TABLE OF CONTENT
- Chairman's Remarks
- Executive Director's Report
- Grants Approved In 1998
- Continuing Projects 1998
- Grant Summary 1998
ANNUAL ACTIVITY REPORTS
1998 Annual Report
CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS
In 1998, The Counselling Foundation of Canada provided 48 organizations with over $2.7 million in community investment grants to support innovation, enhancement and new approaches within our two primary areas of focus: Career Counselling and Practice, and Healthy Child Development.
Our community investment strategy remained primarily focussed in the Greater Toronto Area with 76% of grants. These included new programs and reinforcing our support for agencies such as Blake Boultbee Youth Outreach Services and Streetlight Support Services. Blake Boultbee Youth Outreach Services, located within a not-for-profit housing community in East Toronto, offers unstructured programs and services framed within a commitment to the provision of one on one counselling to young people who are unable to access these services elsewhere. Streetlight Support Services' success in supporting and encouraging young people living and making their living on the streets to exit this lifestyle is providing the catalyst and model for other Canadian cities and has been transferred as far afield as Hawaii.
Our largest 1998 investment was in the new Child Development Centre of the YMCA of Greater Toronto. A multi-year commitment of $1.5 million was to accelerate and enhance program development, and aid in staff development and training, with a goal to providing an integrated model of services to children and their families. Hopefully programs of this type can be replicated in other communities.
Provincial community investment grants accounted for 20% of total grants. These investments were made with an eye to building and strengthening the provincial infrastructure of programs and services available to Ontario children and their families. Support was provided to encourage the integration of Community Economic Development principles into the network of over 400 Family Resource Centres across the province of Ontario. Boundless Adventures was supported in its efforts to modify and adapt its very successful outdoor recreational programming to meet the needs of families at risk. With the referral assistance of Children's Mental Health Centres and Children's Aid Societies, over 150 families were able to participate in a pilot project aimed at strengthening the child/parent relationship.
Our national investments represented 4% of the grants provided in 1998. While proportionately representing a smaller dollar investment, the impact of these grants was significant in contributing to the national import given to Career Counselling and Career Development.
The 24th National Consultation on Career Development (Ottawa, January 1998), our largest national investment, provided almost 1600 career practitioners with three days of professional development and networking opportunities. These opportunities included the presentation of three programs and/or services developed with the support of The Counselling Foundation of Canada at the local investment level. In addition, "Peers As Mentors", a report on the efficacy of mentoring and study skills programs prepared by the Institute on Achievement and Motivation (York University) with the support of The Counselling Foundation of Canada was widely distributed and well-received at the national conference.
In addition to the latter efforts, our commitment to provide career development practitioners with access to professional development opportunities, practical resource tools and professional discourse continued in 1998 embodied in our on-going support to Contact Point; A Canadian Website for Career Practitioners. This unique technology based resource is utilized by several thousand career practitioners every week. Set apart from other websites by its focus on substantive content, career practitioners have benefited from timely access to information on youth employment issues, counselling foreign-trained professionals, learning disabilities, and using technology in the career counselling process.
The agencies, organization and individuals responsible for the development and implementation of the programs and services funded by The Counselling Foundation of Canada in 1998 are committed leaders. We thank them for their commitment and the privilege of partnering with them in their efforts.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Donald G. Lawson
