ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: January 13, 1998

Author/Local: RGates/6036

CC File No.

TO:	Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
FROM:	Director of Community Services, Social Planning
SUBJECT:	1998 Community Services Grants Budget

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RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council approve a 1998 Community Services Grants budget of $2,882,500.

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.

COUNCIL POLICY

Council established the annual Community Services Grants program in 1978. Budget ceilings for the Community Services Grants program, as well as the Cultural, Childcare and other grants programs are established annually, prior to the development of recommendations for specific grant allocations.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to establish a budget ceiling for the 1998 Community Services Grants program. Applications for Community Services Grants are currently under review, and the total value of the recommended grants will come within the budget limits established with this report.

BACKGROUND

Community Services Grants (CSG) are given by the City to support non-profit organizations which are working with each other, the various levels of government (including the City) and residents to address social problems and to bring about positive social change. CSG’s represent an important and necessary tool which helps the City to achieve its goal of ensuring that accessible, equitable and appropriate social services are available to all residents.

On September 30, 1993, City Council adopted a set of principles, criteria and priorities for Community Services Grants. These are reviewed annually by staff, and some minor changes have been made by Council in 1994 and 1995. With the changes, the criteria and priorities are working well in terms of meeting the needs of the City and the community.

The implementation of the revised program in 1994 resulted in a major change in the number and types of applications received in that year. Since then, the program has stabilized and the types and numbers of applications have been fairly consistent. Table 1, below, gives the application statistics for the past 4 years.

Table 1 - Community Services Grants Applications

1995 1996 1997 1998

Total applications: 116 100 113 111

Total organizations: 90 86 89 89

Types of applications

Previously funded 91 85 87 95

Applied the previous year, but

not funded 7 3 3 4

New applications 18 12 23 12

_________ _________ _________ _________

Total amount requested $3,992,600 $3,555,400 $3,879,700 $3,810,150

DISCUSSION

As we continue with our review of grant applications, staff are noticing continuing improvements in most services and the manner in which they are provided. In particular, almost all of the applicants are responding favourably to the City’s direction that they work more closely together and that they be more inclusive, both at the internal organizational level and in terms of the people they are serving. This kind of influence in the non-profit sector would not be possible without the ability to fund the organizations where we want to see changes.

Provincial Program Changes

Recent significant changes in two Provincial ministries - Health and Children and Families -may have an impact on the CSG program this year, although we will not know what the exact effects are for some months yet. The City has ceased funding health services that fall clearly within the mandate of the Provincial government. However, the local Health Board has developed a new Health Plan that includes a broader definition of community health and a stated intention to move into program and service areas that previously were not considered to be health related. Part of this planned change is that the Health Board would like to place more emphasis on partnerships and collaboration as they move into direct community services. The City has placed a high priority on this approach for quite some time, so there could be some interesting and useful outcomes with us working together. These changes are intended to take place over the next 2-5 years, so we cannot say at this point what the immediate effect (if any) will be on services funded by the City funding.

More immediate are the changes that are happening in the new Ministry for Children and Families (MCF). Late last year the Ministry announced a restructuring of their social service contract program. A key feature of this restructuring is an intention to reduce the number of contracts with community groups. About 20% of the CSG applicants currently receive funding from MCF. The restructuring of the MCF program could effect the groups in one of three ways:

1)they will continue to receive the same contracts, nothing changes (unlikely in all but a few)

2)their MCF funding will be given to some other group, with the possible consequence that the organization will no longer be able to function

3)a group could pick up a number of new contracts, and thereby change its character from a community based organization to become, for all intents and purposes, an arm of the provincial government.

In scenario 2, we certainly do not want to be giving City grants to organizations which are no longer functioning. With the 3rd scenario, we will want to seriously consider the need for City funding to be given to any organization that makes that kind of transformation.

Unfortunately, the timing for the changes to the MCF program is just a little out of synch with the CSG program. Recommendations on the CS grants will be ready by the end of February, for Council to deal with in late March. MCF is planning on making their recommendations in late March, for implementation by June or July. As a strategy for dealing with this discrepancy, staff will advise all groups that may be affected by the MCF changes that any City grants may be for only the first half of the year. Then, if City Council decides later on to not continue funding some groups as a result of these changes, there will be no surprises, and there will not need to be an additional transition period.

The CSG Budget

The Director of Finance advises that 1998 budget figures are to include a 1% adjustment for inflation. The recommendations for specific grant allocations are based on a number of factors, including financial need, and may or may not include an inflation adjustment for each one. However, the inclusion of this inflation adjustment on the entire budget provides us with the ability to maintain the current real value of services base. Therefore, the recommended 1998 grants budget, with the inclusion of the inflation factor, is $2,882,500.

CONCLUSION

Community Service Grants continue to be a critical support to the social service community in Vancouver, and also continue to be a highly effective tool for the City in shaping the responses to social issues. By maintaining a constant overall budget (including an inflation adjustment) we can continue to direct funding to emerging high priority programs and strengthen existing ones.

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(c) 1997 City of Vancouver