Upstream fund application review has started!

Phase 1: Now complete!

We are happy to say we have successfully completed the first phase of the Upstream funding model with the closing of the open call for submissions and the community collaborative events.

Over 100 applications totalling almost $12 million for Year 1 were received with a mix of one time and multi year proposals. The depth and breath of submissions really reflect this community’s commitment for change.

Phase 2: Community Change Committee and decision making in progress

The Selection Committee has completed the critical task of carefully selecting a community group consisting of 12 diverse community members to form the Community Change Committee. The Selection Committee (for the Community Change Committee) went through a robust selection process led by Gillian Wells, a community facilitator. The group represents a diverse range of experiences, skills, and identities. The dedication of the members of the Selection Committee who selected the Community Change Committee was commendable. While the Community Change Committee has a large task ahead of them, they bring not only lived experience and community representation but also a diverse set of decision-making skills to the process. We look forward to the process ahead.

See below for the bios of the members of the Selection Committee.

• Cathy Harrington has worked for many years in both her personal and professional roles in a variety of leadership and front line roles within Waterloo Region focused on the health, safety and well-being of communities, particularly in rural communities. For the past 12 years, Cathy has served as the Executive Director of Community Care Concepts, a non-profit organization which provides services and supports to help seniors and adults with unique needs to live independently in their own homes across Woolwich, Wellesley and Wilmot Townships.
• Charity (Anangkwe) Fleming is Anishinaabe, Sturgeon Clan from Northern Ontario. Charity is an alumnus from Wilfrid Laurier University and co-owner of Qualia Counselling Services, a series of mental health clinics that provides Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Charity is also faculty with Wilfrid Laurier University, McMaster School of Medicine and the Ontario Association of Social Workers. Charity considers her greatest accomplishments to be her journey of spirituality, her marriage, and her four incredible children.
• Grace Ibrahima grew up in Trinidad, with very little formal education. As a young woman, she applied, and was accepted to a nursing program in England. Years after arriving in Canada, as a student in the Addiction Studies program at McMaster University, she was the recipient of the Part-time Student Centennial Award. She invested her monetary prize and partnered with the university to educate students from Eastern Europe about the devastating effects of addiction. Grace’s turbulent life journey was featured in many local media outlets.
• Ismail Mohamed is a Community Developer/Facilitator, Social Entrepreneur and Public Speaker who has been an advocate for community building. Ismail has also sat on a number of committees and worked on projects that reach small businesses, youth, elderly, under-resourced neighbourhoods, marginalized groups, and people with disabilities, hearing their voices and working to meet their needs.
• Jean Becker is Inuk, a grandmother, and a member of the Nunatsiavut Territory of Labrador. She has lived and worked in Southern Ontario for over 40 years. She is the AVP Indigenous Relations at the University of Waterloo and has worked in postsecondary education for more than 30 years.

The Community Change Committee will meet from October 20 to November 15 to review funding applications. This group is also being facilitated by Gillian Wells and supported by Regional staff. The Community Change Committee will use the Council approved Upstream Fund Terms Of Reference and Community Safety Wellbeing Plan priorities to make funding allocations and decisions.

A transparent, rigorous and accountable process will be followed. Decisions on applications will be communicated to applicants in late November. An update will be presented to Council in December.

With thanks,

Fauzia Baig

Director, Equity, Diversity and Inclusio