June 22, 2010

Today, along with Mayor David Miller, the Toronto Community Foundation celebrated 26 high-impact community organizations and leaders at its annual Vital Toronto event. The event was hosted by Matt Galloway of CBC’s Metro Morning.  Mayor Miller also discussed the scholarship fund in memory of his mother at the Community Foundation.

Three grant programs are fuelled by the organization’s Vital Toronto Fund – a community endowment used to contribute to and partner on targeted strategies tackling quality of life issues identified in the Community Foundation's annual Toronto’s Vital Signs® Report.

Vital Ideas invests in Toronto’s most high-impact organizations by providing capacity-building grants to further expand or replicate programs with successful track records in other areas of Toronto. Vital Ideas grant winners include:

Arts for Children & Youth, Arts Informed Evaluation System
Hospice Toronto, Creating Caring Communities
John Howard Society of Toronto, Program for Transitional Housing
Learning Enrichment Foundation, Childcare Curriculum
Local Food Plus, Eating Our Way to a Better Environment
Maytree & Toronto City Summit Alliance, DiverseCity: The Greater Toronto Leadership Project
Psychology Foundation of Canada, Diversity in Action: Scarborough
The Stop Community Food Centre, The Community Food Centre Approach

Vital People is a leadership grant that assists Toronto’s exceptional community leaders in the not-for-profit sector to grow through professional development and further magnify their impact. Vital People grant winners include:

Alexandra Asher, Nathaniel Dett Chorale
Jane Farrow, Jane's Walk
Jo Altilia, Literature for Life
Michael Prosserman, Urban Non-Violent Initiatives Through Youth (UNITY)
Nadien Peazer, A.N.A.S.A. Collective
Yvette Nolan, Native Earth Performing Arts

Vital Youth supports free high-quality sports and recreation programs to help develop the leadership skills of youth from Toronto’s more vulnerable neighbourhoods. Vital Youth grant recipients include:

Agincourt Community Services, Martial Arts for "Adiras"
Arts for Children & Youth, Beyond 3:30 - Arts Program
Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Toronto, H.E.R.O.S.
Concrete Hoops, Youth Leadership Pathway
CultureLink Settlement Services, Afterschool Sports Leadership Program
Diaspora Dialogues Charitable Society, Young Writers from the Edge Program
Greenest City, Leaders-in-Training
Jumblies Theatre, In the Picture Youth Program
Malvern Family Resource Centre, Foot Prints
San Romanoway Revitalization Association, Life Line
Scadding Court Community Centre, FuSION
Urban Youth Riding Project, Horses and Leadership Programs

“We use our Vital Signs Report as a blueprint for investment to transform lives, communities and our city,” said Rahul K. Bhardwaj, President & CEO, Toronto Community Foundation.  “Our solution-focused strategy relies on partnerships with community organizations and individuals such as those recognized today. They are working on innovative and creative solutions and represent the steps towards a more vital Toronto that we should be proud of.”