Family Innovations Scale Grant Program in Canada

Deadline: 23-Aug-23

The Ontario Trillium Foundation is excited to launch a call for applications for the Family Innovations Scale Grant Program to support parent-, guardian- or caregiver-led grassroots groups to expand their reach and enhance their impact on parents, guardians and caregivers.

In the Family Innovations Stream, they support grassroots groups that are community-led and community-inspired to scale work they have led for over two years. They invest in work that continues to empower and support parents, guardians and caregivers to improve their social and economic stability.

Through shared identities, culture and traditions, parents, guardians and caregivers can build meaningful relationships to reduce social isolation, adopt new skills, learn about social systems and create collective pathways toward improved wellbeing.

With a Family Innovations Scale grant, groups led by parents, guardians and caregivers can:

• Enhance the quality of parents, guardians and caregivers’ experiences to deepen the impact of a current project, or
• Expand a current project to impact more parents, guardians and caregivers.

Priority Outcomes

• Creating safe spaces for Indigenous and/or Black parents, guardians, and caregivers to strengthen relationships, build strong community and cultural connections, and heal from trauma
• Supporting parents, guardians, and caregivers to navigate and access resources for economic stability
• Supporting parents, guardians and caregivers to effectively navigate, access, and influence systems that affect family well-being

Funding Information

• Maximum $150,000
• Minimum 2 years, Maximum 3 years.

Eligibility Criteria

• Beneficiaries
  • Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, or Inuit) parents, guardians, and caregivers
    • When selecting Indigenous (First Nations, Métis or Inuit), beneficiaries can be from urban, rural and on reserve communities
  • Black parents, guardians, and caregivers
  • Racialized parents, guardians, and caregivers
  • Newcomer parents, guardians, and caregivers
  • Francophone parents, guardians, and caregivers
  • Parents, guardians, and caregivers and/or their children who are two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual (2SLGBTQIA+)
  • Parents, guardians, and caregivers and/or their children living with disabilities or special needs
  • Parents, guardians, and caregivers and/or their children living with mental health needs and/or addiction
  • Parents, guardians, and caregivers living in rural, remote and/or Northern communities
  • Parents, guardians, and caregivers and/or their children in conflict or at risk of being in conflict with the law
  • Parents, guardians, and caregivers at risk of contact or in contact with child welfare services
  • Parents, guardians, and caregivers whose children are at-risk of dropping out or have dropped out of school
  • Parents, guardians, and caregivers in low income situations
  • Parents, guardians and caregivers who are homeless or at risk of being homeless
  • Parents, guardians, and caregivers whose children are not engaged and/or are at risk of not being engaged with education programs, employment programs, or training programs.
• Group Requirements
  • Groups that apply for a Family Innovations grant need to meet the following requirements:
    • The group is led by parents, guardians and caregivers.
    • The group has at least three core group members.
    • More than 50% of core group members are at arm’s length relationship to each other.
    • Core group members (including board members, where applicable) reflect the identities and experiences of the parents, guardians and caregivers they are working with and for.
    • Core group members have experience doing work together. This experience can included delivering core program model or other activities.
    • The group demonstrates that collectively they have the skills and experiences to deliver project activities and scale this project.
    • The group is based in Ontario.
    • The group exists independently of a larger organization (other not-for-profit), charitable organization or municipality, university, school, religious institution and/or hospital.
    • The group agrees to work with an Organizational Mentor and has autonomy to choose their Organizational Mentor, design the project, identify group members, and plan for the future.
    • They prioritize projects led by and for Indigenous (First Nation, Métis, Inuit) and Black parents guardians and caregivers.
• Note
  • Groups can only apply for one Youth Opportunities Fund grant at a time.
  • If your group has an active Youth Opportunities Fund grant, you can only apply for funding if you are in the last year of your active grant.
• Eligible groups
  • The work of a parents, guardian and caregiver-led grassroots group is community-led and community-inspired. Grassroots group means that core group members share identities and lived experiences with the parents, guardians and caregivers who will benefit from the project.
  • Applicants that meet the group requirements must also be one of the following:
    • A grassroots group that is not registered as a charity or as an incorporated not-for-profit
      • If you are a grassroots group from a First Nation, you are eligible to apply. Your group cannot have more than 50% of its members as part of the band office or band council.
    • An organization incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation without share capital in a Canadian jurisdiction
      • This includes a Chartered Community Council, operating under the Métis Nation of Ontario, or Inuit communities that are registered as not-for-profit corporations without share capital in Canada.
      • The organization is required to have independently managed revenues of $50,000 or less in either of the last two years.
      • Board members and day-to-day management must also be parents, guardians and caregivers.

For more information, visit Family Innovations Scale Grant Program.