Monday, October 6
1-3 PM
Toronto City Hall
Members' Lounge

Celebrate the important work of the nonprofit community sector, and the vital role that the City of Toronto plays in this work!

• Meet and greet with community and sector leaders, and candidates for City Council
• Report release: "Building Toronto, Creating Community: The City of Toronto's Investment in Nonprofit Community Services"
• Our stories: Impact of community services in neighbourhoods across Toronto
• Lessons from the arts community
• "My First Time" video showcase
• "Community Services: Building Toronto" campaign launch

Organized by Commitment to Community & Social Planning Toronto

REGISTER: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/community-services-day-tickets-13283887465

Contact: Mary Micallef at 416-351-0095 x251 or [email protected]

Download flyer here

Toronto the Good party, held annually by fellow architects, designers and artists each year, took place at the Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District on September 11 to bring together about 700 people to mingle with the Toronto mayoral candidates. Social Planning Toronto, along with other community organizations promoting civic engagement ahead of the October 27th municipal election, hosted a table and introduced participants and candidates to its work on civic engagement and community research. Fact sheets on important City services and flyers on most recent research projects by Social Planning Toronto were distributed to participants.

IMPORTANT - CHANGE OF VENUE:  Due to overwhelming demand, we have relocated this event to a larger venue.  The forum will take place at College Street United Church, 452 College Street (corner of College and Bathurst).

Join us on Tuesday, February 11 from 9:30 a.m. to noon for an SPT Research and Policy Forum - Social Impact Bonds: The Future of Non-Profit Funding?

Speakers:

Social Planning Toronto
2013 Frances Lankin
Community Services Award

 Social Planning Toronto is pleased to announce that the Frances Lankin Community Service Awards for 2013 will be presented to Rob Howarth, and posthumously to Colin Hughes and Charlotte Maher. 

 Rob Howarth

growing income gap and the missing middle in
Scarborough
community forum

Wednesday December 5
6:00pm – 9:00pm
University of Toronto –
Scarborough Campus
(1265 Military Trail)
Instructional Centre
Room: IC 230

Everywhere we look we see the encroachments on the hard work that we have done over the last decade to help improve community access to space. We are disturbed to hear new stories about fee increases and public buildings that are erecting barriers to access. At the same time we are inundated with concerns around violence, obesity rates and mental health.

How do we unite these conversations and get key decision-makers on board to protect and properly fund access to public space - so essential to the offering of community programming?

SPT and community partners are calling on Toronto City Council to save the City’s Hardship Fund – a program that offsets emergency medical costs for low income seniors, particularly senior women, and people with disabilities who have no access to provincial support.  At its September meeting, City Council narrowly voted down a motion to spare the Hardship Fund from elimination in the 2012/13 budget, with 22 Councillors voting in favour of saving the fund and 23 voting to consider eliminating it in the upcoming budget.  In 2010, the Hardship Fund cost the average property taxpayer just sixty cents on an annual property tax bill of about $2,400.

How did your Councillor vote?

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Dear Mayor Ford and Toronto City Council,

We urge Toronto City Council to safeguard the City's Hardship Fund - a fund that offsets medical costs for some of the poorest residents in Toronto. In the City's own words, the Hardship Fund "serves primarily poor seniors who face potentially life threatening situations if they cannot obtain needed medical items." The fund is particularly important for many senior women and people with disabilities who live in poverty and who, because of their age or source of income, do not have access to supports available through Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program.

Soundbites e-Bulletin
Thursday, July 21, 2011

Contents

1. Core Service Review Suggests Eliminating or Reducing Community Grants
2. July 29 SPT Research and Policy Forum
3. SPT Member Forum on Social Assistance Review
4. Worth Repeating: A Poverty Free Ontario
5. News from our Partners
6. Get Involved in Social Planning Toronto
7. About Social Planning Toronto

1. Core Service Review Suggests Eliminating or Reducing Community Grants

Housing Action Now
c/o 489 College Street, Suite 205, Toronto, Ontario M6R 2A3
Contact: Beth Wilson, 416-351-0095 x257, [email protected]
Deputation to the Community Development and Recreation Committee on the Core Service
Review - Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. My name is Beth Wilson. I am the
senior researcher from Social Planning Toronto, a nonprofit community organization that works
to advance social and economic justice issues through research, community development and
promotion of civic engagement. I am also the co-chair of Housing Action Now, a city-wide
network of residents and community groups working to advance the right to safe, decent and
affordable housing in Toronto. I am here today to speak on behalf of Housing Action Now.
HAN conducts public education and policy work to inform and engage community members
and policy-makers around vital housing issues affecting our neighbourhoods and communities.
Our network includes 40 individuals and organizations, including agencies such as Kensington
Bellwoods Community Legal Services, Social Planning Toronto, Children’s Aid Society of
Toronto, Tenants for Social Housing, Canadian Pensioners Concerned, and Federation of Metro
Tenants’ Associations.