Read CLOC's 2023-2024 Annual Report

Meet CLOC's Board of Directors for 2024-2025

CLOC’s new Strategic Plan was developed with participation and input from people receiving supports and services, their families, employees, CLOC’s Board of Directors, and Community Partners. This was important information to gather to ensure that CLOC is moving in the right direction, fueled with the knowledge and expertise of those providing supports and services. 

CLOC held two Strategic Planning Action days – SPA days - where employees gathered to work with our Strategic Planning facilitator, Jennifer Spear of WorkUnscripted. There were a number of exercises throughout each day to encourage employees to share their knowledge and expertise in a way that would add value to the overall plan. As follow up to the SPA days, a survey was sent to employees to gather additional information. A separate family SPA day was facilitated by Jennifer where family members of people supported by CLOC were able to bring forward their ideas around what they hope to see for the future. One on one interviews took place with people supported to find out what they thought of CLOC as we are now and what they would like to see change, improve and grow. 

As the information was gathered, the Strategic Plan came together to show us where we need to go and what we need to do, on a high level. Our next steps will be to have each of our teams delve into the goals that were created and develop more specific, detailed plans to work on over the next 4 years. CLOC's new Strategic Plan will provide the organization with a 4 year roadmap for the organization’s potential opportunities , and will help CLOC to grow further along side the Ontario Government’s Journey to Belonging: Choice and Inclusion.

CLOC's Mission and Vision statements have also been updated as a result of the Strategic Planning process. As you can see on the Strategic Challenge Map (above), our Goals were set as a means of achieving our Mission, and the Mission helps us work toward the new Vision.

CLOC's NEW MISSION

CLOC is dedicated to voice and choice by fostering opportunities for meaningful inclusion and wellbeing for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

CLOC's NEW VISION

A community where everyone belongs, is valued and has the opportunity to succeed and flourish.

Next, CLOC will beging to explore the value statements that we want to align with our new Mission and Vision. These values will be the lens through which CLOC assesses and evaluates everything that we do as an organization.

We are excited to announce an organizational structure change designed to support our new strategic plan focused on innovation for sustainability. This change enables us to better resource our strategic initiatives and drive growth.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Craig Nighbor as our new Director of Corporate Services. This critical role will focus on identifying and securing new streams of funding including expanding our fee for service supports.

The Director of Corporate Services will be responsible for:

• Developing and implementing strategies to diversify revenue streams

• Exploring business development opportunities to support our strategic plan

• Leading the development and growth of our fee-for-services offerings

• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment and effective resource allocations

This change will enable CLOC to:

• Better respond to emerging opportunities and drive innovation

• Enhance our sustainability and long-term viability

• Increase our impact and deliver more value to our stakeholders

• Adapt to MCCSS service transformation Journey to Belonging

CLOC looks forward to the impact that this role will have on the growth of the organization.

CLOC is actively engaged in the #WaitingToBelong advocacy campaign, spearheaded by a partnership between Community Living Ontario (advocates for people with developmental disabilities and their families), and OASIS (advocates for organizations that serve people who have developmental disabilities). This campaign aims to bring awareness to the large number of people who are sitting on waitlists for services in Ontario, due to lack of funding to stabilize the sector so it can expand existing services or create new ones.

In fact, in the time since the campaign was launched, the waitlist has increased to 52 thousand people - that's more people on the waitlist than are currently service recipients in Ontario.

Over the coming months, CLOC will be engaging in a social media campaign to promote #WaitingToBelong. CLOC is also in the process of drafting letters to MPPs around the issue, with the aim of setting up meetings with the MPPs to encourage them to make people who have developmental disabilities and developmental service organizations a priority in the upcoming budget.

How can you help? We encourage you to further the message! When CLOC posts about #WaitingToBelong on social media, please share the posts, so they can reach as many people as possible. We all recognize the importance of organizations like CLOC for people with developmental disabilities and their families, and we all work every day so that these vulnerable members of our community feel that they are valued and belong. It’s time that the government recognized this, as well.

Check out this video about the #WaitingToBelong Campaign on CTV Your Morning Toronto.

Experiences with Passport Funding - A Study Created by Self Advocates for People Living with the Label of Intellectual Disability

Welcome! Thank you for your interest in our study. The Self Advocate Research Group is the collaboration of three women who have lived experience, and is assisted by Alison Mclean and Kathryn Primrose as advisors.

Yvonne Spicer, Theresa Somerton, and Nicole Flynn brought their expertise to the table to create a survey to gather feedback about Passport funding. The purpose of the survey is to find out what works and doesn’t work with Passport funding.

Yvonne, Theresa, and Nicole will be presenting the things they learn from this survey at the Community Living Ontario conference and at the Speaking Out conference. They will also be writing an article about the survey and the things they learned for publication.

Research goals

Through this research project, we will investigate the following questions:

1.       What do people know about Passport funding?

2.       Do people know how to apply for Passport funding?

3.       Do people know how to use Passport funding?

4.       Do people have a connection to a support agency?

The survey will take about 10 - 20 minutes to complete. Please share the survey with people in your circle.

Please click on the link to access the survey: https://forms.office.com/r/Ee2GBaVWTJ

The Self Advocate Research Group thanks you for taking the time to complete this survey. 

The Holidays are a time of year when many people like to donate to their favourite organizations. CLOC needs your support now, more than ever, to continue our mission to provide opportunities for meaningful citizenship for people with developmental disabilities in the community.

Your donations help to fund:

Quality of Life: focuses on community involvement, health, safety, respite care, augmented communication, experiences, and providing further personalized opportunities for inclusion within the community.

Bricks & Mortar: focuses on ensuring that people live in safe homes that are adapted to their needs, including repairs and maintenance, accessibility features such as lifts and ramps, retrofitting and fire & safety.

Did You Know? You can designate your donation to be used at a particular CLOC location or program, or to be used toward specific items (such as art supplies, music therapy, animal therapy, etc). Leave us a note when you donate, and we will do the rest!

HOW TO DONATE

Donating is easy!

By Phone: 905-576-3011 - ask to speak with the Finance Department

By eTransfer: Send via Craig Nighbor (cnighbor@communitylivingoc.ca). In the notes, please indicate 'Holiday Donation'. If you would like a receipt, you will need to email Craig with your full name, address and phone number.

CanadaHelps: Visit CLOC's CanadaHelps page by clicking HERE . Your receipt will be issued immediately via email.

CLOC's Holiday Giving Grid: Visit https://www.givinggrid.com/gqjnop/ to make your donation on CLOC's Home for the Holidays Giving Grid. You will have the opportunity to add a photo or message to the grid when you make your donation. Receipts will be issued once

the Giving Grid Campaign has closed.

Thank you for your generous support!

CLOC recently gathered recipes from its employees for dishes that they would typically make for a holiday or celebration. We've turned these recipes into the CLOC Holiday Recipe Book, which we would like to share with you as our thank you for your ongoing commitment to the organization during the Holiday Season and all year round. Please click on the book cover below to receive your copy.

www.communitylivingoc.ca