Ministry of Children and Youth Services
Ministry of Education
COMMUNITY INTEGRATION LEADERS
Expression of Interest Form
Community Name:
Leeds-Grenville
Best Start Network
Chair(s):
(include name, home
organization, email
and phone number)
Harold Hess, community member (retired principal)
[email protected] 1-613- 342-7079
Maxine Weber, South East Region Autism Program [Lanark
Community Programs] [email protected] 1-866-257-7618 x723
Best Start Coordinator
Margaret Fancy, [email protected] (613) 342-2917
Areas of interest:
(check all that apply)
Our project work will focus on the question:
WHAT IS THE BEST LEADERSHIP
STRUCTURE/SKILLS/CULTURE TO SUPPORT
SEAMLESS, INTEGRATED CARE FOR
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN A RURAL-DE
CENTRALIZED CONTEXT - USING CHILD AND
FAMILY CENTRES AS THE INCUBATOR OF
IDEAS
О
О
О
О
О
SEAMLESS SERVICE: minimizing or eliminating perceived
transitions between different service providers
INTER-PROFESSIONAL WORK CULTURE: developing
processes, tools and training plans to develop and instill an
inter-professional work culture across the child and family
services sector
RE-ENGINEERING EXISTING RESOURCES: exploring new
models of delivering services for children and families using
existing resources (e.g. facilities, staff, funding, etc)
GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY: developing structures
and mechanisms for community-based oversight, management
and monitoring of local services
ADMINISTRATION, MONITORING AND PUBLIC
ACCOUNTABILITY: evidence-based information and data
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2013/2014 Community Action Research
COMMUNITY INTEGRATION LEADERS
Expression of Interest Form
management
О EMBEDDING THE EARLY LEARNING FRAMEWORK AND
ONTARIO EARLY YEARS POLICY FRAMEWORK: examining
community integration approaches in the context of early years
frameworks.. BEST START CHILD AND FAMILY CENTRES
О SPECIAL POPULATIONS (may include Francophone, Aboriginal,
newcomer, low-income, etc) : enhancing and/or developing new
strategies for supporting children and families of special
populations. RURAL
Community Integration Leaders – Expression of Interest – continued
Question
Community Response
1. How would you describe your
community? (e.g. rural, urban, northern,
remote, Aboriginal, Francophone,
newcomer, low income etc.)
The largely rural (60% rural) Counties of Leeds and Grenville
have a population of 99,306 (2011 Census) with a geographic
area that covers 3 150 square kilometers. Local government
consists of thirteen municipalities with multiple small towns
and hamlets. The largest urban area is the City of Brockville
with a population of 21 957. There is a 1.8% Aboriginal
population (lower than Ontario average of 2%) and a 3.3%
Francophone population.
The median family income is $54,556 with about 7% of
families below the Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO) (Given that the
population is skewed to an aging demographic the median
salary does not reflect young families) The percentage of
people 15-24 without a High school Diploma is 47.2% (higher
than ON average of 39.9%), with the percentage of people
25+ with University Certificate Diploma or Degree 19.6%
(higher than ON average of 18.7%). The unemployment rate
is 4% (lower than Ontario average of 4.9%)
2. Briefly describe two examples that
indicate a high level of integration among
service providers in your community.
The long standing proven effective children's services planning
table (www.everykid.on.ca), Every Kid in our Communities
which provides a foundation for Best Start actions is the best
example of integration.
Two nationally recognized examples that highlight our work
include:
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1. Triple P Positive Parenting Program -- Triple P is a
multilevel evidence-based system of behavioural parent
training, using a population level public health approach to
improving parenting and reducing child behaviour problems.
Triple P is well established as a cross-agency integrated program
within the communities of Leeds and Grenville, administered and
coordinated by EKIOC. With support of donations, in-kind
contributions and the Community Capacity Building Fund of MCYS,
agency and community leaders have been able to build a critical
mass of agency staff trained to deliver services to families and
parents of children up to age 12. The decision makers who make
up the Lead Table of EKIOC provide the base funding and the
in-kind support required for action by the over half dozen
member organizations that make up the core of direct service
to parents and that form the Triple P Working Group which
plans and carries out the on-going implementation of Triple P.
The Leeds-Grenville Lanark Health Unit provides a .5
facilitator who coordinates the community plan for Triple P, as
well as administrative support for the program, a resource
library and cataloging services, media support and use of a 1800 number which parents call for information and triage.
Initial information provided by parents is passed on to the
referral agency.
Parents gain access to Triple P through multiple entry points.
Depending on the Level of support required, Triple P
resources/information are delivered where parents are: e.g. at
OEYC playgroups, schools, health centres, HBHC home
visits etc. A strong coordinated media campaign helps to
provide information, and “normalize” parenting support.
Triple P provides a common language for parenting support
and a shared accountability for its providers.
The Data Analysis Coordinator for Leeds-Grenville provides
assistance with common data collection and evaluation tools.
Between 2011 and 2013 in-kind support for Triple P by
member agencies (including training, program delivery, staff
time for meetings, resources, hospitality, space etc) was
calculated at $ 765, 156.
2. Transition to Kindergarten:
The West Leeds Transition to School project grew out of
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collaboration between special needs resource agencies and
school boards who met regularly to support successful
transition of children with special needs into full day
Kindergarten. In 2011 the partners identified (with the support
of school principals and Superintendents Donaleen Hawes,
CDSBEO and Susan Edwards UCDSB) three school
communities in the Gananoque area to participate in a pilot
project whose Mission was “To promote truly meaningful
inclusion of all children entering the school system through
strong parent engagement practices.” The steering
committee for the project included school principals and
system leaders from The Catholic District School Board of
Eastern Ontario(Tom Jordan, JP Elliott) and the Upper
Canada District School Board (Janice Deacon, Mike
Kennedy, Pam Little, Harold Hess); Developmental Services;
Leeds-Grenville Lanark District Health Unit; Ontario Early
Years Centre (early literacy specialist and data analysis
coordinator); Infant and Child Development Program, the
Child Development Centre at Hotel Dieu and the Best
Start/EKIOC community coordinator.
The work of the pilot was done through the actions of four
committees:
Pathway to Kindergarten -- The long term aim of this group
was to create coordinated and consistent messages from
school boards and community partners around the
importance of registering children for school, and the
importance of family involvement and partnership in the
child’s education. The committee created a common parent
information package for the three schools which incorporated
WTK resources and was distributed at Kindergarten
registration in 2012.
Enhanced Kindergarten Registration -Schools and community agencies worked together on the
Kindergarten registration process, with a focus on services
available to families and parent engagement. Community
agency representatives attended Kindergarten registrations
and were able to speak to all the supports/services available
to children and families in the community.
Step into Kindergarten Summer Session
One week summer programs for children transitioning into
Kindergarten were held in August 2011 and 2012 at all 3
school sites with parent engagement a primary focus. The
week began with a parent session in each school which was
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facilitated by the school principal, Kindergarten
teachers/ECEs and community agency partners. Parents
learned more about how they can support successful
transition to school and community resources available to
them. An ECE delivered a week long play-based program for
children which parents were encouraged to attend. Each
student received a fine motor screen completed by an
Occupational Therapist from the CDC with suggestions for
“next steps’. Community partners were available for
conversation and consultation.
Evaluation –This group developed a measure for
determining success of the team’s work which included
parent and staff questionnaires. Teachers and parents
indicated that they are now more aware of resources
available in the community and more comfortable in seeking
them out. Parents also indicated that they are more confident
about their roles as partners in their child’s education. The
evaluation data was shared with both school boards.
Key Learnings and Next Steps -- The chair of the West
Leeds Transition to School Project (Margaret van Beers CTC
Hotel Dieu) and the Best Start/EKIOC community coordinator
met with the early years leaders from the two English school
boards and the chairs of the three other Best Start Networks
in the boards’ catchment areas to identify some next steps
that could be applied Board wide.
As a year one plan it was determined that all elementary
schools would hold a Welcome to Kindergarten event using
resources from the Learning Partnership
(www.thelearningpartnership.ca) and that a community
partner representing the Best Start Network would attend
each event with information and resources for parents. The
goals for year 1 have been achieved and data collected to
inform planning. A Welcome to Kindergarten committee that
includes representatives from the four Best Start Networks,
two school boards(principals Mike Kennedy and Nancy Prest)
and OEYCs. The committee will continue to plan for
successful transitions to school through consistent meaningful
parent engagement practices and common language, and a
shared community responsibility.
The transition to school project highlighted the importance of
recognizing that awareness, planning and delivery of service
need to reach beyond the boundaries of our counties to better
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serve our families. Many agencies are tri-county (LeedsGrenville and Lanark). School boards extend across a
number of regions. As a planning table we are deliberate
about including other regions in our integrated planning.
The Checkered Flags resource document which was funded
through SSLI cluster 17 provides another example of crossagency, cross community integrated planning. Lead by
Superintendents Donaleen Hawes and Susan Edwards,
the members of Every Kid were instrumental in facilitating
content creation by experts across a four county area and are
currently updating and putting this widely used resource on
line
http://everykid.on.ca/members/partner-networks/studentsupport-leadership/
3. Briefly describe one example that
demonstrates a high level of leadership
and/or organizational capacity in your
community.
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Leadership and organizational capacity are demonstrated
through the work of the Every Kid in our Communities
(EKIOC) coalition. The coalition was formed in 2003 and has
acted as the MCYS Children’s Planning Table for LeedsGrenville since 2007. MCYS funds a community coordinator
who supports planning, leadership and collective action for
the planning table and directly supports the Best Start
Network. Membership in the coalition consists of over 40
organizations representing Boards of education, service
sectors, NGOs, recreation, libraries, justice, municipal
government, funders, business, childcare, health, and other
coalitions (e.g. Healthy Communities Partnership) along with
some highly skilled volunteers. Lesley Benderavage, MCYS,
sits at the Lead Table and Best Start with Rachelle Blanchette
MinEDU, sitting at Best Start. Members come together under
the framework of Developmental Assets (www.searchinstitute.org). A current membership list can be found at
http://everykid.on.ca/about-us/our-members/.
EKIOC is the integrating and unifying structure for data
driven actions to support children, youth and families. EKIOC
facilitates initiatives that support its mission and goals,
provide links to other coalitions and seeks to focus resources
on evidence-based programs that address issues identified
by data. The “empty chair” policy of Every Kid welcomes new
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members and provides them with orientation through a
mentor. Executive directors and senior managers meet
monthly as a “Lead Table” to plan, coordinate and advocate
for collective action. Workgroups have been formed to carry
out actions identified. (A complete list of current workgroups
can be found at www.everykid.on.ca). The ongoing high
attendance at meetings is a testament to EKIOC’s relevance
to members. A governance document has been developed to
define roles, responsibilities and accountability.
http://everykid.on.ca/members/governance/
With the support of two innovation grants from MCYS, one
which provided training and mentorship related to Service
Coordination Guidelines and the second,( with Lanark
County) which explored the use of Social Media to reach
rural families, EKIOC has been working to develop common
practice/language and support around family-centred practice
and parent engagement.
The Criminal Court Community Fund provides an example of
a high level of organizational capacity. EKIOC was
approached by Leeds-Grenville provincial court judge Justice
Charles Anderson to administer the fund which is provided
through court diversions and is responsible for funding
“collaborative community responses that address the root
causes of youth crime”. A governance and accountability
structure have been established and processes set up to
strengthen community planning and collective action.
Best Start and the broader planning table have identified
“increased collaboration with school boards” as a key priority.
Representatives from the two English School boards are now
active participants at the Lead Table and Best Start Network
as well as a number of workgroups. Board staff increasingly
work together to engage in collective action on agreed upon
goals.
Through a project funded by the Centre of Excellence for
Children’s Mental Health, key components for effective
leadership for service integration have been identified. These
are shared with all members and form the basis for ongoing
leadership development activities.
The Every Kid website www.everykid.on.ca provides a more
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complete picture of its leadership and organizational capacity
4. Briefly describe the governance and
accountability processes that will be
used to ensure successful completion of
the project.
The Every Kid in our Communities coalition provides a formal
structure for partners working together to complete the
project.
An Advisory committee composed of at least one each of the
EKIOC and Best Start co-chairs, a representative of each
school board, the community coordinator, and two other Best
Start Network members will guide the actions of the project.
The advisory committee, with the input of community partners
will oversee the work and provide ongoing direction and
evaluation for the project. A work plan outlining specific
activities, timelines and evaluation strategies will be
developed and reported at regular monthly meetings of the
two Best Start Networks and planning tables.
Other
A Memorandum of Understanding will be signed by member
agencies, including the 3 school boards, and the municipal
leaders of childcare, indicating support and engagement in
the identified project, and intent to use experience with the
project to advance integration across service sectors
5. Funding for the Community Integration
Leaders project will be flowed to one
organization. Which organization would
receive the project funding and how will
funding decisions be made?
Family and Children’s Services of Lanark, Leeds and
Grenville will receive the project funding.
Funding recommendations will be tied to the workplan and
will be made by an Advisory Committee (see #4) with final
approval by Every Kid In Our Communities (EKIOC) Lead
Table in consultation with Best Start.
6. Successful communities must submit a
series of reports that document the work
in the community for the duration of the
project. Describe at least two potential
research resources available to support
your project (e.g. resources within
partner organizations, linkages with
academics institutions, resources
available through procurement)
We have identified four potential research resources to
support this project: The Data Analysis Coordinator Jessica
who is proficient in data collection and the development of
surveys and evaluation tools; the Leeds- Grenville Lanark
Health Unit, with proficiency in research, data collection and
evaluation; the Centre of Excellence for Children’s Mental
Health, experts in policy development and research, and the
Upper Canada District School Board who has offered support
of its data department.
We will invite these individuals and organizations to sit on the
advisory committee as resources to the project, and we plan
to hire a consultant/researcher to lead the work.
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