Working Poor update is released

Metcalf Innovation Fellow John Stapleton’s latest report concludes that Toronto, by most measures the wealthiest city in Canada, is also the country’s working poverty capital. The Working Poor in the Toronto Region: Mapping working poverty in Canada’s richest city was released with front-page coverage in the Toronto Star. A webinar with John Stapleton is available for viewing.

Landmark report available in French

Shared Platforms and Charitable Venture Organizations, by Metcalf Innovation Fellow Jane Marsland, is now available for download in French. The paper examines three potential models for shared charitable platforms for the arts. Since its release in 2013, it has spurred significant interest and action in the sector.

Exploring possibilities for shared charitable platforms in the arts

Organizations and individuals interested in developing a shared charitable platform for the arts participated in a workshop on June 25. The session, co-hosted by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Toronto Arts Council, and the Metcalf Foundation included a presentation on the legal responsibilities of a shared platform and a panel discussion on what is required to bring a model to fruition. The five funders look forward to announcing a shared charitable platform pilot project for the arts in late 2015.

Conference of Canadian Environmental Grantmakers’ Network (CEGN)

CEGN’s annual conference — Economic Opportunities and Environmental Imperatives: Building Canada’s New Economy — took place in Toronto in June. Metcalf’s Environment Program Director, Andre Vallillee, chairs this national network of funders. The conference addressed themes closely aligned with the Foundation’s funding areas, including climate and energy, and the complex interplay between environmental and economic interests.

Learning from Resilient Neighbourhood Economies pilot

Metcalf’s three-year Resilient Neighbourhood Economies pilot project, designed to help create economic opportunities for low-income people in Thorncliffe Park and Kingston-Galloway/Orton Park, ended in March. A report of what the Foundation and its partners have learned about place-based collaborative funding will be published in the fall.

Enabling climate solutions

On June 3, Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission hosted an event in Toronto featuring an all-star line-up of speakers on the topic of Ontario’s climate action plan, specifically its commitment to implement a cap-and-trade system. Coinciding with this event, the Commission released a brief outlining four fundamental principles of good cap-and-trade design.

Bill 6 amendments

In early June a number of community partners, including grantee Toronto Community Benefits Network, led a successful initiative to include provisions for community benefit agreements in the Ontario government’s Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act. The amendment makes Bill 6 the first legislation in North America to require contractors, bidding on large infrastructure projects, to develop local recruitment programs. It is a major step forward in efforts to create good jobs in priority neighbourhoods.

Workers’ Action Centre releases report

On March 31, after a year of research and consultation, the Workers’ Action Centre released Still Working on the Edge. The report features first-hand accounts of workers’ experiences and includes detailed recommendations for change. Its release, coinciding with the Ontario government’s Changing Workplaces Review, comes at a critical time. The report adds a powerful voice in the current discussion regarding ways to support decent wages and working conditions.

Toronto Summer Music launches Community Academy

With funding through Metcalf’s Creative Strategies Incubator, Toronto Summer Music is launching a unique audience outreach program this August. Modelled after the Baltimore Symphony’s “Rusty Musicians” program, the Community Academy will offer advanced avocational musicians an opportunity to hone their skills and take part in Toronto’s premier summer classical music festival, with the possibility of an onstage performance at Walter Hall.

Learning from Ontario's successful coal phase-out campaign

In 2014, the last coal-fired electricity station in Ontario was shut down eliminated a significant source of air pollution. Lessons from the 17-year campaign leading up to this moment are captured in a new report, Ontario’s Coal Phase Out, from former Metcalf grantee Ontario Clean Air Alliance.

August 24, 2015

Renewal Program ~ applications due

November 2, 2015

Performing Arts Internships ~ applications due