Themes of youth wellbeing: coordinated and youth-friendly communities

Outcomes 19, 20

Ontario wants youth to:

• Have access to safe spaces that provide quality opportunities for play and recreation
• Know about and easily navigate resources in their communities

A youth-friendly community supports young people in many ways. It gives them opportunities to participate in cultural and recreational activities and to volunteer and develop leadership skills. It also engages them with their friends, families and others in fun and meaningful ways. A youth-friendly community benefits the entire community, not just youth^{footnote 20[20]}.

This year, Ontario continued to invest in strategies that support outcomes of coordinated and youth-friendly communities, including:

• Youth Opportunities, Ontario's Youth Action Plan and the Enhanced Youth Action Plan
• Special Needs Support
• Biodiversity: It's in Our Nature
• Game ON: The Ontario Government's Sport Plan
• #CycleON: Ontario's Cycling Strategy
• Community hubs
• Building Ontario: Our Infrastructure Plan

Strategies and Programs Supporting Outcomes

Youth Opportunities, Ontario's Youth Action Plan and the Enhanced Youth Action Plan

Lead: Ministry of Children and Youth Services

Ontario is among the best places in the world for youth to grow up and become successful adults. However, being a young person today is not always easy. Many young people need help to grow up healthy, happy, safe and engaged. Ontario supports youth through the evolving Youth Opportunities Strategy (2006), Ontario's Youth Action Plan (2012), Enhanced Youth Action Plan (2015), and their related programs and services. These initiatives aim to support at-risk youth, address youth violence and improve community services. They also focus government funding on those youth and communities most in need of support.

New in this report:

The following programs were launched through the Enhanced Youth Action Plan:

• Youth Mentorship program
• Restorative Justice and Conflict Mediation (RJCM) program:
  • Six RJCM programs in eight priority communities across the province were launched in 2016.
  • RJCM trains peer mediators in restorative approaches to address conflict and/or violence within a school or community setting. Youth are encouraged to take accountability for their behaviour and strengthen pro-social skills.
  • The program provides access to community services and supports as needed through partnerships with schools, community agencies and police.

Programs that were enhanced or expanded include:

• Youth Outreach Worker Program
• Youth Opportunities Fund
• Community Aboriginal Recreation Activator Program (Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport)
• Newcomer Settlement Program to help newcomer youth (Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration)
• Focus on Youth (Ministry of Education)
• United Way Toronto and York Region's Career Navigator program
• Youth worker training
• CivicAction's private-sector jobs and mentorship initiative, Escalator
• Gang Prevention/Intervention program
• Youth Justice Family Workers

To support a new Middle Years Strategy for children aged 6 to 12 and their families, the following program was also enhanced:

• Stop Now and Plan (SNAP) Middle Years: A family-focused intervention program for high-risk children aged 6 to 12.

Related:

• The City of Toronto launched a new web portal, YouthTO, for young people aged 13 to 29.
• The innovative Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) LaunchPad is a sports centre that is set to open in 2017. MLSE LaunchPad will help at-risk young people by combining sport, education and research.

Special Needs Support

Lead: Ministry of Children and Youth Services

Some children and youth may need extra support because they have challenges or delays in their physical, intellectual, emotional, social, language or behavioural development. Ontario provides services so they can participate fully at home, at school, in the community and as they prepare to achieve their goals for adulthood.

New in this report:

• The Ministries of Children and Youth Services, Community and Social Services, Education, and Health and Long-Term Care are collaborating to implement three key initiatives of the new Ontario's Special Needs Strategy to improve services for children and youth:
  • A new, voluntary standard developmental surveillance process
  • Coordinated service planning for children with multiple and/or complex special needs
  • Integrated delivery of children's rehabilitation services (speech language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy)
• A small number of children/youth with multiple and/or complex special needs may require additional services and supports.
  • The Ministry of Children and Youth Services is moving forward with changes to the Complex Special Needs fund. The changes will create a service resolution process that families can understand, ensure that funding is available when families need it, and strengthen the transparency and accountability of the fund.
• The new Ontario Autism Program will make it easier for families to access services for their children and youth by significantly reducing wait times, providing more flexible services and increasing the number of treatment spaces. Ontario has committed a total of $538 million to implement the program over five years. Implementation will begin in June 2017.
• In March 2016, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, with support from the Ministry of Community and Social Services, launched Supported Employment Demonstrations for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as pilot programs in three communities. These supported employment programs will help young people with ASD between the ages of 14 and 30 get and keep employment.

Biodiversity: It's in Our Nature

Lead: Ministry of Natural Resources

Ontario is improving the protection of its forests, lakes, animals, plants and citizens through implementation of its biodiversity plan, Biodiversity: It's in Our Nature. The plan includes a number of youth and family initiatives.

New in this report:

• In 2015, Ontario Parks launched its Healthy Parks, Healthy People initiative that showcases the link between visiting parks and a healthy lifestyle.
• The Children's Outdoor Charter is built on the belief, supported by research, that children and youth have the right to, and benefit from, exploration and play in the outdoors. An enhanced, interactive website went online in fall 2016.

Related:

• The Emerging Leaders for Biodiversity network allows youth to help deliver key elements of the Biodiversity Strategy, support the province, and network with others. The organization celebrated its successful first year in fall 2016.
• One of this year's recipients of the Minister's Award for Environmental Excellence was Ontario EcoSchools, which has helped schools across Ontario become leaders in sustainability with its environmental education and certification program.

Game ON: The Ontario Government's Sport Plan

Lead: Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport

New! Building on the success of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games, the province launched Game ON, its new sport plan. The plan will help more Ontarians participate and excel in sport through its three pillars of participation, development and excellence.

Initiatives included:

• To help achieve Game ON priorities, a Minister's Advisory Panel was named; and both a Roundtable on Women and Girls in Sport and an Ontario Sport Symposium were held.
• A priority under Game ON is the Sport Pathway Initiative, which provides new opportunities for Indigenous youth to participate in sport at all levels. Through the Sport Pathway for Ontario Native Wellness initiative, the 2016 Ontario Aboriginal Summer Games were co-hosted by the Aboriginal Sport and Wellness Council of Ontario (ASWCO) and the Six Nations of the Grand River.

#CycleON: Ontario's Cycling Strategy

Lead: Ministry of Transportation

#CycleON is Ontario's 20-year vision for cycling in the province. The strategy's goal is to help make Ontario the number one province for cycling in Canada.

New in this report:

• Making Ontario's Roads Safer, 2015 (Bill 31) updated the rules of the road to help keep Ontarians safe. Changes included new rules to protect cyclists and measures to protect children riding in school buses.
• The Cycling Training Fund provided funding of $380,000 in 2015 and 2016 to stakeholder partners to develop or enhance cycling skills training programs. The fund supported a range of programs, including specialized mountain bike courses for children and youth, and opportunities for high school students to learn how to ride safely in traffic. This one-time funding is part of the Promotion, Celebration and Legacy Strategy for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games.

Community Hubs

Lead: Ministry of Infrastructure

Community hubs are being created to bring services together and use spaces to better serve Ontarians. A community hub can be a school, neighbourhood centre or other public space that offers coordinated services such as education, health care and social services. Many existing community hubs have been created and managed by local organizations and champions. Ontario's nearly 5,000 schools are ideal locations for community hubs, as many of them are the heart of their community and are accessible.

New in this report:

• Ontario released Enabling & Celebrating Community Hubs—One-Year Progress Update on Community Hubs in Ontario: A Strategic Framework and Action Plan, a one-year progress report on enabling and supporting the development of community hubs across the province.
• The province is helping more schools become community hubs by investing $90 million to expand child care and child and family support programs in schools and create spaces in schools for community use. (Ministry of Education)
  • At the same time, the province made it easier for potential partners to buy or lease surplus school property for community use by expanding the list of public organizations that can purchase or lease surplus school property before it is placed on the open market. (Ministry of Education)

Building Ontario: Our Infrastructure Plan

Lead: Ministry of Infrastructure

Ontario is making one of the largest infrastructure investments in the province's history—more than $160 billion over 12 years, starting in 2014–15. Planned infrastructure investments are improving public spaces such as schools, hospitals and community centres, while supporting more than 110,000 jobs on average each year.

New in this report:

• The province released the 2017 Infrastructure Update, which serves as a first step to delivering on the next long-term infrastructure plan. This document was complemented by the launch of the interactive website ca/BuildOn, which includes over 500 key projects across Ontario. Projects are added to the map and updated on an ongoing basis.
• The full listing of new and ongoing infrastructure projects is too large to be provided here. Projects include:
  • A new trades facility at the William E. Hay Youth Detention Centre in Ottawa—It gives at-risk youth aged 12 to 17 the chance to learn trade skills and make a positive contribution in their communities after their release. (Ministry of Children and Youth Services)
  • Infrastructure investments in elementary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities, to help improve student well-being—They give students better places to learn, and families better access to child care and other resources. They also increase learning opportunities and educational experiences to help students gain the talent and skills they need in a knowledge economy.
  • Through the Partner Facility Renewal Program, investments towards upgrades and repairs at more than 350 community agencies across Ontario—The community agencies that received funding include Aboriginal healing and wellness centres, violence against women community agencies, children's treatment centres, children's aid societies and youth centres. (Ministry of Community and Social Services, and Ministry of Children and Youth Services)

What the Data Says

• Every year, about 1,000 children with a developmental disability turn 18 years old.^{footnote 21[21]}.
• Ontario Parks employs more than 1,600 students each summer^{footnote 22[22]}.
• In Ontario, there are at least 2.1 million registered athletes, supported by 121,000 coaches, 58,000 officials and 363,000 volunteers^{footnote 23[23]}.

Data from the Profile of Youth Wellbeing

• 75.7% of youth feel there are good places in their community to spend their free time.

Case Study: A Way Home Ottawa

Preventing and ending youth homelessness is urgent work. A Way Home Ottawa is an initiative of local agencies and young people working together to prevent and end youth homelessness in Ottawa.

The coalition is organized by the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa, and supported by United Way Ottawa and the Catherine Donnelly Foundation. This year, work focused on two major elements: (1) engaging young people who have been homeless in order to identify strategies for prevention, and (2) listening.

A Way Home Ottawa started by hiring seven young people, most of whom have experienced homelessness, to act as youth liaisons. With their help, A Way Home Ottawa listened widely to the community, hearing from over 50 agencies, and engaged with 70 young people in order to learn how to make services better.

The goal of engaging youth in meaningful ways throughout the process has strengthened the solutions that are being identified. Perhaps most important, youth liaisons have driven the momentum of this work.

We cannot wait 10 years to end youth homelessness. We need to end it now, because in 10 years it will be too late for my friends.

Youth Liaison Co-chair