the seniors' golf fee and the differential between the seniors' and adult user fees, and report thereon to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee:

(May 21, 1997) from the Metropolitan Clerk advising that Metropolitan Council on May 21, 1997, adopted, as amended, Clause No. 1 of Report No. 6 of The Environment and Public Space Committee, headed "Seniors' Golf Fees", wherein it was recommended that the Council of the new City of Toronto be requested:

(i) to review the seniors' golf fees with a view to increasing the fees by 15percent in each of 1998 and 1999; and

(ii) to review the differential between seniors' and regular adult fees.

(k) Priority-Setting for Community and Recreation Centre Facilities.

(October 8, 1997) from the Assistant City Clerk, City of Toronto, advising that City Council on September 22 and 23, 1997, adopted, as amended, Clause 50 of Report No. 12 of its Executive Committee, headed "Priority-Setting for Community and Recreation Centre Facilities", and in so doing took the following action:

"(1) Confirmed that the following projects reflect the highest priority for funding City community and recreational facilities in 1998 (individual projects are not listed in order of priority):

Upgrades and Renovations: Fairmount Park, Trinity Community Recreation Centre, McCormick Community Recreation Centre; and

New Facilities or Expansion: Main Square Community Centre, St. James Town, Lord Dufferin Swimming Pool;

and directed that the program of Proposed Capital Works 1999-2002 as described in the report (August 27, 1997) from the Board of Management be forwarded to the new City of Toronto Council as the Council's proposal for the future expenditures on community and recreation facilities in the City of Toronto.

(2) Recommended that the new City of Toronto Council give priority to capital maintenance and repair matters in existing City community and recreational facilities and requested the Interdepartmental Review Committee to review the matter with City Property Services in conjunction with its Asset Management Strategy on appropriate methods for achieving this goal."; and

(January 13, 1998) from Councillor Ron Moeser, Highland Creek, requesting that staff report back to the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee on upgrades and renovations for community and recreation facilities for all the former municipalities.

________

Councillor Pam McConnell, Don River, appeared before the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee and tabled a copy of a document, entitled "St. James Town 2000: ACommunity Action Plan."

(l) Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library - Results of Consultant Study on User Fee Options.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports having referred the following communication to the Toronto Library Board for consideration:

(July 7, 1997) from the Metropolitan Clerk advising that Metropolitan Council on July 2 and3, 1997, adopted, as amended, Clause No.6 of Report No. 9 of The Environment and Public Space Committee, headed "Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library - Results of Consultant Study User Fee Options," wherein it was recommended that:

"(1) any new user fee opportunities identified for the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library in the consulting study, Report on Library User Fees, be reviewed following amalgamation of the seven existing public library systems within the Metro Toronto area; and

(2) copies of the consulting study, Report on Library User Fees, be immediately forwarded to the current Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library for information, and be forwarded to the future board of an amalgamated library system for their consideration respecting implementation."

(m) Membership of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee.

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee reports having received the following communication:

(January 9, 1998) from the City Clerk advising that City Council on January 2, 6, 8 and 9, 1998, appointed the following as members of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee for a term of office expiring on May 31, 1999, and/or until their successors are appointed:

- Councillor G. Chong, Committee Chair

- Councillor E. Brown

- Councillor R. Cho

- Councillor O. Chow

- Councillor R. Davis

- Councillor M. Feldman

- Councillor J. Filion

- Councillor J. King

- Councillor C. Korwin-Kuczynski

- Councillor G. Mammoliti

- Councillor M. Prue

- Mayor M. Lastman

Respectfully submitted,

GORDON CHONG,

Chair

Toronto, January 15, 1998

(Report No. 1 of The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee, including additions thereto, was adopted, as amended, by City Council on February 4, 5 and 6, 1998.)

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