Headwaters Communities In Action Receives $70,900 Resilient Communities Grant from Ontario Trillium Foundation

HCIA has received $70,900 from the OTF Resilient Communities Fund to rebuild and recover from impacts of COVID-19 by developing a strategic and communications plan, conducting training for board members and staff, and operationalizing the plans to enhance capacity.

With this critical funding, HCIA will undertake a one-year project to complete a strategic planning process for the organization, and obtain communications and marketing support. This will enable us to bring clarity to our charitable purpose and brand, to develop new approaches and set expectations for our programs and services, helping to build long-term resiliency for our organization as a whole.

This project will allow HCIA to position ourselves to better serve our partners, support our programs, tell our stories and share our successes. Work will continue throughout the year-long project to ensure that the organization is building capacity and improving our ability to act on the recommendations of these plans following the project.

Jennifer Payne, Executive Director of Headwaters Communities In Action, said this about the grant: “The COVID-19 pandemic impacted our ability to deliver programs and services in multiple ways, some of which are still emerging years later. Our work is heavily centred on long-term, collaborative work and partnerships built over several years. Many of our partners had to shift course quickly to meet new challenges, facing interruptions in funding, staff and volunteers, exacerbated by increased demand for services. Add to that a rapid growth in population in our communities and a growing sense of disconnect and isolation on the personal level, and these cascading effects have been compounded and continue to reverberate.

“Partnerships and collaborations have become a crucial lifeline for more organizations, governments and businesses, and there is a realization that we can do things differently, better, together. As a community organization with a long history of collaboration and an holistic view of well-being, we are now seeing that our community is asking more of us. We realized that we first need to re-evaluate how we operate, what our best role and primary offerings are, and to take a deeper look at our core mandate and mission before responding to these new pressures, so that we can do so with intention and impact. We also experienced the same challenges many of our peers faced with members of our Leadership Council and program teams stepping back due to competing life circumstances and priorities. The impacts of that are outsized for a compact team like ours.

“The Resilient Communities Fund from Ontario Trillium Foundation recognizes and responds to these exact circumstances and challenges for charities like ours. We are so grateful for this program, which recognizes that to stay strong sometimes organizations need to pause, turn attention inward and shore up the foundations. We are thrilled that our project was approved, allowing us to secure the guidance of consultants who have expertise with our specific challenges, and to better equip our program teams and Leadership Council for a renewed purpose and a stronger future. This funding is critical as we adjust to continued impacts of our changing environment and improve our resilience so we can better respond to the needs of our communities across the Headwaters region.”

About the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF)

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations celebrates 40 years of grant-making in Ontario and making a lasting impact in communities. Last year, OTF invested over $110M into 1,022 community projects and partnerships. Visit otf.ca to learn more.

About Headwaters Communities in Action

Headwaters Communities In Action is about engaged citizens shaping a vibrant, sustainable & resilient community together. Since our inception in 2004, HCIA has provided citizens with information about emerging issues and opportunities and supported the start-up of collaborative projects that enhance community well-being. HCIA has several project areas resulting from priorities identified in our Community Well-Being reports. They include: DC MOVES, Volunteer Dufferin, Headwaters Food and Farming Alliance (HFFA) and Citizens of Headwaters for Active Transportation Team (CHATT).   Primary funding for HCIA is from the County of Dufferin and United Way of Guelph Wellington Dufferin, with specific projects supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.  For further information, photographs or interviews, please contact us: action@headwaterscommunities.org