Item - 2017.CD22.3

The Community Development and Recreation Committee recommends that:  

1.  City Council adopt the Draft Ontario Early Years Child and Family Centre Initial Plan, highlighted in "OEYCFCs in Toronto, Draft Initial Plan: From Transfer to Transformation" as set out in Appendix A to the report (August 18, 2017) from the General Manager, Children's Services, which describes the research and consultation conducted to date, and establishes priorities and next steps for realizing the Provincial vision for Ontario Early Years Child and Family Centres in Toronto.

2.  City Council authorize the General Manager, Children's Services to receive the funding from the Province of Ontario for Ontario Early Years Child and Family Centres and enter into Service Agreements, that are to the satisfaction of the City Solicitor, with provider agencies in order to flow Provincial funds to these agencies on January 1, 2018, prior to approval of the Division's 2018 Operating Budget.

3.  City Council authorize the General Manager, Children's Services, to begin the recruitment process for 14 permanent positions in 2017, in accordance with the City's Complement Management Policy, in order to ensure the successful transfer of services and to avoid service disruption for children, families, and service providers in 2018.

This report provides information on the transfer of Ontario Ministry of Education funded child and family programs to the City of Toronto, and on Children's Services Draft Initial Plan for the transformation of these programs.

Child and family programs are community-based programs that parents/caregivers attend with their children to support healthy child development. This report concerns four types of Provincially funded child and family programs that are being integrated and rebranded as Ontario Early Years Child and Family Centres (OEYCFCs). It uses Ontario Early Years Child and Family Centres and child and family programs interchangeably.