Ottawa, ON – On Friday, local MPP Joel Harden met with the team at Compassionate Ottawa to celebrate the $106,400 Resilient Communities Fund grant they received from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). The funding was allowed Compassionate Ottawa hire staff and the expertise needed to re-evaluate its organizational assets and the needs of community stakeholders; identify how to better tailor its programs and approaches to meet the interests of those communities; and rebuild relationships with community stakeholders. The project is set to complete in July and will result in the delivery of programs designed in partnership with community groups to accommodate their unique priorities relating to healthy end-of-life care, which were highlighted by the pandemic.

“Compassionate Ottawa is a critical source of support for people and families in need of comfort and community solidarity. I offer hearty thanks to OTF for supporting this critical resource, it’s a worthy investment,” said Joel Harden, MPP for Ottawa Centre.

Thanks to the $106,400 grant, awarded over 9 months, Compassionate Ottawa was able to hire the necessary to staff to conduct a community needs assessment which brought forty community stakeholders into confidential semi-structured individual or team interviews on Zoom, representing a range of diverse groups identified by Compassionate Ottawa as current or potential community partners or allies. Drawing on the consultation’s learnings, Compassionate Ottawa set out to improve programs and to pilot new approaches that better meet the interests of the community, especially as they have been impacted by COVID-19, in four priority areas: underserved communities, schools, workplaces, and caregivers.

“This grant has allowed us to check in with communities across Ottawa to see how their work changed as a result of COVID-19,” said Monica Patten, Chair of Compassionate Ottawa. “We were struck by how much not-for-profit organizations and community groups stepped up during COVID-19, but also by the toll it has taken on them. It is time to rebuild capacity that has been diminished and thanks to this wonderful Ontario Trillium Foundation grant, we can begin to do that in collaboration with many others who share our passion for building a more compassionate Ottawa.”

Compassionate Ottawa is a movement that builds the capacity of the citizens of Ottawa to be more capable and confident of helping themselves, their families and their communities to live well and to die and grieve well. To learn more, please visit the website at: https://compassionateottawa.ca/.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations celebrates 40 years of grantmaking in Ontario and making a lasting impact in communities. Last year, OTF invested nearly $209M into 2,042 community projects and partnerships, which included funding for the Government of Ontario’s Community Building Fund. Visit otf.ca to learn more.