ANNUAL REPORT
2012
Centre for Spanish Speaking People
Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples
Centro para gente de Habla Hispana
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About the Centre
The Centre for Spanish-Speaking Peoples is a non-profit, charitable organization serving new
immigrants from 22 Spanish-speaking countries as well as members of other communities.
Since 1973, we have been serving the needs of these groups by offering a variety of services
designed to overcome barriers based on language, race, age, sex and sexual orientation
among others. The Centre promotes equality and social justice through community development and participation in and representation of the whole community. Being situated
strategically in between various high needs neighbourhoods, we are effectively able to
serve many people from diverse backgrounds and with a multitude of needs.
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Message from our
Board of Directors
It is an honour to be able to address you as the President of the Board. This year we have witnessed many challenges impacting society in general. Specifically, the difficult economic
climate that has resulted in deep budget cuts, reduction in services, labour strife and layoffs across all sectors,
hitting especially hard the not-for-profit sector. In the midst of these challenges, the center has persevered and held
steadfast in its conviction and dedication to the community and its clients. This has allowed the center to undergo
a tremendous transformation in terms of its programs, services and financial responsibilities. Much of this success
can be attributed to the hard work of staff, volunteers and board members. Collectively, through hard work we
have managed to transform the center from one of historical systematic challenges to a stable organization that
represents a valuable case study for other organizations in the sector. In the words of one of our biggest funders,
CSSP represents a valuable case study of an organization that 5 years ago was in a very bad situation and through
a lot of work, and key changes it has become a very stable organization. Another important achievement during the fiscal year 2011-2012 was the signing of a new collective agreement
between the center and the union covering the next 3 years. Negotiations were held in good faith balancing the
needs of employees and that of the center, resulting in a win-win agreement for everyone. This has contributed to
a strong tripartite relationship between management, board and staff, fostering an environment of mutual respect
and trust.
The center has also undertaken to revitalize itself and its programs,
becoming a reference point in terms of its programs and delivery
of services to the community.
As some might recall, the financial situation of the center has
been an area of much needed improvement in the last couple
of years. The board, in conjunction with management and the
support of staff, has made a commitment to improve the centers
finances. By being very creative and efficient, management has
succeeded in securing funding from diverse sources, reduced
operational costs while maintaining our high level of services.
I am delighted to be able to share that this year the center has
eliminated its deficit which last year stood at $43,000, and is now
forecasting a balanced budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year. This
is a tremendous achievement considering the difficult economic
climate in which the center currently operates.
In spite of this reality, we look forward to the future with optimism,
stability and a renewed sense of commitment to our community
and clients. I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of
you for your support and commitment to the center over this
past year.
Collectively, through hard work
we have managed to transform
the center from one of historical
systematic challenges to a stable
organization that represents
a valuable case study for other
organizations in the sector
Raul Burbano,
Acting President
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HIV/ AIDS Prevention
Program
on the participation of a group of amazing and
dedicated volunteers. Our scope included more
than 25 volunteers who participated in over 180
hours of training, workshops, community participation and research, conducting education while
providing tens of thousands of condoms and
supplies, outreach in bars, bath houses, Latin Party
at Spa Excess and street festivals such as AIDS Walk,
Scotiabank Marathon and PRIDE.
This has been a very productive year in the HIV
Prevention Program in terms of participation,
activity and expansion in all our interventions.
Our Counseling Services began to see clients on
a full-time basis and served more than 500 clients
in the last year. Our Advisor on HIV / AIDS and
Mental Health, Bilbao-Joseph Celeste returned
from maternity leave to return to providing
excellent service to our customers. We are also
grateful for the community service provided by
his replacement, Randall Gutierrez.
We continue with counseling services we have
always provided: Individual psychotherapy, psychoeducation workshops in different organizations
GTA, Crisis Counseling, Psychological support in pre
and post HIV test counseling sessions for people
“affected” by HIV ( family, friends, couples). This
year also started to provide counseling service to
LGBTQ couples with great success as there was a
great need for the community.
Our project ‘Mano en Mano’ Project came to an
end, but has now become “Chicos Net”, applying
the same principles of intervention to develop
the advocacy and leadership skills of participants.
Participants now enjoy and learn by doing radio
shows, modeling photo-voice, video and radio
drama.
This project, like our Outreach program is based
With the participation of twelve members of the community
we produced the first prevention Calendar for 2012 titled
“365 days of prevention”, uniting knowledge and safe sex
practices. Coordinated by Rene Lopez, the caledar proved
to be very successful.
Our staff has also been very active in working with the
community and academic partnerships for research,
including participation in conferences CAMH, CAHR, OHTN,
REACH OTHN and participation in 10 projects, communitybased research with universities and institutions such as
the University of Windsor, University of Toronto, Ryerson
University, McMaster University, Queen’s University, OHTN,
Hassle Free Clinic and others.
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Legal Clinic Services
2012 has been an eventful and challenging year for the legal
clinic.
There have been a number of changes to immigration law,
changes that affect our clients and the members of our
community. These changes have affected refugee law,
sponsorship and the government has made changes that
affect those who are not yet citizens. As a result immigration
has been a priority this year. As a result the clinic has offered
numerous workshops on sponsorship and citizenship. In
addition we have been providing information sessions on the
radio for immigration law and workers’ rights. Our objective
is to produce a video on the new refugee system that could
be viewed online so hopefully people in Central and South
America will have some information before attempting to
come to Canada as refugees.
We continue to work with students. We have provided
internships for several paralegal students. The students must
spend 120 hours in a law office as part of their education.
This has worked well for the students and for
the clinic. In addition we have 12 students from
Osgoode Hall Law School who are members of
HOLA – Hispanic Osgoode Law Association. These
students work in the clinic as volunteers for one
half day per week. The youth and enthusiasm
of all our students bring energy and excitement
into the office and provide a great deal of help
with advice and research.
The clinic continues to grow as we develop
innovative and effective ways to deliver services
to our community.
Our special thanks to all the volunteers who work
with the clinic. Their commitment and generosity make a big difference in our work and the
programs we can offer.
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Settlement Program
The settlement program helps newcomers to
settle into their lives in the Greater Toronto
Area and vicinity by providing a range of
free services aimed at supporting them to
live independently and develop a sense of
belonging within our Canadian Community.
During the fiscal year over 5,600 clients
received one-on one multiply services and we
responded to more than 29,700 calls related
to settlement matters. The majority of clients
that were served during this period were
from: Central, South America, the Caribbean
as well as other parts of the world such as:
India, Pakistan, Italy, Poland, Greece, Ghana
and Canadian citizens.
Our counselors provided services to clients on
the following topics: information regarding
Community and Government services, completion
of different government applications, referrals,
contacting and advocacy with Social Assistance
and Health Care, Employment and job search
resources, Education and Professional Accreditation, ESL classes, Affidavits and certified copies of
original documents and many more issues related
to settlement in Canada.
The Settlement Program conducted several
important information sessions to our clients
such as; the new regulation changes that the
federal government made by Citizenship and
Immigration, Ontario Health System, taking control of your
finances. We also served approximately over 250 clients at
the income tax clinic.
This year once again we had our annual Christmas party
for over 120 low-income families and their children who
received Christmas toys donated by the CHUM Christmas
Wish foundation and financial support to carry out this party.
At the same time we would like to thank the legal clinic of the
CSSP who kindly donated money for the Christmas children
party. The settlement Program would like to recognize
and thank all the staff, of the CSSP volunteers and student
placements for their hard work to make this
party happened.
5600 clients received
one-on one services and
we responded to more than
29,700 calls
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Volunteer Program
The Volunteer Program continues to grow
strong with the help from our volunteers.
The program offers newcomers and other
opportunities to gain skills, help the community and also meet other people. In addition,
we are able to offer volunteers recognized
volunteer hours for social assistance, courtmandated volunteering as well as community
hours for high school students.
Our volunteers assist our programs to meet
their goals, gain work experience within
Canada and for an opportunity to engage
and connect with the community. When we
are not able to find a volunteer opportunity
within CSSP for candidates we assist them
in finding a volunteer placement within
other organizations.
We continue to offer English as a Second Language classes at
both our locations which are taught by volunteer teachers.
While these classes do not provide any recognized certificates,
they do provide a much needed space for those who are in
need of learning or practicing English.
We continue to provide yoga class to our clients and staff
members on a weekly basis.
Our volunteer interpreter’s continues to be a high demand
within our community, assisting clients with translation
services for appointments and in certain cases documents
which cannot be translated by some of our other
services.
Our seniors knitting group, which is lead by
volunteers has continued to grow and be a place
to socialize and learn new knitting techniques
for Latin American and Hispanic women. We are
grateful for the presence of this vibrant group of
volunteers at most of our events and activities.
In addition, our Satellite office located at 40
Wellesley St has continued accept volunteers
who participate in outreach and education
around sexual health among other activities.
All told, we had over 120 volunteers assisting
our programs and activities throughout
the last year.
We would like to extend a special thank you
to all these wonderful volunteers that have
dedicated there time to CSSP and for the
smiles you bring to clients and staff.
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Womens Program
participating with other organizations,
advisory committees, providing lectures,
workshops, and institutional collaborations.
From these lines we salute all women as
users, volunteers, students or workers have
allowed our women’s program to develop
and stay committed to the eradication of
violence against women in all its aspects.
During the year, we provided services to
over 330 women and 30 children in crisis.
In meeting its objectives in this
year, the women’s program
provided free support to women
and their families in the area of​​
violence against women. The
program offers an integrated
service to give a comprehensive and immediate response
to the demands of women and
children, ensuring quality and
confidentiality.
The program has three areas of
work: 1 - immediate, short-term
counseling and help to provide
women with information about their rights and
equal opportunities; 2 - Support and guidance on
legal, psychological and social resources to allow
the full integration of women in healthy social
life, overcoming inequalities and discrimination;
and 3 - counselling based on a model of cognitive
change (self therapy) to stimulate assertiveness
in women and to enable them to make safe and
sure decisions in order to become independent
beings in the community.
The second major goal in our work is the strengthening of networks within the community by
Keeping with tradition,we also organized our annual summer
picnic in High Park, where more than 40 women attended with
their children. In the program continue to work tirelessly to
raise awareness and responsibility in the community in order
to eradicate violence against women and children.
The program also had presence at the annual International
Women’s Day march and fair in Toronto, and organized wellattended activites at the Centre for Spanish Speaking People
for IWD as well as for the International Day for the Elimination
of Violence Against Women.
WOMEN, ARE OUR PROGRAM THIS IS YOUR PROGRAM
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Y o u t h Program
Our youth program grew significantly this
year, undertaking numerous projects with
youth of varying age groups.
Our successful ‘El Tomate’ project, which
recruited a number of young students as well
as newcomers to learn about food production
and urban agriculture, came to a close and
produced a fantastic documentary about
the experience.
We also organized another very succesful
summer camp for young people, offering
daily recreational and cultural activities
during the six weeks of summer. We are
grateful for the support of volunteers, as
well as the Toronto Catholic District School
Board, United Way, and Human Resources
and Social Development Canada.
The Zona Cero drug awareness project with Voces Latinas
1610AM came to a close after producing over 20 audio productions addressing issues related to drugs and their impact on
individuals, families and society. We would like to thank the
over 20 participants of this program, as well as the City of
Toronto and Voces Latinas for their support.
Another City of Toronto funded project, the Latin@ Youth
Anti-homophobia project successfully completed a number
of activities desgined to provide youth with tools
and skills to challenge homophobia in schools
and other youth spaces. They have also produced
a fantastic set of videos which can be viewed
from our website.This project has shifted into the
LIDIAR program, which builds from this program
and looks to create a Latin@ Gay-Straight Alliance
in the first year, and a parent support group int
he second year.
Our Inter-community Futbol League, a youth-run
soccer league, has successfully run a winter
and summer session involving hundreds of
youth. In addition, the program has offered
skills training and employment opportunities
for youth who are trained and hired to referee
in our league as well as with another partnering
League. We are grateful for the support of
numerous partners including Weston Foods
and For Youth Initative.
This coming year, we have an amazing group
of youth who are embarking on a project to
create a youth-led magazine for Latin@ youth.
Working with our new Magazine Coordinator
Gabriela Heymann, the youth have decided
to call the Magazine ‘Avenida’. This magazine
is sure to be a hit across our community and
will provide youth participants with skills and
employment opportunities.
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Schedule of Revenues
and Expenses ended
March 31, 2012
Revenues
Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration
Newcomer Settlement Program (NSP) Pay equity Capital Improvement
Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services
Operations funding
Capital funding
AIDS Community Action Program
Legal Aid Ontario
General
Disbursements
Pay equity - Non LAO
City of Toronto
Community Services Partnership CSP
Other grants
United Way of Greater Toronto
Partnerships
Grants
Rental income
Fundraising
Foundations
Interest
Miscellaneous income
Membership
2011 – 12
2010 – 2011
$94,880
$8,701
$140,631
$157,259
$90,362
$8,701
$25,000
$125,159
$217,295
-
$73,500
$209,048
$130,221
$70,623
$460,383
$5,140
$44,500
$477,625
$4,580
$45,000
$56,000
$63,926
$259,944
$31,000
$278,180
$20,065
$79,913
$17,821
$32,118
$1,900
$11,421
$170
$16,536
$61,076
$16,413
$2,804
$47,515
-
$1745567
$1639843
Salaries and related benefits
Purchased services
Occupancy costs
Program One-time office expenses
Office, promotion and travel
$1,161,114
$104,935
$311,421
$69,501
$14,056
$68,091
$1,156,222
$64,299
$333,051
$44,599
$23,855
$61,060
Total
$1,729,118
$1,683,086
Deficiency of Revenue over Expenses
$16,449
($43,243)
Total
Expenses
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Thank you to our
sponsors and
supporters
2141 Jane St
Toronto, ON M3M 1A2
Tel: 416 533 8545
Fax: 416 533 5731
E: [email protected]
40 Wellesley St. East, Suite 401
Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1G4
Tel: 416-925-2800
Fax: 416-925-2263
E: [email protected]