Native Child & Family Services of Toronto Recognition of OTF Funding

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                     

TORONTO, ON – On Thursday, local MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam met with Native Child and Family Services of Toronto to recognize funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, a $663,200 GROW grant and $100,100 Resilient Communities Fund grant. The grants have allowed for the second and final year of Native Child and Family Services of Toronto’s After Hours Mental Health and Crisis Support Telephone Service (After Hours Help Line) to run as a safe response to meet urgent community needs through immediate telephone access.

“I am immensely proud to congratulate Native Child and Family Services of Toronto on their funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The After Hours Mental Health and Crisis Support Telephone Service has emerged as a lifeline for residents facing urgent mental health challenges. The invaluable support provided through immediate telephone access, a full Outreach Worker, and Case Manage has undoubtedly impacted the lives of countless Indigenous youth and families. I applaud the Ontario Trillium Foundation for their astute vision in recognizing the importance of this initiative and providing support,” said MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam.

Native Child and Family Services of Toronto continues to support the community members with their full suite of in-house social services, including access to Indigenous healing, housing support, a wide array of mental health and addictions services, family/domestic/intimate partner violence support programs, and anti-human trafficking programs.

Three years of funding provided by the OTF GROW grant has allowed for Native Child and Family Services of Toronto’s Bekaadendang (Being Peaceful) Program to scale up the prevention component of our culturally-informed anti-human trafficking model to strengthen urban Indigenous youths’ social and emotional skills to prevent human trafficking.

The grant allowed for the hiring of a full time Outreach Worker, a full-time Case Manager and training peer mentors, an Elder, and a person with lived experience to deliver skills-building workshops to high-risk Aboriginal youth in Toronto. The workshops enhanced the participants’ resilience by equipping them with the skills and tools to make informed decisions. The Outreach Worker grew the program’s capacity-building efforts by offering trainings to community partners and schools, reaching additional Indigenous youth across Toronto.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations celebrates 40 years of grant-making in Ontario and making a lasting impact in communities. Last year, OTF invested over $110M into 1,022 community projects and partnerships, which included funding for the Government of Ontario’s Community Building Fund. Visit otf.ca to learn more.

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For more information contact:

Freida Gladue
Manager of Communications
Native Child and Family Services of Toronto
437-244-2816
[email protected]