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01 - April 3, 2024 RIPA Committee Agenda PackageOZ5 ElgmCounty Rural Initiatives and Planning Advisory Committee Orders of the Day Wednesday, April 3, 2024, 10:00 a.m. Council Chambers 450 Sunset Drive St. Thomas ON Note for Members of the Public: Please click the link below to watch the Committee Meeting: https://www.facebook.com/ElginCountyAdmin/ Accessible formats available upon request. 1. Call to Order 2. Approval of the Agenda 3. Adoption of Minutes 4. Disclosure of Pecuniary Interest and the General Nature Thereof 5. Delegations 6. Reports/Briefings 6.1 Community Grant Program Application Eligibility Discussion 7. Other Business 8. Correspondence 9. Closed Meeting 10. Motion to Rise and Report 11. Date of Next Meeting 12. Adjournment Pages 2 5 Rural Initiatives and Planning Advisory Committee Minutes August 18, 2023, 9:00 a.m. Council Chambers 450 Sunset Drive St. Thomas ON Members Present: Warden Ed Ketchabaw Deputy Warden Grant Jones Councillor Mark Widner Councillor Richard Leatham Members Absent: Donna Lunn, EFA Representative Staff Present: Don Shropshire, Chief Administrative Officer/Clerk Jenna Fentie, Manager of Administrative Services/Deputy Clerk Stefanie Heide, Legislative Services Coordinator 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 9.00 a.m. with Warden Ketchabaw in the chair. 2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Moved by: Councillor Leatham Seconded by: Deputy Warden Jones RESOLVED THAT the agenda for the August 18, 2023 Rural Initiatives and Planning Advisory Committee meeting be approved. Motion Carried. 3. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Moved by: Councillor Widner Seconded by: Deputy Warden Jones RESOLVED THAT the minutes from the meeting held on May 16, 2023 be adopted. 1 Page 2of9 Motion Carried. 4. DISCLOSURE OF PECUNIARY INTEREST AND THE GENERAL NATURE THEREOF None. 5. DELEGATIONS None. 6. REPORTS/BRIEFINGS 6.1 Manager of Administrative Services/Deputy Clerk - Community Grant Program Review 2023 The Manager of Administrative Services presented the report seeking the Committee's feedback on the Community Grant Program in advance of the 2024 intake period. The Committee directed staff to amend the application form to ensure that applicants are required to select two (2) out of three (3) eligibility criteria in order to proceed with their applications. Additionally, the Committee directed that Tourism staff be asked to poll attendees at events in order to gather data on how many Elgin residents are in attendance, and that Committee discretion will be used when considering applications for events being held outside of Elgin County municipalities. Finally, the Committee directed that the grant program information be amended to include more information about the County's Strategic Plan and emphasize that events and programs should be in alignment with Council's strategic goals. Moved by: Councillor Leatham Seconded by: Councillor Widner RESOLVED THAT the report titled "Community Grant Program 2023" dated August 15, 2023 from the Manager of Administrative Services/Deputy Clerk be received and filed; and THAT the Rural Initiatives and Planning Advisory Committee review the current Community Grant Program and provide guidance regarding any necessary amendments to the Program; and THAT staff be directed to incorporate recommendations from the Rural Initiatives and Planning Advisory Committee into the Community Grant Program for the 2024 intake. Motion Carried. 2 Page 3of9 7. 1.1 9. 10 11. 12 OTHER BUSINESS None. CORRESPONDENCE None. CLOSED MEETING None. MOTION TO RISE AND REPORT None. DATE OF NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the Rural Initiatives and Planning Advisory Committee will be held at the call of the Chair. ADJOURNMENT Moved by: Deputy Warden Jones Seconded by: Councillor Widner RESOLVED THAT we do now adjourn at 9.24 a.m. to meet again at the call of the Chair. Blaine Parkin, Chief Administrative Officer/Clerk. Warden Ed Ketchabaw, Chair. 3 Page 4of9 ElginCounty Report to Rural Initiatives and Planning Advisory Committee From: Katherine Thompson, Manager of Administrative Services/Deputy Clerk Date: March 27, 2024 Subject: Community Grant Program Application Eligibility Discussion Recommendation(s): RESOLVED THAT the Rural Initiatives and Planning Advisory Committee provide staff with direction in regards to which Community Grant Program applications are eligible to be considered as part of the grant scoring process. Introduction: The Rural Initiatives and Planning Advisory Committee is currently in the process of reviewing and scoring Community Grant Program applications for the 2024 funding period. Committee members had questions regarding the eligibility of certain applications. Backaround and Discussion: In order to be considered eligible for the Elgin County Community Grant Program organizations must meet two of the following three criteria: The organization's office is located in Elgin County The program or service benefits Elgin County The majority of service/program participants are from Elgin County After reviewing the applications received, the Committee had some questions about the eligibility of certain applications regarding whether they met at least two of the three criteria above. Staff were directed to reach out to the organizations listed below to obtain the following information: 1. The physical location of the organization's offices/event location; and, 2. Statistics regarding how many Elgin County residents are served by the event or program vs. residents who reside within the City of St. Thomas? At the time of this report (March 27) staff had received answers from five (5) of the seven (7) organizations in question and these answers are summarized below - Page 5 of 9 1. Quad County Support Services Office: 195 Wellington St., Wardsville ON, NOL 2N0 Population Served: The agency is person directed and goes to the homes of the people supported which includes all the boundaries of West Elgin. They do not serve anyone in St. Thomas. Community Living Elgin serves St. Thomas individuals. Presently you must reside in the Quad County catchment area to be supported. 2. Elgin -St. Thomas Second Stage Housing Office: 15 Golding Place St. Thomas Population Served: The organization serves all of Elgin County and St. Thomas applicants through this office. Throughout the year 2023 - 2024 it housed 19 women and 33 children in the transitional housing program. 26% of those in-house clients were from the County. They also offer transitional supports to women in the community that are needing emotional support, advocacy, housing search supports and referrals. Throughout the above listed year, they serviced 111 women in this program and 12% of those women were from the County. Elgin St. Thomas Second Stage Housing thanks the County for on -going support. They are strongly committed to servicing women from rural areas where they are often more isolated and in need of resources. It is only with the support of the community that they are able to assure services are consistently available for any woman facing trauma from gender -based violence. 3. STEAM Education Centre Office: 745 Talbot St., St. Thomas Population Served: The STEAM Centre defines its statistics based on Elgin County as a whole (therefore including St. Thomas) versus outside. The computer donation program is difficult to provide statistics for as many of the clients are unhoused and do not have a fixed address. Many live outside St. Thomas but come to the program through St. Thomas based agencies. Most individual computer applicants on average support families of 3 or more who also benefit from the equipment provided so the actual residents supported is much higher than listed here. Page 6of9 The two programs being considered for funding are the Computer Donation Program and the Coding Workshop Program. Computer Donation Program In the application STEAM refers to its Computer Donation Program that has provided over 900 computers since 2020. This range of computers was provided to London - Middlesex (including Chippewa of the Thames and Oneida Nations) and St. Thomas - Elgin County-Tillsonburg-Oxford County. For community focused donations (individuals who apply and agencies for equity diverse individuals/newcomers/Indigenous populations) 57% went to those from St. Thomas and 20% to those living in Elgin County (non -St. Thomas). Approximately 693 total Elgin County combined residents received computers through the program which when multiplied by the 3 per household average would put local impact to 2079 residents. For high risk elementary schools who receive equipment, 32% of students are coming from Elgin County and 26% from St. Thomas. The current demand on the waiting list is 43% Elgin County (non -St. Thomas) and 35% St. Thomas which is the reason for applying for this grant to expand reach further in this area. Youth Coding Workshop Programs The youth education coding and digital literacy program for the past two years has served 65% from Elgin County (non -St. Thomas) and 25% from St. Thomas. There has been a deliberate effort to focus on rural schools with their seed round of funding. Overall all of the programs combined - School education programs, youth camps, Indigenous STEAM, STEAM Community Studio, reHBUILD.IT Community Computer Donation Program serves 65% St. Thomas and Elgin County and 35% (London/Middlesex/Oxford). 4. Iron Horse Festival — Railway City Music Arts Festival Event Location: Pinafore Park St. Thomas Population Served: In regards to the demographic makeup, there are no firm statistics as the festival used to be known as the Iron Horse Festival which until 2019, was a downtown street festival in St. Thomas. Any statistics would be from that event. Post COVID, the entire event was re -thought, re -branded, relocated, and reorganized as an Arts Festival — the target demographic is now much different. There are fewer residents from central St. Thomas and many more from the outskirts/suburbs and surrounding areas. The organization focuses on presenting local artists not just from St. Thomas, but from across Elgin: Artists like `Trope' from Port Stanley, Genevieve Fisher from Southwold, or Moore Ave. Underground from Aylmer/Malahide to name just a few. Page 7of9 The Artisan/Vendor market and Fine Art Exhibition draw participants from across the County, and similarly draws spectators from outside of Elgin to spend time (and money) in our communities as well as with the vendors/exhibitors. The organization is hoping to have enough volunteers this year to assign some to do actual attendance counts and sample surveys to get a better feel for exactly who is attending and from where. 5. VON — Seniors Picnic in the Park Event Location: The VON Office is located at 175 South Edgeware Road, St. Thomas and the event is held in Pinafore Park St. Thomas. Population Served: These statistics are not collected by the VON for this event. At the time of this report, the following organizations have not yet provided answers to the questions asked; however, if answers are received before the meeting they will be circulated to the Committee for consideration: 6. Elgin County Pride 7. Queer Qlub Drop in Centre Financial Implications: The amount of funding available through the Community Grant Program for 2024 is $74,358, this must be allocated amongst eligible applicants as decided by the Committee. Alignment with Strategic Priorities: Serving Elgin Growing Elgin Investing in Elgin ® Ensuring alignment of ❑ Planning for and ❑ Ensuring we have the current programs and facilitating commercial, necessary tools, services with community industrial, residential, and resources, and need. agricultural growth. infrastructure to deliver programs and services ❑ Exploring different ways ❑ Fostering a healthy now and in the future. of addressing community environment. need. ❑ Delivering mandated ® Enhancing quality of programs and services ® Engaging with our place. efficiently and effectively. community and other stakeholders. Page 8of9 Local Municipal Partner Impact: None. Communication Requirements: None at this time. Conclusion: Once the Committee has considered additional information and determined eligibility of the Community Grant Program applications in question, staff will remove those applications deemed ineligible from consideration and will prepare proposed grant funding applications to be presented at the next Rural Initiatives and Planning Advisory Committee Meeting. All of which is Respectfully Submitted Approved for Submission Katherine Thompson Blaine Parkin Manager of Administrative Services/Deputy Clerk Chief Administrative Officer/Clerk Page 9of9