Projects, Publications and Resources

WoodGreen Community Services is excited to announce the release of our new report, Improving Opportunities & Outcomes for Toronto’s Older Job Seekers, which details the success and outcomes of our new program, the Ontario Worker’s Initiative (OWI). Sponsored by the Toronto Employment & Social Services (TESS), and informed by research funded through the Ontario Human Capital and Innovation Fund (OHCRIF), the OWI tested the impacts of customized training and employer support on the labour market outcomes of older jobseekers. This report aims to illustrate the urgent response required to address the growing gap that exists in the labour market for older workers.

WoodGreen, CMHC, PARTISANS and Process have partnered to develop a deeper understanding of the complex needs of youth transitioning out of the foster care system to put forth new solutions to support youth to thrive. Adopting a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research to explore potential solutions in social programming, architecture, and design, the culminating Roadmap Report provides a path forward for innovative approaches to innovative short, medium and long-term housing models to support youth transitioning out of care.

The Executive Summary of WoodGreen’s Roadmap Report, which provides a path forward for innovative approaches to innovative short, medium and long-term housing models to support youth transitioning out of care.

WoodGreen, CMHC, PARTISANS and Process have partnered to develop a deeper understanding of the complex needs of youth transitioning out of the foster care system to put forth new solutions to support youth to thrive. Adopting a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research to explore potential solutions in social programming, architecture, and design, the information gathered will be documented and disseminated via a digital Design Brief and an eventual, culminating Roadmap Report.

This report provides a synthesis of key literature findings, as well as specific feedback from the project’s stakeholder engagement activities. The report also provides key recommendations to inform policy and service delivery aimed at improving outcomes for youth leaving care.

The Homeward Bound Program’s Five Year Retrospective Evaluation Report is the result of extensive collaboration among individuals and organizations that have contributed in numerous ways to support this evaluation and the Homeward Bound program. This report is the first of two that examine the extent to which the Homeward Bound program reduces poverty for single mothers in Ontario. The findings of this project are contributing to a body of evidence that highlights programming that is improving the socioeconomic outcomes for Ontarians living in poverty.

In wrapping up the Renewing Commercial Districts project, funded by Metcalf Foundation, WoodGreen convened a group of researchers, urban planners, and community development staff to look at another area of the Danforth East. They mapped the historical shifts that have occurred in and around the neighbourhood, looked to other jurisdictions for models to support small businesses, and suggested further possible policy and program adaptions.

Extending Our Reach summarizes the findings of a feasibility study that investigated how WoodGreen’s Financial Empowerment (FE) program can effectively use technology to reach community members who are immobile, isolated or otherwise facing barriers. Extending the reach of our Financial Empowerment program provides much-needed services in our community. WoodGreen will coordinate our FE services with other supports in the community to improve the financial stability of lower-income Ontarians. This Feasibility Study was generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Commissioned by the Ontario Association of School Board Officials, Community Use of Schools Committee, WoodGreen interviewed staff and community members across the province’s 72 school boards to identify ways community and schools can partner. The project builds on WoodGreen’s commitments to innovative approaches, wraparound service, a commitment to a place where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

On May 1, 2014, through Community Assets For Everyone advocacy campaign and a grant from the Heart & Stroke Foundation, WoodGreen supported one hundred key decision-makers from around the province to a symposium to look at how school hubs might roll out as a system priority. Participants demonstrated a high degree of good will and consensus that this idea should be more than the work of local heroes.

At the symposium, we agreed that to move forward, we need:

Key Recommendations

• A citizen-focused vision of service delivery
• Provincial leadership and collaboration from the various government partners
• A cohesive legislative framework and mandate to foster co-location and coordination
• Appropriate structures, policies, incentives and resources to sustain the approach and people who will make this work
• Flexibility to support and enable community driven solutions
• Start with co-location and build towards integration

Much that is exciting and promising has happened since then, including:

• A Provincial election (sparked that day!)
• Municipal and school board elections across the province
• Mandate Letter from the Premier to the Minister of Education on the priority of developing a Community Hubs policy
• The appointment of a Special Advisor to the Premier on Community Hubs, CAFÉ member Karen Pitre
• Authorship of an appendix in the August 2015 provincial framework on the case for community hubs
• A one-year progress update on the provincial action plan.

Community hubs are getting a lot of attention across the province of Ontario now. In this paper, one of WoodGreen’s research interns explored how social networks are strengthened through the community hub model of service delivery.

A report on community connections and how older adults fared in East York.

Produced through the former Toronto East Local Immigration Partnership, this report examines the household economics of three immigrant communities. The findings show persistent labour market exclusion, sub-standard employment practices and widespread participation in the informal economy as a means of coping with high levels of poverty in the city’s east-end neighbourhoods.

A Visual Representation of Professional Networks within Toronto East Local Immigration Partnership.

Bed Bugs Are Back: Are we ready? is a research report that brings together our local Toronto experience and current worldwide knowledge and understanding of bed bugs. The ultimate goal of Bed Bugs Are Back: Are We Ready? is to inform and shape public policy, government responses, and community strategies aimed at implementing effective bed bug interventions that prevent uncontrolled outbreaks.

This information guide has been written for tenants, landlords, community groups, and anyone looking for simple and straightforward information about bedbugs.

A guide to Preventing, treating and Coping with bed bugs.