a social investor in the heart of our comm nities

Transcription

1 Centraide of Greater Montreal a social investor in the heart of our comm nities Centraide supports the dynamism of the communities of Greater Montreal (Laval, and South Shore), especially where poverty is a concern, and helps them to achieve a collective impact in improving living conditions and reducing poverty.

2 A strategic and proactive social investor Strategic As a social investor, Centraide Focuses on the potential of people, agencies and communities Believes in their capacity to bring about positive changes Strives to produce a leverage effect in order to increase the capacity of community resources Maintains a thorough knowledge of community needs and bases its investment choices on a comprehensive analysis of the situation Strives to maximize the added value of its financial support for community development Invests where its contribution will have the greatest positive impact in accordance with its priorities Builds close ties, dialogue and a relationship of trust with the agencies and communities Proactive Works with local communities to target effective approaches and initiatives Initiates activities that promote favourable conditions for social development Goal: Exert a positive effect on Developing the full potential of children and youth who encounter various obstacles on the path to adulthood Improving the living conditions and engaging families and individuals whose lives are fraught with difficulties Building communities that face major social issues

3 Centraide supports a wide range of community agencies That work to: Develop the full potential of children and youth e.g.: by supporting preschoolers, strengthening parenting skills, promoting academic perseverance and social integration of at-risk youth, as well as helping immigrant families Improve living conditions e.g.: by promoting food security, assisting with household budgeting, and doing rights advocacy Promote social participation, especially among the most vulnerable such as seniors and people with disabilities or mental health problems e.g.: by offering individual support, self-help networks and continuing education programs That implement strategies enabling people to: Be reached proactively and welcomed inclusively Be considered holistically in terms of their overall situation Develop their abilities, potential and own solutions Improve their situation in a lasting manner, insofar as possible That contribute to the social progress of their community by: Actively participating in defining a collective vision for social development Helping to find and implement solutions by and for the community Types of funding provided to community agencies: Core funding to enable agencies to operate and fulfill their mission Program funding for intervention programs established by agencies within the framework of their mission Centraide supports community building by empowering communities to: Develop an overview of community needs and resources Include a diversity of social actors from different sectors and fields of intervention Achieve a collective impact based on a shared vision and an integrated action plan Implement unifying collective actions and projects Increase citizen participation Types of funding provided for community building: Funding for the coordination of intersectoral and multidisciplinary round tables on social development (in Montreal, this support is provided in partnership with the City of Montreal and the Public Health Department under the Montreal initiative to support local social development) Grants for steps in the community building process and joint projects involving several social actors (short or medium term grants) Centraide promotes capacity and leadership building The agencies and communities supported by Centraide have access to various training, coaching and knowledge sharing programs focused on: Local community building Capacity building at the agencies (e.g.: improving evaluation practices, leadership and governance) Poverty-fighting strategies (e.g.: mobilizing social actors around issues associated with inclusion and ethnocultural diversity) Types of funding provided for capacity and leadership building: Grants for training and coaching programs offered by recognized training agencies One-off grants for training and coaching programs tailored exclusively for Centraide supported agencies and developed in partnership with training agencies One-off grants to support capacity building at the agencies

4 A community may be defined as a group of people living in a given territory and sharing common interests throughout this territory.* In the territory served by Centraide of Greater Montreal, a community may be the residents of a neighbourhood, a borough, a small municipality or a regional county municipality (RCM). A community s capacity to promote its collective well-being increases greatly when its social actors and citizens mobilize to positively transform their living environment. Usually, they do this by giving themselves a collective tool in the form of a neighbourhood round table that brings together diverse stakeholders. The members of the round table work together to develop an overview of the community s situation and agree on the priority changes to be pursued. In this way they are able to support community building efforts more effectively, and better target and coordinate activities, so as to produce a greater impact. The mobilized social actors in a community can include: Community agencies Citizens Borough/municipality Health and social services centre Elementary and high schools Local employment centre Community Economic Development Corporation/Local Development Centre Early childhood centre Éco-quartier Neighbourhood police station *Conseil de la santé et du bien-être, 00, L appropriation par les communautés de leur développement, CSBE:

5 Mode of operation Three-year evaluation and funding cycle Centraide has staggered the analysis of communities, and the evaluation of agencies and neighbourhood round tables, over a three-year cycle. It provides three-year funding, and reviews each grant when its term expires. This means that every three years, in rotation, Centraide updates its analysis of a certain number of communities. It then re-evaluates the compliance with criteria, as well as the activities, of all the agencies and neighbourhood round tables in those communities. See the back cover for a map of the Greater Montreal region indicating the year in which the different geographical areas are scheduled for analysis according to Centraide s three-year cycle. N.B.: Centraide s allocation criteria are available on its website. Territorial decision-making structure Centraide has adopted a decision-making structure that is consistent with its territorial approach: Volunteer allocation committees Each allocation committee is responsible for making funding recommendations in a certain number of communities during a given year. The allocation volunteers are divided into five committees: three () territorial committees, one () committee responsible for agencies with a regional scope, and one () responsible for community capacity and leadership building. By involving volunteers in the evaluation of agencies and projects, and in its investment decisions, Centraide ensures that a citizen point of view is brought to the funding allocation process while at the same time strengthening its deep roots in the Greater Montreal community. Centraide s allocations officers The allocations and social analysis officers work mainly in territorial teams. They are responsible for conducting territorial analyses, maintaining relations with the communities and agencies, coordinating the volunteer committees, evaluating agencies and projects, and providing the volunteer committees with the information they need. Basis for decisions Investment decisions are made taking into account the territorial analyses, the compliance of agencies and neighbourhood round tables with Centraide s allocation criteria, Centraide s investment priorities, the availability of funds (which in turn depends on the result of the last annual campaign), and the strategies developed to support the development of each community. The amounts allocated in each territory are not predetermined they are established based on a consideration of all these factors. Centraide is an independent philanthropic organization dedicated to serving its community, in which it is deeply rooted. It relies for its operation on the involvement of volunteers in its annual fundraising campaign, in the allocation of funds and on its board of directors. Mission To maximize financial and volunteer resources so that Centraide, particularly by funding community agencies and working in partnership with them, can promote caring and social involvement in order to improve the quality of life in our community and empower its most vulnerable members to take charge of their lives.

6 A comprehensive territorial approach to better support communities Community building is at the heart of Centraide s work Centraide s conviction is that the communities themselves are in the best position to understand their own reality and to develop the most suitable means of improving individual and collective living conditions. Centraide therefore bases its decision-making on a territorial approach: Its Allocations and Social Analysis Department studies the situation of each community, on the basis of available data and on-site meetings with local stakeholders; It considers the state of local community building and the capacity of local actors to act collectively; It assesses local agencies in terms of their role in addressing the social issues of their community; It adopts a specific strategy and diversified approaches for supporting each community according to its specific situation. The territorial analyses of all Greater Montreal communities are available on Centraide s website at

7 Territories - Year South Shore, Montreal (North-End, Centre-East) Territories - Year Laval, Montreal (Centre-West, South-West) Territories - Year Evaluation in 0-0, 0-07 and Evaluation in 0-0, and Evaluation in 0-0, and Montreal (Centre-North, East-End, West Island) Centre-East Plateau-Mont-Royal Centre-Sud Downtown Centre-West Côte-des-Neiges/Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Mount Royal Côte-Saint-Luc/Hampstead/Montreal West Outremont Westmount Centre-North Saint-Michel Villeray Parc-Extension Rosemont La Petite-Patrie South-West Verdun Pointe-Saint-Charles Ville Émard/Côte-Saint-Paul La Petite-Bourgogne Saint-Henri East-End Anjou Saint-Léonard Mercier-Est Mercier-Ouest Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Montréal-Est Rivière-des-Prairies Pointe-aux-Trembles North-End Ahuntsic Bordeaux-Cartierville Saint-Laurent Montréal-Nord South Shore Marguerite-D Youville RCM Urban agglomeration of Longueuil La Vallée-du-Richelieu RCM* Roussillon RCM Les Jardins-de-Napierville RCM* Le Haut-Richelieu RCM Laval *Centraide of Greater Montreal serves a portion of this RCM. Laval Laval-Ouest/Sainte-Dorothée/Laval-sur-le-Lac Fabreville/Sainte-Rose Chomedey Laval-des-Rapides/Pont-Viau Vimont/Auteuil Duvernay/Saint-Vincent-de-Paul/Saint-François West Island LaSalle Lachine Dorval Dollard-Des Ormeaux Pointe-Claire Roxboro Pierrefonds Sainte-Geneviève Kirkland L Île-Bizard Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Beaconsfield Baie-D Urfé Senneville 9 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal, Quebec HA B Tel.: South Shore P90-