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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCSD-06-063 - Municipal Toolkit: Practical Strategies to Enhance Municipal Support for Your Volunteer Prgrm-Ont Network of Cndn Volunteerism ) R Community Services Report To: Date of Meeting: Submitted By: Community Services Committee May 15, 2006 Prepared By: Mark Hildebrand, Interim Director, Community Programs and Services (ext 2687) Jo-Ann Hutchison, Facilitator of Volunteer Resources & Community Engagement (ext 2227) All Wards Ward(s) Involved: Date of Report: Report No.: Subject: May 1 , 2006 CSD-06-063 MUNICIPAL TOOLKIT: PRACTICAL STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE MUNICIPAL SUPPORT FOR YOUR VOLUNTEER PROGRAM - ONTARIO NETWORK OF THE CANADIAN VOLUNTEERISM INITIATIVE RECOMMENDATION: For information. BACKGROUND: The Municipal Toolkit: Practical Strategies to Enhance Municipal Support for Your Volunteer Program has been developed through the work of the Ontario Network of the Canadian Volunteerism Initiative. The Canadian Volunteerism Initiative (CVI) is a 5 year initiative (2002 to 2005) funded by Heritage Canada, managed by Volunteer Canada and Imagine Canada, and delivered by provincial and territorial networks. CVI has three goals: · Encouraging Canadians to participate in voluntary organizations; · Improving the capacity of organizations to benefit from volunteers; and, · Enhancing the experience of volunteering. In Ontario, CVI is managed by the Professional Administrators of Volunteer Resources Ontario (PA VR-O) and is guided by a 15+ person voluntary steering committee and additional sub- committees. Jo-Ann Hutchison, Facilitator of Volunteer Resources & Community Engagement, was asked to serve on this steering committee and to serve on the Municipal Subcommittee along with the following subcommittee members: Barb Tiffiin (City of Ottawa), Deborah Young, Region of Waterloo), and Shelagh Hendrick (City of Thunder Bay). Each province or territory has received a portion of the overall CVI funding to develop their own five year plan for volunteerism in each of their respective provinces or territories. During the fall of 2003, the Ontario Network of the Canadian Volunteerism Initiative (OCVI) conducted an Report No. CSD-06-063 Page 2 online survey and facilitated 13 events to determine areas to include in an action plan to strengthen volunteerism in Ontario. Participants indicated that OCVI should focus on municipal governments since relationships with that level of government have the most potential to make a positive difference in their day-to-day operations. As a result of this finding, two more initiatives were undertaken by OCVI: a Municipal Scan in fall 2004 and a Municipal Roundtable in winter 2005. The Municipal Scan consisted of an online survey and one-to-one interviews with a consultant. The findings that emerged from this scan revealed four key factors regarding municipalities and volunteerism: i) Municipalities across Ontario rely significantly on volunteers to deliver or enhance their services, but few municipalities acknowledge this relationship in a formal statement or policy; ii) Rural and urban municipalities have different approaches and unique challenges in supporting volunteer engagement in their communities; iii) In most instances, knowledgeable and enthusiastic front line staff initiate municipal support for volunteer services; and iv) Municipalities cannot take sole responsibility for developing volunteer resources in their communities - they need to work in collaboration with other volunteer support agencies. The Municipal Roundtable was held in February 2005. Nineteen people from all areas of Ontario representing small and large communities, provincial and municipal governments, and voluntary sector organizations were invited to participate. A staff member from the City of Kitchener, Jo-Ann Hutchison, was one of these participants. During this day long session, the following three questions were discussed: · What creates or is the profile of a highly functioning "volunteer friendly" community? · What are the major barriers preventing municipalities from doing more in the area of volunteer engagement? · What strategies could OCVI pursue or that municipalities might consider increasing their support of volunteers and voluntary sector organizations? Collectively, the group of roundtable participants honoured the work being done by municipal staff who are making the most of what resources they have to support volunteers as well as community groups but agreed that there are many barriers or gaps such as little funding and a general lack of awareness in regards to sufficient municipal resources to support the work of volunteers. The Municipal Toolkit is a direct result of the strong mandate given to OCVI to continue working with municipalities as a key player in engaging volunteers in Ontario. REPORT: Through the municipal scan, the City of Kitchener was identified as a municipality that has "volunteer-friendly" characteristics and thus was featured in a section of the Municipal Toolkit titled "Ontario Success Stories". Municipalities that were chosen for this section have the following characteristics: adoption of the Canadian Code for Volunteer Involvement, dedicated Volunteer Management staff, approved annual budget for volunteer management and support in terms of proper management of volunteers. Other municipalities featured in this section include the County of Elgin, City of Ottawa, City of Cambridge, City of Thunder Bay and Region of Waterloo (see attached for details). Report No. CSD-06-063 Page 3 Although the City of Kitchener is currently recognized as a leader in the development of municipal volunteer resources in comparison to other municipalities in Ontario, there is reason to celebrate but also a need to acknowledge that the overall bar is not really high since the vast majority of municipalities are just starting to realize the need to dedicate resources and create infrastructure to ensure the long term sustainability of volunteerism. In Kitchener, much more needs to be and could be done to adequately support volunteers and the voluntary sector to realize Kitchener's community vision of "together, we will build a progressive, innovative, and caring Kitchener with safe and healthy neighbourhoods". Both as a corporation and a community, we must press on and continually assess and further evolve the capacity of our volunteer related services and support to ensure the needs and opportunities of our rapidly changing and growing community are being addressed both effectively, efficiently, and innovatively. The Leisure Facilities Master plan proposes the development of a volunteer support strategy. A plan for the assessment and future development of a volunteer strategy at the City of Kitchener is being developed over the next few months and a follow-up information report will be prepared for Council for fall 2006. This assessment and plan will pull together not only the recommendations from the Leisure Facilities Master plan , but also those of several other initiatives including the Healthy Community Plan, the Community Investment Strategy, Volunteer Resources Annual Work Plans, and Culture Plan II. Tools that may be used include the "Engagement of Volunteers Municipal Checklist" as outlined on page 15 of the Municipal Toolkit (see attached) and the Canadian Code of Volunteer Involvement Audit tool. As well, staff in Volunteer Resources is currently working with the Performance Measurement and Internal Auditor to establish performance measures for the Volunteer Resources & Community Engagement section. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Travel expenses related to OCVI are paid for through OCVI funding. The only in-kind cost contributed by the City of Kitchener is staff time. COMMUNICATIONS: The Volunteerism Committee of the City of Kitchener as well as relevant city staff has been and will continually be updated on the work of the OCVI. CONCLUSION: Volunteerism is a tradition of Kitchener's past and an essential part of our present. To ensure that it is a vibrant part of our future, we must value it today. We need to build upon the strong roots that have been established and nurture its future so that we, both as a corporation and community, can realize volunteerism's full potential. Mark Hildebrand Interim Director, Community Programs & Services AP