CDF - PQCHC Resource Committee
Meeting, Tuesday January 13, 2009
Wanda MacDonald PQCHC
Naini Cloutier PQCHC
Sonia Laberti City of Ottawa
Lisa Petch City of Ottawa
Abid Jan CDF Project Coordinator
Alex Cullen Bay Ward City Councillor
Zelda Shore PQCHC
Kim Seguin Boys and Girls Club
Steve Clay Ottawa Community Housing
Jacques Chartrand West End Legal Clinic
Joan Leadbeater-Graham Rideauwood Addiction and Family Services
Dave Keenan City of Ottawa: Recreation
Sue Goddard Olde Forge
Jill Skinner Ottawa Police
- Welcome and introductions: Participants were welcomed to the meeting and introductions made. Wanda provided a brief overview of the reason for initiating this new Committee. PQCHC is working with the City and partner agencies to develop a new approach to support community development and community capacity building in neighbourhoods. This approach was designed through a collaborative effort by the City, Southeast Ottawa CHC and their experience as well as other funders, agencies and the two universities. PQ is one of four CHRCs who will be initiating the new model in the catchment area, with a focus initially on the Bayshore Community. The Committee will serve as an important vehicle for neighbourhoods to use as they develop community development initiatives designed to address community priorities. The purpose/function of this Committee will be explained through the presentations at this meeting.
- Community Development: Bayshore Initiative: Naini Cloutier, Community Services Manager at PQ, provided an update on work that has started in the Bayshore community. This community was selected as one of four communities in Ottawa to initiate this new process. A Bayshore Steering Committee with representation from the community, the Community Association and the Bayshore Advisory Committee have met to develop Terms of Reference for their work and to develop a workplan that would lead to a community action plan with a focus on key priority issue(s) that they have defined. They will be meeting over the next few months to review existing needs assessments and data reports, to reach out to consult with community members, to build membership on the Steering Committee, and to work with the broader City Community Development Framework process to implement some of the preliminary evaluation/survey tools for this work. They plan to have an ‘action plan’ developed based upon identified priorities by June.
There was brief discussion following the presentation and the following points were clarified: the importance of the Bayshore Steering Committee to have a presentation re the data that has been developed by the City CDF process as it speaks to some very key issues that may not be identified in previous needs assessments (e.g., EDI scores of children); clarification that the Steering Committee does have representation from other committees active in the community so that there is a connection and information sharing as the project moves forward.
- Background on the Community Development Framework (CDF) Initiative: Sonia, Policy, Planning & Development Specialist presented an overview of the CDF which has been developed through a collaborative process with the City of Ottawa, the two universities, other funders such as United Way, representatives from the CHRC Coalition, the Ottawa Police, among others. She circulated materials which outlined the work that has been done and the structures that have been put in place at the City level to support the CDF implementation at the neighbourhood level.
- Community Engagement process under the CDF: Abid, CDF Coordinator provided a powerpoint presentation outlining the community development process that is inherent in the CDF using the experiences of the Southeast Ottawa CHC as an example.
- Neighbourhood Mapping and selection Process: Lisa, Community Development Consultant provided an overview of the process used to develop a ‘mapping’ of over 80 defined ‘neighbourhoods’ in the City based upon more natural criteria than current political boundaries have. These neighbourhoods then were assessed by collecting detailed data from Stats Canada, Health information and other sources. The data provided a rich overview of the characteristics of each neighbourhood. Based upon this, one of the Committees that focuses on the broader City perspective in this CDF (Leadership Table) reviewed the data to determine 4 priority communities to initiate the implementation of the CDF process. Bayshore was one of the four selected. Some of the key data that led to this included the EDI scores of children and the percentage of individuals/families living on low income.
- There was a brief discussion following Lisa’s presentation and through this it was clarified that the CDF process is specific to the Bayshore community and does not include Michele Heights and a few other communities that are incorporated in the ‘CDF defined’ neighbourhood. Bayshore has unique characteristics and it was agreed that focusing on this smaller community was warranted. Sonia and Lisa agreed to inform the system tables of this.
- Role of Resource Committee: Abid presented an overview of the role of the PQ Resource Committee. This type of Committee is being set up in the other three CHRC areas where the CDF is being initiated. The Committee serves as an important resource to the CDF process. As communities develop and bring forward action plans, the Resource Committee is structured to work with the communities to identify ways in which the Committee, and the agencies represented on the Committee, can contribute to enable the action plan to happen and to be sustainable. This may be looking at the way we allocate resources to the community plan, the types of services we provide, etc.
- Terms of Reference of the Resource Committee: A draft had been circulated prior to the meeting. It was agreed we should see if we can secure representation from the School Boards, from Minto/Otnim and from Bayshore Shopping Centre as they are key resources in this community as well. It was also agreed that there may be some key resources who will not be able to sit on the Committee and there are other ways we can ensure their participation/connection (e.g. channel relevant issues directly to them, keep them updated by circulating minutes, etc.). PQ staff will connect with the identified reps to see how we can involve them in this initiative. Sue G. noted that she thought Western Ottawa was the Community Support Service responsible for Bayshore. She agreed to confirm that.
- Selection of a Chair: Wanda asked for volunteers to chair/co-chair this Committee. It was agreed that the ED of PQ would serve as Chair for the first year and Kim would serve as vice chair.
- Next steps: Abid noted the involvement of Leadership Ottawa in supporting the neighbourhood CD initiatives. This is a very valuable resource.
- Date and time of next meeting: March 10th from 0900 to 1100 at PQ.
- Adjournment: the meeting was adjourned at 10:40.
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