Services delivered: One Vision One Voice program

Component: provincial initiatives

Legislation: Child, Youth and Family Services Act (CYFSA), 2017

Service objectives

The purpose of the One Vision One Voice (OVOV) program is to support culturally appropriate service delivery for Black and African Canadian children, youth and families and to improve outcomes for Black and African Canadian children, youth and families involved with Ontario’s child welfare system.

Service description

The transfer payment recipient will manage the OVOV program with a goal of working to identify, address and eliminate anti-Black racism and the outcome disparities and disproportionalities experienced by Black and African-Canadian children, youth and families involved in Ontario’s child welfare system. This includes supporting ongoing children’s aid society (society) implementation of the OVOV African Canadian Service Delivery Best Practices in alignment with the Best Practices Guide and the Race Equity Practices. Additionally, OVOV will measure the effectiveness of implemented OVOV practices, programs and models by societies to ensure they are adequately contributing to the elimination of the disproportionalities and disparities experienced by Black and African Canadian children, youth and families in the child welfare system.

People served

• Child welfare staff and leaders to help them better understand and provide culturally appropriate care to Black and African Canadian children, youth and families
• Black and African-Canadian children and youth who are involved with the child welfare system to ensure they feel heard, supported and are building peer relationships.
• Black and African Canadian child welfare staff to ensure they are engaged and supported, that their voices are heard, and to provide them with an opportunity to build peer relationships

Program/service features

The OVOV program will

• Work with societies to fully implement and evaluate the effectiveness of the following sector-wide initiatives:
  • OVOV African Canadian Service Delivery Best Practices to ensure societies are consistently providing services and supports to Black and African Canadian children, youth and families in alignment with the Best Practices Guide and the Race Equity Practices.
  • OVOV African Canadian Leadership Mentorship Program to provide existing leadership structures across Ontario with a practice framework to gain in- depth understanding of how to address inherent biases and anti-Black racism in recruitment, hiring and succession planning for Black, African-Canadian and Caribbean employees.
• Support societies to enhance their engagement and capacity building with Black and African-Canadian communities and organizations in their local areas
• Develop, implement and evaluate pilot projects that support the provision of culturally reflective and responsive care and support improved outcomes for Black and African-Canadian children, youth and families
• Develop, maintain and deliver training to societies, the Ministry, and cross- Ministry partners to support improved outcomes for Black and African-Canadian children, youth and families in Ontario’s child welfare system
• Coordinate and facilitate events for Black and African-Canadian children and youth involved in the child welfare system, and Black and African-Canadian society staff to foster the development of peer relationships and to ensure they feel heard and engaged on their needs and experiences, and to inform future work of the OVOV Program
• Coordinate and lead strategic committees, working groups and tables to inform and receive ongoing feedback about current and potential future work of the OVOV Program, and to identify opportunities to address outcome disparities and disproportionalities, and improve outcomes for Black and African-Canadian children, youth and families
• Engage with Black and African-Canadian communities on their needs and experiences, to share OVOV work to date, and to inform future work of the OVOV Program
• Conduct analysis of current policy and tools/ resources to monitor and examine ongoing disparities and disproportionalities and identify priorities and actions to advance racial equity and improve outcomes for Black and African-Canadian children, youth and families in the child welfare system

Specific service provided

The program/services contracted by the ministry will reflect the following features

Program goals

• Increased sector capacity to address anti-Black racism and to support the elimination of the disproportionalities and disparities experienced by Black and African Canadians involved in child welfare in Ontario
• Increased culturally relevant and safe supports, programs and services for Black and African Canadian youth and children, that address intersectionality and reflect trauma-informed practice
• Increased sector engagement with Black and African Canadian communities
• Highlight and support the transformation of policies, programs, initiatives and resources that generate, maintain and exacerbate disparities of Black and African Canadian involved in child welfare in Ontario
• Measure data on the disparities and disproportionalities experienced by Black and African Canadian children and youth in care to measure progress against the goals of the program

Ministry expectations

To support the ongoing implementation and growth of the OVOV program, the transfer payment recipient will

• Provide ongoing support to societies to implement the OVOV African Canadian Service Delivery Best Practices through the Best Practices Guide and the Race Equity Practices, and the African Canadian Leadership Mentorship Program across the child welfare sector.
• Conduct measurement and evaluation of the Best Practices Guide, Race Equity Practices and the African Canadian Leadership Mentorship Program, and utilize results to recommend and/or implement changes and to support the development of new initiatives.
• Provide ongoing support to societies to effectively engage and build capacity with Black and African-Canadian communities and organizations.
• Support organizations in the development of Black local advisory councils and relationships with Black advocacy groups
• Develop, maintain and deliver anti-Black racism training and training to support culturally appropriate service delivery to society leaders and staff, cross-ministry partners, and the Ministry, where required/requested
• Deliver tailored events for Black and African-Canadian youth involved in the child welfare system, including a Youth Power Up symposium, to ensure they feel heard and supported, to support the development of peer relationships, and to inform future work as part of the OVOV program
• Deliver tailored events for Black and African-Canadian staff to support the development of peer relationships, and to ensure they feel heard and engaged about their needs, experiences, and to inform future work of the OVOV Program.
• Provide support to sector OVOV and equity leads, including developing and hosting event(s) to support collaboration and teamwork across the system.
• Coordinate and facilitate meetings of the Provincial Advisory Committee and Society Reference Group to inform and receive feedback on current and future work of the OVOV Program.
• Coordinate and facilitate broad community engagement activities (e.g., newsletters, social media, speaking at/attending community events) to inform and receive feedback on current and future work of the OVOV Program.
• Coordinate and facilitate Provincial Roundtable events to help improve coordination and consistency across systems towards the prevention of child abuse and neglect of Black and African-Canadian children and youth.
• Conduct policy work, including reviewing and analyzing available data, existing policy, tools/resources and research, and engage with key stakeholders, to develop a better understanding of how disparities and disproportionalities are generated, maintained, and exacerbated, and to identify opportunities to transform policies and initiatives that lead to these inequities within the child welfare system.

Reporting requirements

The transfer payment recipient is expected to monitor and evaluate program performance and to confirm that program objectives and deliverables are being met.

At each reporting period, the transfer payment recipient must complete a service data report on the program objectives, services, and targeted outcomes. The report should also include an explanation where there is a variance between the approved budget and actual expenditure for all budget lines as agreed with the ministry.

The recipient will provide both an interim (scope = April 1 – Sept 30, due on November 15) and final (scope = Oct 1 – March 31, due on May 15) report that will include the following:

• An Executive Summary of project progress and identification of variances from project activities for the reporting period.
• A completed Project Report, including:
  • Confirmed completion of the project activities, timelines and outcomes, including submitting relevant supplementary materials as requested by the ministry
  • Detailed identification of variances from project activities, milestones, results and timelines for the reporting period and mitigation strategies.

The following service data will be also be provided on an interim and final basis. Please refer to your final agreement for report back due dates and targets.