ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: August 6, 1998

Author/Local: Rick Gates/6036

CC File No. 2151

TO:	Vancouver City Council
FROM:	Director of Community Services, Social Planning Department
SUBJECT:	Transfer of Community Services Grant from Sunset Community Centre to Westcoast Child Care Resource Centre

RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council approve a Community Services Grant of $10,000 to Westcoast Child Care Resource Centre for a Youth Service Coordinator, and that the grant to Sunset Community Centre Association, previously approved for this Youth Services Coordinator, be reduced to $10,000.

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

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

COUNCIL POLICY

The criteria and priorities for assessing applications for Community Services Grants were established by City Council in 1993.

Approval of grant recommendations requires eight affirmative votes.

PURPOSE

As the sponsoring agency for the Youth Services Coordinator position which is partially funded by a Community Services Grant has changed, this report recommends transferring the remaining half of the grant to the new sponsor.

BACKGROUND

On March 28, 1998 City Council approved the recommended Community Services Grants. Included was a grant of $20,000 to Sunset Community Centre Association to partially fund the Coordinator for the Vancouver Coalition of First Line Children and Youth Service Providers (the Youth Services Coordinator).

The Coalition is comprised of approximately 20 non-profit and government organizations, with an additional 10-15 organizations taking part in various Coalition activities. As the Coalition itself is not a non-profit society, the grant could only be given to one of the member organizations which was willing to act as a sponsor for the position. Sunset Community Centre Association volunteered, primarily because the original Coordinator operated out of this Community Centre.

The Youth Services Coordinator provides administrative, planning and functional support to the Coalition with the overall objective of strengthening the support base for Vancouver’s children and youth. This is achieved by helping to develop good working relationships among Vancouver’s first line service providers and by enhancing collaborative relationships between all child and youth serving organizations, including mainstream, multicultural and non-traditional.

This position is jointly funded by the City, Settlement BC and the Vancouver Foundation.

DISCUSSION

An office which is more suitable than the one provided at Sunset has been provided in the new Westcoast Child Care Resource Centre facility. Westcoast is also able to include the payroll and accounting for this position within its own operations, thereby enhancing the efficiency of the Coordinator’s work. Also, the Community Recreation Coordinator at Sunset, who provided critical personal support to the Youth Services Coordinator, has moved to a new job. Consequently, the Coalition has asked that the Community Services Grant for this position be transferred from Sunset to Westcoast.

Social Planning staff have determined that Westcoast meets the criteria to be eligible for a Community Services Grant.

Community Services Grants are paid out in four equal payments throughout the year. Two payments, totalling $10,000 have already been sent to Sunset CCA. The easiest way to effect a transfer of the remaining $10,000 is to approve a grant in that amount to Westcoast, while reducing the amount for Sunset to the $10,000 already paid out.

CONCLUSION

The Coordinator for the Vancouver Coalition of First Line Children and Youth Service Providers is now working out of the Westcoast Child Care Resource Centre facility. This position does not work for any one agency, but rather works on behalf of more than twenty service providers. It makes good sense to transfer the remainder of the Community Services Grant for this position ($10,000) to a sponsoring agency that is providing office space and operational support to the coordinator - in this case, to Westcoast. * * * * *

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver