Agency Gathering Update – June 2018
On Friday June 8, United Way Halifax gathered with agency partners to provide a look back, reviewing key initiatives over the past year; and a look forward, outlining how we are evolving and responding to current community needs and our fiscal reality.
The agenda for the day had four main components:
United Way Halifax – Review and Outlook
Community Impact Update (team overview and roles, funding update, program reporting and poverty solutions review)
Nova Scotia Poverty Reduction Blueprint
Building our collective capacity – Facilitated networking exercise
Below is a brief recap of what we covered during the day and links to the presentation and handout materials.
Agency Gathering Presentation
Impact Report 2017 - The collective results from funded program reports
Nova Scotia Poverty Reduction Blueprint Presentation
1) 2017 Review and 2018 Outlook
Sara Napier kicked off the meeting reviewing major initiatives completed in 2017-18 including United Way Halifax’s partnership with HRM on the poverty solutions report, work with the province on the poverty reduction blueprint, and changes to our Community Impact Committee and governance model. She also highlighted some of the challenges that will have a direct impact on the funding that is available to support 2019 Community Investment.
As United Way Halifax shared in its most recent Community Report, the $4.2 Million investment enabled in our community this year was not easy. It required all hands on deck and focused dedication and commitment from many. And while we were pleased, we were able to keep community agency funding levels unchanged in 2017 and 2018, it is important to acknowledge it has left the organization financially over extended. (Funding 2017 community investments required United Way Halifax to draw on reserves, and funding 2018 investments required an investment from the Tomorrow Fund.)
Going forward, United Way Halifax needs to strengthen its focus on sustainable investment and revenue growth. While the organization remains 100% committed to growing revenue so it can in turn grow our long-term community investment, we expect our short term (i.e. 2019-20) funding decisions will be very difficult.
2) Community Investment Update
Sue LaPierre provided an update on the Community Impact team, more specific details on the funding framework and timeline, the results of the most recent program reports, and a review of the poverty solutions work.
Community Impact Team Update: In terms of the team update, this past spring United Way Halifax’s community impact team was restructured to better align the roles around our poverty solutions focus and community partners.
Kevin Hooper is now in the role of Manager, Partnerships and Community Development. In this role Kevin is providing oversight to all of our partnership work including our work with community agencies, Try Do and the Housing and Homelessness Partnership.
Kevin joined United Way Halifax in 2017 in the role of Homelessness and Housing Facilitator. In this role, he facilitated our work with the Housing & Homelessness Partnership where he demonstrated a strong ability to build effective working relationships with partners from all sectors and understanding for how we align efforts towards shared goals. Kevin has background in urban planning and is very passionate about creating a stronger community for everyone.
In addition to Kevin’s new appointment, a new assistant that will support administrative functions for the community impact team was hired. Skye Cross joins the team on June 18 in the role of Community Impact Assistant and Data/Information Steward.
Other members of the Community Impact team that continue to support the work of our agency and community partners include Michelle Johnson and Jen Wilcox. As our Inclusive Communities Specialist, Michelle supports our efforts to increase capacity and competency around inclusion and equity. Jen’s focus is to strengthen our understanding of community needs in her role of Engagement and Learning Specialist. Two vacant roles that will be filled in the near term are an Evaluation and Reporting Specialist and a Facilitator role for our overall work in poverty solutions as well as housing and homelessness.
Funding Framework & Timeline: Sue shared details about the new funding framework that will focus impact in poverty, housing and homelessness and inclusive communities. While this framework will honour the great work United Way Halifax has achieved with funded agencies over the past years, the fiscal reality will constrain the funding envelope available for 2019-20. Agencies will be kept informed as the framework and process are finalized over the summer and applications will be initiated in the September 2018.
3) Nova Scotia Poverty Reduction Blueprint
Frazer Egerton, a director from the Department of Community Services, provided an overview of the Province’s Poverty Reduction Blueprint. A key goal of this blueprint is to employ an action-oriented approach that tests innovative ways of addressing poverty and using the results to better understand:
What projects/programs/initiatives measurably help lift people out of poverty?
What activities or attributes of programs are most critical to achieving its outcomes?
What combination of programs will provide the greatest overall long-term impact?
How can knowledge gained further inform decision-making?
The audience raised a number of questions in response to this presentation. To address them, United Way Halifax will work with the Department of Community Services to develop a Question & Answer summary and share it with our agency partners.
An additional component of this presentation included a review of the Building Vibrant Communities (BVC) Poverty Reduction Grants. This year, there is $1 million dollars available for these community grants. The application process is now open. To learn more about the grants, check out these links to the guidelines and application.
4) Building our collective capacity - Gives & Gets Exercise
The gathering ended with an interactive exercise titled “Gives & Gets”. This exercise helped identified common needs of our agencies and ideas for how we might collaborate to address them. Some of the needs included:
Evaluation, Outcome and Indicator Development
Increased networking, collaboration and resource sharing
Data gathering and management systems
Professional development opportunities (such as mental health first aid, non-violent crises intervention, etc)
Fund development (including fundraising, grant writing, and building legacy programs)
With the input gathered from this exercise, United Way Halifax’s CI team will begin a more thorough analysis and develop a plan to address priority needs with a collaborative, cross-sector approach. Stay tuned for an update in the late summer/ early fall detailing our next steps and possible offerings.