Message from the chair & president of WoodGreen
This year has been a remarkable time of growth and change at WoodGreen, and we are thrilled to be helping lead the organization down this exciting new path.
In early 2019, the senior WoodGreen team together with our colleagues from Providence Healthcare, Michael Garron Hospital, South Riverdale Community Health Centre, VHA Home Healthcare, and Dr. Nicole Nitti, welcomed Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Christine Elliott, to our 815 Danforth Avenue office to learn about our collaborative work as part of the East Toronto Health Partners (ETHP). This is a new model of integrated care that delivers a comprehensive basket of health and social services, tailored to meet changing local needs at the community level, and we believe it will play an integral role in delivering health care in Ontario.
In fact, we have been working collaboratively with health service providers in East Toronto for more than twenty years, and two years ago, long before the plan for Ontario Health Teams (OHT) was announced, these organizations, with the support of the Toronto Central LHIN, came together to develop a more formal partnership. This partnership is being built on a legacy of trust and is based on our track record of building ‘made in East Toronto’ solutions together for over 20 years. We are looking forward to jointly meeting the health needs of our communities through the ETHP’s formal application to become an Ontario Health Team.
We were honoured to be joined by Julie Dabrusin, Member of Parliament for Toronto — Danforth, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and the Minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), to announce that WoodGreen had received a federal government financial commitment of over $7.9 million for the construction of 35 units of affordable housing for low income seniors at our 1117 Gerrard Street East location.
Thanks to this commitment by the National Housing Co-Investment Fund, a pillar initiative of the National Housing Strategy (NHS), and to the investments of other partners, notably the City of Toronto, this project by WoodGreen will help alleviate the immense need for affordable housing in Toronto.
With more than 40 years of experience building, owning and operating affordable housing, WoodGreen is well positioned to add this housing site to our current stock of 12 buildings, housing more than 1000 tenants across Toronto’s East End.
After decades serving young people in Toronto through many different programs, the WoodGreen Team formalized a new, innovative strategy designed to serve young people in Toronto. After an in-depth co-design effort that brought the strong voices of young people to the planning table, WoodGreen opened a brand new Youth Wellness Centre (YWC) at our head office on Danforth Avenue. The YWC provides youth in the community with one-stop access to low-barrier wellness and wraparound services, such as mental health support, employment resources and primary care. Together with our partners East Metro Youth Services and Michael Garron Hospital, WoodGreen looks forward to meeting the unique needs of young people in Toronto!
It has been an extraordinary year at WoodGreen, and we would like to acknowledge our fantastic team of hard working staff and volunteers who have risen to meet the challenges we face as we work together to be Difference Makers for 37,000 people in Toronto!
Lara Shohet, Chair
WoodGreen Community Services
Anne Babcock, President & CEO
WoodGreen Community Services
