Sound check. 1 2 3 Good afternoon. It is Thursday, October the 1st at 1:30. We are here for emergency and community services committee. It is the very last one of this term. So, thanks everyone for being here. Uh thank you to our committee members online. We have councelor Nan, councelor M. Wilson, and in the room is councelor Alex Wilson. We do have quorum. I'd like to call this meeting to order. As a reminder that all electronic devices are to be switched to a non-audible function during committee meetings. Starting with the approval of the agenda. Mover in a second to approve the agenda as presented, please. Councelor Alex Wilson, councelor Nan. Any amendments to the agenda at all? This is a show of hands. May I have your vote, please? That carries. Thank you. Moving on to declarations of interest. Are there any declarations of interest? Seeing none, let's move on to the approval of minutes from previous meeting, may I please have a mover and a seconder to adopt the minutes of September 3rd meeting of the emergency and community services. Uh mover and seconder, councelor Nan, councelor Alex Wilson. Any discussion on the minutes, please? Seeing none, this is also a show of hands vote, please. And looks like everyone that carries. Thank you. We do not have any delegations. So, we are on to the meat and potatoes of this meeting, and I'm super excited about it. Let's go on to items for information. 7.1 is HSC26042 2026 early years system annual update. Like to call upon Director Chase to provide committee with an overview of the report. Director Chase, please. >> Thank you very much. Um through the chair, I'm uh Jessica Chase, the director of children's and community services. And the report that's before you today is an information report providing an update on the earlier system. It includes key accomplishments as well as an overview of the implementation of the Canada wide early learning and childare program or sewel for short as we often call it. Um this has resulted in childcare fees being reduced to $22 a day and the creation of 1,760 new childcare spaces in Hamilton that will be achieved by the end of this year. Um I do want to provide committee um a bit of an update on what's not included in the report. And the reason why it's not included in the report is it was just announced on Tuesday of this week. Um that is that the provincial and the federal governments have just announced an extension to the Seawalk agreement until March of 2031. So while we are still waiting on the specifics and the details of what that means as well as waiting for more information about specific funding allocations for Hamilton, I'm happy to share what we know so far. This agreement extension means that childcare fees for families will remain stable at $22 a day until at least June of 2027. However, no new funding at this point has been announced for further space expansion. We are aware that the federal and the provincial governments are in continued discussions and we will continue to advocate for additional funding and space targets so that we can meet the demand for childare here in Hamilton as we know that demand continues to outweigh the number of available spaces. So, while there continues to be pressures in the system, I do want to highlight the progress in Hamilton that we've made, which includes increasing our access rate from 34% to 38% as well as average annual savings of over $10,000 for each family per child, uh, which we know is hugely significant for families in Hamilton. Happy to take any questions. >> Excellent questions from committee. Councelor Nan, please. Thank you, chair, and through you too, staff. Uh, thank you for the overview. So, just to be super clear for the public, even though there was a promise for a $10 a day daycare, that's not actually being actualized and instead it's in the 20s on average and that that rate is to be extended into 2030 as you mentioned. Director Trace, could you just clarify again one more time? >> Yes, through the chair. So, what we know so far is that the agreement has been extended to 2031. However, the um announcement that came out indicated that the fees will remain stable at $22 a day until at least June of 2027. Um beyond that, we don't know the details of what that looks like, including information on further reductions um or space expansion as we wait for that detail. Um we do know, however, that the province and the federal governments are continuing those negotiations still. >> Thank you for clarifying. I got the June 2027 was the piece that I missed. So it's frozen until then until such time that the province provides more details. Thank you. >> Any other questions at all? I just have one. So how's our weight list looking then? Uh through the chair. So the weight list in Hamilton um does continue to be a challenge as it is in many many communities across the province. Uh we know that the demand for child care continues to outpace the the space creation. Um I can share that we have over 55,000 children on the wait list. However, I will put a big caveat on that number. Uh we do not have a centralized weight list here in Hamilton. Um so we know that families because there is demand for child care will often put their names on multiple weight lists. So we know that that 55,000 number is greatly inflated. Um, however, we do continue to to monitor it and I think it speaks to the fact that we know that the the demand is there. >> Okay. Thank you. Seeing as there are no other speakers, I do need a mover and a seconder to uh move put the report on the floor and then receive the report. So, uh, Councelor Nan and Councelor Alex Wilson, this is a show of hands vote. So, may I have your And that looks like it's everyone. Thank you. Let's move on to 7.2. This is HSC26057206 youth strategy annual update. Again, I'll call upon Director Chase to introduce today's speakers. Director, thank you through the chair. Uh we're excited to be here today to provide committee with an update on the city's youth strategy, which is our annual update. I am going to turn it over momentarily to our presenters, and I won't get into too much detail because I I want to let them uh share that information for you through the presentation. But I do just want to take a moment to acknowledge that this strategy and many of the key accomplishments that you're going to hear about today are not possible without the support of other city divisions across the city as well as community partners that are advancing this work. And it is certainly not possible without the tremendous leadership of our youth team and the many youth that actively participate on our Hamont youth steering committee. Um, I do just want to say that we are very very fortunate to work along some incredible young people in our community and we are very grateful for the leadership that they're providing, the commitment and the fact that they bring the voice of youth forward into the work that we're doing. So with that, I'm happy to introduce our presenters today. Uh, we have Aaron Gates who is the acting project manager for strategic youth initiatives as well as we have Iris Elk and Ruth Moon Lopez who are two of our youth engagers who are going to provide the presentation today. Cool. Super excited to have you guys. Erin, go ahead. Um, and we're excited to hear your presentation. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. So, good afternoon everyone. My name is Aaron Gates and um, as Jessica mentioned, I'm the current project manager for strategic youth initiatives in the city and I'm finishing up my tenure and returning to my role as a youth navigator. Um, which and so I've been in this role for the past uh, nine months. And just before we get started, I want to acknowledge that this has only been my work for nine months. And with us is Jesse Williamson who has carried um the and this is really his work that we're continuing here and he'll be returning to this role um shortly. Um and as well I want to introduce who's here with me today is I have Iris Ellik, one of our youth engagers, and Ruth Moon Lopez, our other youth engager. And we're really excited to be here today to talk with you folks about >> Thank you. Um, we're excited to be here today to talk with you folks about the youth strategy. I messed that up. Oh, there we go. Um, so to provide some background, the city of Hamilton's youth strategy was officially endorsed by the city council in March of 2022 and its 5-year mandate is ending in 2027. We're currently operating in an implementation phase of our strategy with 33 of 37 of the 37 recommendations being completed or in progress and we remain on track to complete the full 37 by the end of 2027. The youth strategy was shaped through extensive collaboration engagement with the people young people in Hamilton. Um, we work closely with the community of youth age 14 to 29 to develop a comprehensive plan that acknowledges the unique challenges that they face within the city. The aim was to create a plan that not only engages youth but also supports them in a meaningful way. By involving them directly, we ensure that their voices are heard and that they are central to developing the solutions that resonate with their needs. This background, this sets the stage for understanding the foundational pillars that guide our youth strategy. All right. So, the Hamilton youth strategy is guided by five priority areas that were identified by youth themselves, reflecting what matters most to young people in creating a community where they can thrive, belong, and succeed. The five pillars of our youth strategy are work to enhance and promote youth engagement and leadership and safety and a sense of inclusion within the community. The the other three pillars are support and referrals for housing and uh that is safe and affordable, mental health and addiction supports to uh increase resilience in our community, and then support for education, employment, and training. Together, these priorities work to create uh a Hamilton where every young person can belong, succeed, and reach their full potential. I seem to be missing a slide here. Um, so I'll just talk a little bit about our governance structure. I'm sorry, just in terms of what I was intending to speak about in the notes I have on screen, they don't match. So I just want to let you know about our three um, uh, kind of cohorts that help us move forward here. We have a strong and dedic dedicated group of people and organizations that support youth each and every day to contribute and advance the priorities of the youth strategy. We have an internal staff steering committee that is made up of 25 divisions within the city running 50 separate youth initiatives. And this committee enables collaboration across different areas of the city and ensuring that action items within the strategy are met and that that we're aligned and coordinated as we meet those action items. We also all have our child and youth network which is a collaborative group that includes leaders, senior leaders from community organization which plays a role um uh plays a key role in enhancing local outcomes for children and youth and families by fostering partnerships and sharing resources. And the network amplifies individual efforts that those on the are uh kind of in the community are doing and it creates a more robust support for youth in Hamilton. And finally, we have our youth serving agencies network uh which is dedicated to strengthening the capacity of professionals who work with youth. This network connects resources and advances initiatives uh to empower young people and ensures those are working directly with youth in the community are well equipped and informed and united in their efforts. Um to talk a little bit about the successes we've had in the past year, I'm going to refer to Iris, one of our youth engagers. to change. >> Thank you, Aaron. I'm very excited to be here today. Today, we're highlighting the impressive efforts of our youth volunteers and the impact of the youth steering committee. Let's start with our 60 active youth volunteers who have already contributed an astounding 500 hours in 2026 alone. This level of commitment is truly inspiring and demonstrates the dedication our young people have to make a difference in their community. Across the youth team, our work is supported by six direct service staff who work tirelessly with youth, helping them access services and achieve their personal and professional goals. Their role is crucial as they bridge the gap between available resources and the youth who need them. In terms of our youth events, we've organized activities like the youth town hall, a beach cleanup, and we are planning the fourth annual Hamont Youth Summit presented by RBC on October 16th. Our engagement at these events has been great with 86 attendees at the youth town hall which happened in May. 70 attendees at the beach cleanup in August with some being members of the community who saw what we were doing on Ban Wagner's Beach and just wanted to help out. We are also expecting over 300 attendees at the 4th annual Hammont Youth Summit presented by RBC. These events are not just about engaging youth but also about empowering them to take active roles in community operations. These mechanisms for engagement ensure that our youth are heard and involved in shaping the future of our community. I'd like to speak a bit more about the youth engager role. Now, the youth engager role is a 10-month contract for those 18 to 29. It's a role for youth by youth and is paid at a living wage. The role is designed to provide youth with professional experience and connect youth to the community services and programs available to them. As of 2026, we've engaged 3,891 community members in the role to date. On my end, one of the most rewarding things about being a youth engager is the level of reach that we have. I have met thousands of people and learned about their life experiences, and that is an opportunity that not many entry-level community roles have. I feel incredibly grateful to be entrusted with the responsibility that the role carries. And I will now pass it on to Ruth to share her thoughts about the role as well. Thank you. Thank you, Iris. Um, for myself, the youth engager role is one that I believe every youth in Hamilton should take on at least once. Um, and not only teaches you about the more uh procedural inner workings of municipal politics, but also permits you to meet people in the city where they are and offer practical support. That combination of both theory and application have been incredibly rewarding. Now, let's dive into some of the significant accomplishments that we achieved in 2026. Starting with our mental health and addictions focus area, the youth wellness hub advocacy work and the Canadian Institute on Health Research's project have been pivotal. The youthled participatory action research study on the impact of hate and bias related violence on mental health has been groundbreaking. This work not only advances our understanding but empowers youth by giving them a platform to share their experiences and insights. Other key initiatives that provided an opportunity to implement actions from the research was the threads of belonging campaign and the Federation of International Basketball Associations youth engagement event which I will speak to more in the next slide as well as the HSR Sunflower campaign promotion. All of which fostered a vital sense of safety and inclusion. In terms of youth engagement and leadership, we also achieved the highest turnout yet for our youth town hall. And through our forestry's youth focused tree planting initiative, we planted an impressive number of 1,354 trees. We've also provided support in safe and affordable housing with bi-weekly engagement sessions for youth and shelters and an employment, education, and training. The Hamilton Child and Family Services hiring event provided youth in care with low barrier access to applying for city jobs. This year's Hamont Youth Summit presented by RBC, which is planned for October 16th at McMaster University, will also focus on employment and skills development. Another exciting update from this year is that our youth team supported 43 youth in graduating high school and 29 are heading to post-secary education. These accomplishments are a testament to the power of youth leadership and engagement in supporting and shaping a supportive community. Expanding on the initiatives mentioned earlier, the threads of belonging campaign is a project funded through a partnership with McMaster University and the offered center for childc care studies. This project empowered youth to turn research into action. The youth steering committee members designed and implemented the campaign with the development of a graphics of a a graphic t-shirt for a threads of belonging t-shirt with the message Hamilton is a better place with you in it. The committee also hosted a friendship bracelet making workshop that included the facilitation and indigenous teachings from one of our YSC members. The t-shirts, bracelets, and campaign messages were shared across communities with 384 youth engaged across local libraries, high schools, and shelters. The team Canada basketball event was also another engaging and fun-filled event with 70 youth participating in an engagement to share their experiences with hate in the community. They were also provided a meal and then attended the July 6th game for free with an opportunity to high-five players as they ran onto the court. Both of these events engaged youth in meaningful ways and provided them with opportunities to foster belonging and well-being in our community. >> Thank you. Was that beep? The two-minute beep. Um I'm just going to go back a slide. So I'm very excited to be here today to talk to you about a city initiative that we have for youth, the experience annex. and that's the office that Ruth and Iris and I work out of. And I'm pleased to also add that the Experience Annex was the recipient of the 2025 Ontario Municipal Social Services Association Local Municipal Champion Award. Um, as I mentioned, the Experience Annex is a city-run initiative. It provides navigation support for all youth in Hamilton aged 14 to 29 with our home office being on the fourth floor of the Central Library just over in Jackson Square. The support that the annex provides is very unique. It's youthdriven support. And what that means is that youth connect with the annex on the way that they want and the pace that they want. And that's important because it gives young people autonomy over the services they're accessing. It's voluntary. It's not mandatory. Um, and some instances a youth will see us one time and we'll never hear from them again. And in other experiences I've had, I've met a youth once or twice and 18 months later they contact me again. And all of that's okay because they're choosing that um access. uh the door will never close to those youth. They can contact the annex at any time and we would be available to support them. We know a youth-driven model is important because the more barriers you put in place for young people, the less likely they are to access services on a voluntary level. Um and so we operate at the central library because the annex is a place-based model and we're close to youth food banks, youth mental health services, and youth shelters. And so we can just walk there with a young person if if they're in need of support and connecting. Um the supports that youth request through the annex mirror those supports uh mirror those five pillars of the youth strategy. So from 2025 through currently in 2026 we've assisted more than 500 youth with requests and those requests um fall in percentages as follows. Um 43% of youth accessing support through the annex are looking for employment and education support. 23% of youth are requesting support for access to mental health and addictions resources. 18% are requesting support for accessing housing resources. And 16% are accessing support for things like government ID, um taxes, social assistance navigation. I just want to update you on next steps for the youth strategy. So, we're pleased to share that we've started planning for the youth strategy beyond 2027 with plans underway for the development of a child and youth experiences engagement initiative that will build on the success of our first strategy and we'll continue our initial approach of youth inform work as we move forward. Uh, another key focus is our increased commitment to employment and skills development within the city. This begin uh this being advanced at our annual Hamont youth summit is presented by RBC and through various strategic partnerships. By providing these opportunities, we're empowering young people to focus on their personal development and skills uh as well as education and career pathways. The work aligns with the remaining actions recommended by the youth strategy. Additionally, we're continuing to advocate for the implementation of the youth wellness hub. This is an essential step towards ensuring that our young people have access to the mental health and wellness resources that they need. To date, the Youth Wellness Hub advocacy includes the development of a readiness report by community partners and a delegation to the Association of Municipalities in Ontario um by the folks here at the city. By focusing on these areas, we're not just planning for the future, but we're building it. We are excited to continue providing youth with opportunities and supports to ensure they can thrive and have a sense of belonging within our city. And we had a really lovely thank you slide, but it didn't work out that way. So, thank you. and we're open to questions. >> Perfect. Thank you so much Aaron and Iris and Ruth. Thank you so much for uh doing your presentation today. Uh questions com first of all let's get a mover in a second to put this report on the floor and then we'll do questions. So C Alex Wilson and councelor Moren Wilson please. And let's go with Alex Wilson first please. Council Wilson. >> Thank you. for the folks who are in the youth engager roles. I think just a question about you spoke about what was valuable about getting to kind of connect in that. Um are you able to offer regardless what your next steps are is there some thought about what did you learn in the role that you can bring forward whether it's kind of another city role whether it's job whether it's school whatever that looks like were those transferable skills or were they just kind of an interesting to learn and you're you're glad you learned them but you're not maybe going to pick them up again. >> Uh through the chair to the counselor. Thank you for the question. On my end, I found it to be an incredible opportunity just to truly connect with youth. Um, the role is for people for like from 14 to 29. So we have such an expensive demographic and on my end I think it's been a very eye openening experience to see um not that I think I'm someone who carries a lot of prejudices or biases but really connecting and meeting people and truly seeing faces of so many people it makes you feel very humanistic and I think it's it brings a level of empathy that even if you are an already empathetic person carries carries with you to other roles that you'll choose to take on. For myself, I'm really interested in judicial act uh advocacy, especially um related to youth and digital and political literacy. So, for myself, I think really having inerson conversations with people regarding those struggles has been extremely um valuable just both professionally but in my life. And I'm sure Ruth has some thoughts as well. >> Uh through the chair to the council, thank you for that question. Um for myself, I'm personally interested in getting into journalism after this role. And that is a role I think um a lot of the skills I've learned in this role are completely transferable and applicable to um considering it's a the practice of storytelling um and delivering important stories and telling uh giving a voice to people who don't have one. And I've uh really witnessed firsthand a lot of um important people and community members and um people who need uh help and aren't getting it. and this role has really um been like able to uh been able to let me meet them face to face and um it's been really rewarding to see like um our help like actually in action. Um so yeah, that's definitely some of the things that I've learned for sure. >> Thank you both so much through the chair. I think what really stands out to me is that there's no one right way to kind of connect with youth. um and in fact we need lots of different strategies and so hearing what also you took away and having those experiences be so different but also the same note of kind of but there was so much value in the position I think speaks to kind of there's there's no right path um so I'm so glad that I think there's been such a positive experience in the role but if there was things that you'd ask us to kind of do more of or because there's no one right thing if there's maybe some opportunities that you think aren't on the table right now from your experience um that would either make future folks in the role be able to do more in the role um or just connect with folks who you weren't maybe noticed you weren't able to connect with in those hundreds or thousands of folks. um if any phases were left out just kind of that that note if there's ways to improve >> uh through the chair to the counselor another excellent question I would say for myself as we've moved into a more digital world I think it's really important to create um a brand that is very engaging to youth and of course I understand with governmental structures the bureaucracy and I understand there's a level of rigidity not necessarily negative but to maintain the image as well as the establishment. And I recognize all those things, but I think it's also balancing where the youth are at with the media that they're consuming. And at this point in time, I think that we need to create content that both engages youth and also makes them feel like they are represented in it. So potentially creating some more collaborations with youth, having whether that be MSU students at McMaster or Mohawk or other educational establishments as well as just youth that we see online. Maybe it be taking more input from trends and things that we're seeing online and then using that into the future strategies with the youth strategy team. But I wonder if youth has any opinions on that. >> Um through the chair to the counselor. Uh I'll speak to some of the things that we've personally heard from other youth through our different inerson engagement events. A lot of youth have actually come up to us and asked us how we've landed these roles, these youth engaged roles. So I think that um seeing more of these kinds of roles implemented where we see roles that are um positioned for youth by youth would be incredible to see that are paid that give you actual firsthand experience within municipal politics would be great to see more of. Um, and we've also seen a really keen interest in like different um, entrepreneurial like opportunities for students wanting to start their own businesses. Um, getting support to like get off the ground. So, those are just some of the things that I think um, some of the youth in Hamilton are really in need of. Thank you. >> Thank you both so much. >> Any other questions at all? >> So, I have a couple. So um Erin, you spoke about the experience annex and 43% of the youth that access that are looking for job opportunities. So how how has that been in the last couple of years? Has that gone up or has that gone down? What's the what's the type what give us a little more information on that that aspect if you could please? >> Yeah, through the chair. Thank you so much for the question. Um youth employment is certainly a challenge within our community. Um I see I'll speak previously as well before I came to the city I worked in employment and youth and employment youth employment is very much a canary in the coal mine. So certainly in in the time that I've worked in the experience annex from 2022 until just recently um that's what youth are coming for for support for and it's because there's really a limited number of supports for young people specifically those are who who are in school um to be able to access employment support for resume writing interview preparation job readiness skills um and so that's something that's really been lacking in our community um for for quite a long period of time and It means that um resources like the annex um are valuable because where else are you young people going to be able to get that support? >> Okay, thank you. So perhaps if I could ask some more delving questions. What are the types of jobs that youth are really looking for? Um so in that 43% I do recognize every you're serving everybody from 14 to like essentially 29 or even more. So, I wonder if you can give me a sense as to are these part-time jobs that people are looking for? Are they fresh out of school, entry- level jobs that they're looking for? What is what is the makeup of that those inquiries? >> Yeah, through the chair. Thank you. Um, so when you're talking about youth employment in terms of who's accessing the experience annex, we're talking about two specific categories. Young people who are in high school who are looking for part-time jobs to kind of get that first experience uh experience and supplement their income. and then university graduates and and college graduates who are looking for um kind of to start their careers. So some of those roles are part-time summer jobs and those windows are quite narrow when you're looking for summer work. You're either looking January, December and hoping that you have it together to realize jobs are coming up then or you're looking May, June. In terms of graduates, that's much more challenging because they're looking for niche, you know, specific jobs, not general student jobs. um and in some instances they have no um type of experience to get there. So it's about helping them create their resume so that they can find you know learn how to like look at a job posting create a resume that matches the job posting which the experiences they have. Did that answer your question? >> It does. Um, I think that the crux of where I'm going with this is that economic development has a economic development action plan of which work and jobs and talent retention is a significant portion. So I wonder how closely do you work with that because if ECD is going out and talking to all of these businesses, they're saying that they are finding a lack of talent and then you're saying 43% are going ah trying to get jobs. I'm struggling with the disconnect here >> certainly. Um and through the chair, thank you for that question. Um so it is quite challenging because when you have an employer, if you think of when you look at a job posting, that job posting is going to say you need to come in with this much experience. Pretty much every job posting says two years of experience. And young people just leaving school won't have that two years of experience. And with the changes that we're seeing kind of employment in society, employers are expecting individuals to come in with a much higher level of training and providing less training. And society is not providing young people those training. And it could be in many different ways that maybe the the programs that are um in schools aren't specific to what employers are looking for. The technology is changing quite quickly. Um so I think that contributes to that um significantly. And if you just I I was talking and I might have forgot your question. [laughter] Well, it's around the disconnect because if ECD is saying there's a lack of talent and then we're saying there is a lot of interest. >> So, so certainly so some of it is that skills gap where employers are looking for things that youth don't have and uh in terms of the experience annex itself. Experience index is quite a small office to be honest with you, it's us >> and um there's um we we have not worked with with economic development. We have been fortunate enough to work with HR previous in the last two years to help some of those more um in need youth, youth who are in care connect with employment opportunities. Um but just in general more connections need to be made so that there are those opportunities for young people who are out there. Um and and some of it could be wage subsidy or co-op trials or or what have you. There's lots of different options, but there just needs to be more of it. And so no, we're not directly working with ECD, but we would like to. You should talk to Adam Durant. A D- A M D- u r a n t. Adam Durant. >> Uh he's going to be working on the new econ economic development action plan. Um but he would also have a good sense as to how that talent retention works. So definitely go through that. My last question and I'm recognizing Oh, sorry. Can I just add if that's okay? >> I didn't mean to interrupt you there. Um I just wanted to add to Erin's response as well. Um so one of the things that uh we're doing in this work with youth as well is we have an internal coordinating table um where we've actually brought together 25 different divisions from across the city that are helping us advance this work um because we recognize that it is a small but mighty team and in order to advance things like this we do need to have those connections. We've had some preliminary conversations with ECD um but we can certainly take that away and continue those conversations and perhaps there's an opportunity for us to strengthen that relationship. Um, I'm particularly thinking through that internal coordinating team that we have. >> Excellent. Adam Durant in economic development, calling him out very specifically and out loud very loudly. So anyway, um, awesome. My last question is around next steps then because I do know that you have your youth summit coming up. Um for me being far outside of the youth spectrum, I thought that um jobs, employment would have been sort of the topics, but it was interesting to hear the mental health aspect of it. Housing that was also in that top three. So, so how what are those next steps? Because as you're developing the next strategy beyond 2027, what does that engagement look like? What does that consultation look like? because I'm also recognizing we just had a couple of big announcements. Delco laying off 300 jobs. That would have been amazing, right? So, it's like it's it's changing fast. The environment is changing fast. So, what does that next step really look like when it comes to the new youth strategy? >> Uh, certainly. Thank you. Through the chair, I'll I'll speak to the summit and then for uh the remainder of the the strategy moving forward, I'm going to pass it over to Director Chase. So our focus this year at the summit is entirely employment and skills development um shaped. We do have model city hall coming in the morning to do engagement and then our community fair is based on areas where youth can gain skills or opportunities for certification or volunteer opportunities and then our afternoon workshops are based on employment and skills development specifically around um kind of that pre-employment portion. So, uh, workshop, um, networking, a resume workshop, how to apply to jobs, networking, um, focusing just on how you can build those employability skills and and then move out kind of like into that area in the future because that's really a piece that's missing for young people and it's very very complicated. And then in terms of the strategy moving forward, I'll pass that to director Chase. >> Yes, thank you. Um, through the chair. Um so continuing to have a youth strategy is incredibly important and there are certainly um things that we hear that are unique needs of youth in the community. However, we're also seeing that there's some commonalities and themes that we're hearing across the different strategies that uh we have responsibility for. So we are going to be looking very intentionally at how we can align the youth strategy going forward with things like our community safety and well-being plan, some of the work that's happening in our early years and middle years. Um but certainly we will continue to engage youth in those discussions, continue to use the Hamont Youth Steering Committee, which is an incredible um voice of youth that uh helps inform this work going forward um so that we can continue to advance the work. And as I said before, we do rely on many other divisions and community partners and we'll continue to strengthen those relationships as well. >> Great. Thank you so much. Seeing as there are no other speakers, thank you Erin, Iris, and Ruth for your presentation today. We do already have a mover and a seconder. So, we'll uh Oh, councelor Alex Wilson, please. >> Not a question for the the speakers, just a question for the bench, if that's okay. >> Okay, you guys can have a seat if you like. Yes. >> Or more of a comment even really. I think it's just I really wanted to reflect on the fact that one of the things I heard quite clearly is when we find opportunities to engage youth um in speaking to youth we're not only more effective um we're more believable earnest I think in social media some of those social media comments the message gets across better we're more effective communicators [sighs and gasps] but I also heard the power of kind of having those roles um in terms of connecting folks to understanding their city understanding that and how that work kind of carries forward as well um I think a big part of the youth strategy day has been kind of emerging merging that gap or finding ways that we can engage youth in the process of city building with other youth to kind of meet those gaps. Um, as we move forward with the strategy, maybe I'll I'll turn that comment and that appreciation of those into a question just are there ways that we're finding ways to kind of further support that peer-to-peer focus or um really making sure again that's kind of the embodiment of the strategy itself is that but I've I've heard some specific notes today maybe just at a high level um where do we see the continuous improvement with that? >> Director Chase please. Yeah, through the chair. Um, I absolutely agree with you, counselor, that it's important that as we continue to move forward with this work that we're centering the voices of youth and that we're looking for opportunities for peer-to-peer engagement. So, certainly, we always have room to improve and to continue to strengthen that. I think we're very fortunate to have our youth engagers who are doing that work. They are um often the voice of youth bringing forward ideas. They're the ones that are going out. They're at festivals. they're at things like Super Crawl where they're setting up booths and having those conversations directly with youth. Um so we continue to look for opportunities to continue to strengthen that role going forward. Um and it continues to be a really important role within the team. Um so we'll again certainly agree with you. I think that that's really really critical and we'll continue to build that into the strategy going forward. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh if there are no more questions on the report, uh this is a hand vote to receive the presentation and the report, please. All right, that looks like everyone and that carries. Angela, you did get them over in a second, right? Okay, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Okay, let's go on to 7.3. This is HSC26059, seniors community liaison group terms of reference citywide. this time. May I please have a move in a second to put this report on the floor, please? Uh, Councelor Alex Wilson, and I'll second that. Um, any questions on the report at all? Seeing none, this is a hand vote to receive the report, please. And that looks like everyone. Thank you. On to 7.4, Recreation Registered Programs Process Review. Oh, directors of war, you're going to be in the hot seat. Just asking. I'd like to call upon director Seavore to provide committee with an overview of this report. Director, on to you. >> Thank you through the chair, Steve Savor, director of recreation. Um, thank you, chair, for the opportunity to uh speak to this report. Uh we are aware that the residents of our city enjoy a multitude of services provided by my staff and that the technical issues faced during our original fall 2026 registration period caused significant inconvenience for our patrons and for that I apologize. This report uh this information report provides a comprehensive review of the recreation division's registered programs process. The review also responds to the technical disruption uh experienced on September 17, 2026 when issues with the vendors waiting room uh environment affected customers shortly after fall registration began. In response, recreation staff made the decision to stop the registration process to protect equitable access. We communicated directly with impacted customers and work with the vendor to resolve the issue. The affected registrations were refunded and rescheduled with the subsequent registration dates proceeding successfully. Looking forward, the recreation division is committed to using this opportunity to better understand and respond to the evolving needs of the community. So, beginning in October this month, uh staff will undertake a comprehensive engagement process that will include community presentations, surveys, public information centers, followed by analysis of our registration data, customer feedback, uh service channel information, registration methodology, and pro program offerings. The findings of uh of this review and this engagement uh will be proposed from these this engagement in Q1 of 2027. We'll come back to this committee uh to provide an update. Um so uh with that I'm glad to answer any questions that uh committee has. >> Perfect. Thank you and thank you for your leadership on that. It was really tough to navigate through all of that, but you guys really turned it around. I'll have a mover in a second. I'll have councelor Nan and uh councelor Alex Wilson to move and second to put this report on the floor. Councelor Nan, please. >> Thank you, Chair, and uh completely echo your comments to director Sabore. Thank you to yourself personally, but also the recreation um services staff team that were nimble in responding to the incident as it was unfolding. I think equal time between [clears throat] um the city system receiving response. There was also every counselor's office being flooded with questions and inquiries about why the system wasn't working. Um, director, if you could, in the report, there's an outline around the vendor expectations component. Um, and I can't remember if you mentioned this verbally in your overview of the report. So in terms of what failed um you know from our perspective our expectation was that should not have happened wouldn't have happened in terms of our vendor contract. Um were the fixes covered underneath the contract? Was the vendor responsible for all costs associated with um making sure that the system was operating and operational before registration went public again? >> Uh through the chair to the counselor. Yes. uh in essence the vendor was responsible for um the fixes that occurred. Uh again as you can see in appendix A of our report there is acknowledgement of uh of the issues and the responsibility of uh the vendor to support us and they they have committed to uh continuing that support and enhancing that uh for the future. uh in regards to the issue that happened, it was a third, as I mentioned earlier, a third-party uh waiting room environment that um that failed in that particular instance. Not necessarily the the software uh uh of our registration program, but that third party application, but again uh the vendor is uh committed to working with us in the future to make sure that that does not happen. >> Thank you. and then through you chair um this also served as an opportunity for a lot of feedback to come into the system. And so really appreciating the next steps that are being outlined in this report. Chair, um the engage portion that's being outlined in the timeline between October, which we're in now, uh through to November, could staff speak a little bit about what residents might expect here? Like is there an opportunity given that um the registration was, you know, not exclusively but predominantly included swimming lessons that are all kicking off next week. Is there an opportunity to capture our customers right at the rec centers, right at the pools to get some of this anecdotal uh feedback registered within your technical survey >> through the chair to the counselor? Yes. Uh I I think we will be uh entertaining a number of different options for engagement. uh whether it is through uh online surveys um as I mentioned before in in-person public center uh opportunities uh but uh the the opportunities that you mentioned in terms of having uh the people at the courses uh again we will take every opportunity to uh make sure that we capture that feedback and that's a it's a great suggestion in that sense and we'll take it back. >> Thank you. And then the final piece around the analysis and even the engagement with our residents about their feedback. Um, appreciating what's outlined here is a general summary, but is it possible to get into some of the nitty-gritty in terms of the user interface experience and the I think it's called the UIX. I'm talking acronyms that I don't even fully understand and I think the X stands for design. But ultimately the idea being that if um customers or in our case our residents are accessing a service registration portal that the portal itself and how users interface with it and actually use it is part of what is analyzed uh for feedback to identify how we might be able to improve the system going forward. is a UIX built into what we're seeking feedback on >> uh through the chair to the council. That is is a little bit uh above my kind of understanding from a technical standpoint. Uh but definitely can follow up with uh our vendor and our staff. Uh we do have some parameters within the original agreement that uh uh that allowed us to build the system and to implement it. So, uh I I'll take that back in terms of uh understanding uh the technical aspects of it, but definitely we want to make sure that it's a it's a great customer experience for our patrons. Um so, not only the program offerings and the uh uh timing and and and a number of those different issues, but also the access to the system is something that we hope to get more input from. >> Excellent. And I would agree chair that uh the offering of programs is clearly meeting our public's need uh that there's such a demand to register right as soon as the portal opens. Uh I think recreation services have been doing an incredible job of not only uh standardizing what's being offered but also tweaking what's being offered in terms of some of those specialized swimming classes that are for demographics that wouldn't necessarily feel able to participate in some of the standard ones. So I'd say uh staff are doing an excellent job in program offering. Um but I think majority of the feedback that we heard through the W3 office at least was about that user interface piece and uh encouraged to hear that that could be addressed within the existing contract. So no further questions. Thank you. >> Perfect. Thank you. And the X stands for experience. >> Okay. Uh Councelor Moren Wilson, please. >> Thank you. Uh thank you chair through the chair. Thank you director Seavore for the report. Uh just further to the user interface and um whether it's in the scope of this so I understand um could you educate me on how often you and your team sort of evaluate uh the the process of of sign up and how and whether it works um optimally for for users. Thank you. through the chair to the councelor that uh thank you for the question. I'll pass it over to manager uh business support Don Walton to uh provide answer to that in the uh author of the report. >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon, Don Walton, manager business support through the chair to the councelor. Uh the city of Hamilton sits in a user group with all of the other municipalities that are using this product. There's a limited number of products that handle the robust recreation business existing in Canada. So the focus that we have as users is to continue to work with our vendors to enhance user experience by providing ongoing feedback. We have monthly meetings with the vendors. We collaborate with other municipalities to prioritize the needs that we have. And we really focus on what we hear from not only our customers but our staff on how userfriendly the tools are um and what our residents want to see in a product. So that is an ongoing effort and it continues and we are regularly getting upgrades and seeing progress and improvements to the product based on that feedback and that's a relationship that the vendor has committed to having with all of its partners. So I would suggest that based on what occurred a few weeks ago and the feedback they've already heard from us that has been taken very very seriously and they're also prioritizing a few things that were in the queue that were a little bit lower on the you know on the planning horizon that have been prioritized because of what occurred that they are looking to u give us a better experience based on that. So I'm I'm hoping we'll see some even more enhancements in the near future to the product and what we can provide online. So I hope that answers your question. >> Thank you. Uh further further to that, was this kind of incident unique to the the city of Hamilton? You talked about um the platform and other municipal partners and users through the chair. >> Yeah. Through the chair to the councelor. Yes, it was. This came as a surprise to everyone. Uh as a matter of fact, so as uh director Seavore already um uh discussed, the issue was with a third-party add-on component to our vendor products and our vendor was taken by surprise as well. So um this was a one-off issue. Um it was isolated. The it was controlled. It was remedied immediately and identified immediately. Unfortunately, the remedy was not able to be um implemented in the window that we required to support our active registration. It was um corrected by end of day that day and put into a test environment the following day. Uh but we anticipate it won't happen again. We now have added checks and balances to our process that is already quite robust that supports our uh technical initiatives on registration day. So that this a very specific thing will also be checked as part of our process. >> Thank you. I think my last question is um on the engagement that you will be exercising I think you said beginning October or so this month is that work of evaluation or or rather engagement being in informed by the city's engagement office or or is that uh singularly being defined by um recreation? Um I'm just not clear on that through the chair. >> Uh through the chair. No. uh to the council. Yes. Uh we will be involving the engagement office to support us in that uh endeavor. Uh as I mentioned on many different opportunities to engage with the community so that we get the uh correct and and valuable feedback from uh not only patrons that have uh enjoyed our services but those that uh have had uh differing experiences as well and we want to improve on that as well. >> Thank you. And if if I if I may um perhaps leave a suggestion with you to explore, of course it's within your domain operationally to do so. Um but I've um part of the the the challenge of course of of these things is u the people who are signing up uh are typically so very busy. um and uh and and engagement is can be just another layer of it is certainly an opportunity and very valuable but almost another layer of labor. Uh but I've always found um the ability to offer uh a focus group uh for those who are so inclined if you can get a a cross tab of representation to kind of provide that lived experience of okay what what happens the you set your alarm and how did you find it and how does it usually work and what what might um what might be added or subtracted uh to make your life easier. So, I'll leave that with you. Thank you for the report. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Seeing as there are no other speakers, we already have a mover and a seconder. So, this is a hand vote to receive the report, please. Looks like everyone that carries. Thank you. We are now on to item for consideration. 8.1 is HSC 26055. The community data program is a single source. like to call upon director Chase to provide committee with an overview of this report, please. >> Through the chair, I'm actually going to pass the introduction over to Colin McMullen, who is our manager of performance planning and um evaluation to introduce this one. >> So, through the chair, good afternoon. Uh as Jessica mentioned, I'm Colin McMullen. I'm the manager of our performance planning and evaluation team within children's and community services division. and so happy to provide you with an overview of this report, the community data program single source. Um, so the purpose of this report is to obtain committee and subsequent council approval to continue to utilize a policy 11 non-competitive procurement to maintain the city of Hamilton's membership in the community data program as our current five-year agreement expires at the end of this December. Um it's important to highlight or point out at this point I think that this is not an ask for new or additional funding that these funds uh are already exists within our budgets. Um so it's not we're not seeking new or additional funding for this ask just for an extension and for the opportunity to continue to utilize a policy 11 for this. Um the community data program is a unique program without an equivalent alternative and our membership in it provides us with access to data not otherwise available. Thus the pursuit of the policy 11 um the CDP provides cost-effective and exclusive access to custom statistics Canada data most notably at the ward planning unit and major transit station area level for the city of Hamilton. So, this data has been you utilized and is used on a regular basis by a number of departments and divisions across the city to help make evidence-based decisions um including our city of Hamilton ward profiles, the corporate data dashboard, our LRT planning work, the Hamilton neighborhood index, um emergency planning for fire and paramedic services, and Hamilton's health status report to name just a few. Uh in addition, I should mention uh given the nature of some of the the reports coming before you today, we've also used it quite extensively in our work around child care expansion in the community as well. So a number of different uses for for this data across the city. So once again, in some this custom data provided is not available otherwise as a standard product that can be acquired or purchased. So therefore, we're coming to you to ask for an extension um for our policy 11. Thank you. Thank you, Manager McMullen. Um, I know in the past I've I've had a chance to work with Louisa Wong on this and she's been wonderful and excellent uh excellent staff person that has a lot of knowledge on this. First up is Council Alex Wilson, please. >> Thank you. I think the report's really clear about the value for money, the rationale for that. I think I'm just I have a really 101 question, which is what is the offer that we're getting? was the um this network that's external um are they basically taking the more aggregate values that Stats Cam publishes and somehow they're disagregating them into more like more localized areas in which case they that's they're the only ones that does that their professional statist I'm just trying to understand the in-house versus going through them or if we use these data sets so I'm not maybe sure I understand what they're doing but the value for money explanation has been explained very clear >> sure so through the chair so the the value for money here is that Yes, they're taking that data and then they're able to manipulate that data and provide us with that data at particular geographies. So the ward level um so we get census data at the ward level, at the planning unit level and at the major transit area station level. So they're able to manipulate that and give us that data um which Statistics Canada does not do. So that's sort of the that's the value for the extra value for money that we're getting from them. They also provide um if we're interested as well custom data. If there's a there's a request that goes back to CDP in terms of could we get some data um on this particular area or this is of particular interest to our community. Are you able to obtain that for us? They're sort of acting as that that uh in between to get us access to that as well. >> Thank you. And I I guess what I'm trying to maybe understand is like what is it that they're doing? So are they giving Stats can additional money and getting a like a more data sets? It doesn't sound like they're doing some analysis. So I'm just maybe if you could like from an accuracy perspective, are they inferring? It sounds like they they have a methodology that they're doing and I'm just curious about what that like at a high level what that is. >> Right. So I appreciate the question um through the chair. I'm going to turn that over to to Louisa Wong actually who's our performance planning and evaluation specialist who's online who's our expert in sort of working with this data. So I'll turn it over to Louisa. >> Hello. Um through the chair. Um so actually I'm just going to make a small correction about um the data and how it is actually provided through the CDP. So the the SDNET actually acts as an intermedi between um the network members and stats Canada in um negotiating how the data is extracted and provided to us by Stats Canada. So Stats Canada is the actual ones that are processing the data back to us. Um um and the Sednet is the ones that are responsible for kind of negotiating that deal and how the data is positioned and whether or not the data can be provided. Um so all those details related to the the data availability and processing are negotiated by STENTNET on behalf of all members with stats Canada and other data providers. >> Thank thank you. That's what I was missing was the data providers piece and like the what who is doing what? So are we at times a data provider? Can you give me an example of folks in the Hamilton area who are data providers? >> So we are not um data providers. We are actually the enduser consumers. So the data providers that um provide data through the CDP programs, the community data program would include um entities like stats Canada. Um sometimes we get data from um custom data from credit bureaus. Uh we can get some of that data from the labor force um statistics, employment um agencies um Canada Post. So we get the post to code conversion file through them as well which we use for uh mapping um uh data when when we want to look at smaller areas. Um so those are kind of the providers and we're kind of the end users. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I can follow up offline. I'm I'm not sure I completely understand it all but that's that's beside the I think the the point there. I guess I'm building to trying to just trying to get my head around it to get to the real question. So I'll just skip my understanding and get to the next bit which is like in terms of public value. So we're spending some money to get this data. My understanding though is it's in very technical packages is what I've gathered from this activity is that it's not coming in the form of an interactive map. What we may do though is in the form of our open mapping is we may put input some of this data on a 5year cycle and that's how it becomes publicly available. um is that from the in terms of public access to that is that maybe a fair point in terms of where that all ends up is in our various reports or in our maybe our interactive mapping so for example the ward demographics profile um that's an example of how we're providing public access to this data that we're paying for >> um through the Terry yes definitely that was how the data is then um used by the city and our and our departments so we use it internally as Colin mentioned in a lot of our reports to kind of position and found um lay out the groundwork of the data um founding information. Um we also provide that data to um as mentioned the city profile and the ward profiles that are online. So all that data that you see there is um fed and developed and collated based on data that we receive through Senet. Um and then of course all that data is also available through the open data portal which then the public can access and and obtain. We also also get um requests from the public or through various um agencies for data at um for which we also provide you know to the best of our abilities we provide some of those requests uh where possible. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> Are there any other questions? I have a couple. So I'm going to pass the chair to Alex Wilson, please. Um this recommendation is asking for a 10 years. Um and as we know technology changes, the types of services change. So could you give us a little more confidence as to why you think that the community data program specifically through this one vendor is going to last the 10 years knowing full well that when we have like different data aggregators already out in the marketplace, I know that they don't do exactly the same thing. So just help me with a little more confidence as to why 10 years. >> I can start off through the chair on this and uh Louisa can perhaps jump in as well, but uh I think the 10-year time frame was meant to correspond with the next two census cycles. Um so we sign up essentially or our agreement is for a five-year um for a fiveyear span for each census period. So, um, we in our consultations with procurement and whatnot and and consulting some of the other reports and work that's been done sort of landed on the idea, I think that the 10-year window in this case would make sense given the uh, the next two censuses um, that are coming out. So, basically we arrived at it through that kind of internal some internal discussion and some analysis that way. >> Okay, thank you. Um my next question is um what's the user access level? Because other than the healthy and safe communities um having access to it, what's how do we have a corporatewide license or how does that work? >> Right. And again, I I'll thank you through the chair. I'll start off again and Louisa can jump in as well as she's been the one working most closely. We do have partners across the corporation in other departments and other divisions that that work with us and contribute funds to to this acquisition as well. So, planning and economic development is one of those. Um, our partners in public health and public works um are all members of our sort of internal group that have access to this data and information as well. >> Okay. Uh last question is around what is the opportunity for other sort of data aggregators to participate because this is a very specific kind of data set but when you're asking for like socioeconomic or maybe economic market conditions there are other data providers that I know of like local data and all of that stuff that has has different parts of this. So, do we have to broker those relationships or is this like we have the community data program and then we have to start buying other data sets because the community data program doesn't necessarily talk to other data programs. >> Thank you for the question through the chair. I'll turn that one over to Louisa to respond. >> Um through the chair. So um the community data program acts as kind of that intermediate and they really try to source some robust and reliable data sources. So they are always on the lookout for new data sources that um the municipalities across Canada that are part of this network can rely on to make you know decisions in a lot of our different municipal um programs and policy um developments. So we are constantly looking for different data sets. Um that said, I think like we try to stay away from like smaller data sets that aren't necessarily as robust or as reliable. Um and we look towards you know some of the larger um providers and so it is though constantly being explored and the consortium members always meet to discuss you know um social issues that are up and coming and where we can potentially look towards data to use and there is a user group that is constantly reviewing data. Um every month we meet to discuss you know what kind of data we want and whether it can be best sourced through you know existing things that we have or whether we can look towards new things. Um and so definitely it is something that um is part of the network as well the ongoing sourcing and looking for new information and data sources. >> Okay. Thank you. My last question through you chair is a question around how what is our license entail like so can we use any of these custom data sets to actually pump them over to an open data forum or do what's the what's those mechanisms to actually leverage and use the data sets that we pull from the CDP program into a into something that the public can have a little more line of sight into. Does that make sense? through the chair. Definitely that totally makes sense. Um the data that we get um is licensed to all of our members for use. Um it is restrictive in the fact that we can't resell it. We can't necessarily take um a file that we download and provide it back in its entirety to the public. Um and I think that's protective of the nature of the program in terms of maintaining the value. Right? So if we if I purchased the data and provided it back for free to the public, well then that makes the value of the program and for other members to participate and pay um obviously that would be an impact. And so while there are some user restrictions in terms of how we can share that data, we do share a lot of that data as as you can see on the on our on our open data platform. Any of the kind of demographic, social, economic data that is there is sourced from this community data program. So we do share um a lot of it back to the community. Um and one of our partners SPRC actually uses a lot of this data as well for their reports and for their development. Um and so we also work with um sometimes with MAC um on different initiatives as well where some of the state is used to inform some of that um the projects there as well. >> Okay. Thank you. Those are all my questions. So I'll take the chair back now. Thank you. Any other questions on this particular report? Do need a mover and a seconder for to put this report on the floor, please. Councelor Alex Wilson and Oh, sec. Oh, councelor Nan will second. Um, any other questions for staff? I get really excited about this stuff. Sorry. So, that's why I just I like understanding this stuff, too. So, all right. Seeing as there are no other questions, this is an electronic vote. May I have your vote electronically, please? Boats up. Vote carries. Four to zero. Thank you. We're on to 8.3 now. This is the Building Safer Communities Fund Extension. This is for 2026 to 2029. I missed 8.2. I am so sorry. Okay. 8.2 2020. This is HSC 260 2026 incremental provincial funding allocation for early on programs. Again, doc director Chase, what's up with this? Yes, I know we've got a lot today. Um through the chair, I'm actually going to turn this one over to our manager of earlier years, Antella Gian Carlo, who's going to pro provide a brief overview of the report um as well as an overview of what our early on programs are as well as the IT modernization project. So I'll turn it over to Antella. >> Thank you through the chair. Good afternoon. Antella John Carlo, manager of early years, and I'm pleased to provide a brief overview of this report. So the report before you recommends that council accept the additional ministry of education funding to support our early on child and family centers across Hamilton. Early on child and family centers provide free programs and services for families with children from birth to six years of age through play through play-based learning opportunities, parent and caregiver supports, referrals to community services, and educational resources. Early on centers help families connect with the services and supports that they need. The report outlines two one-time funding allocations. Approximately 738,000 to support early on programming and service delivery and approximately 18,000 to support our readiness for the province's IT modernization initiative. Both allocations are 100% proincially funded. They are one-time in nature and there is no levy impact. The early on funding will support enhanced programming at our early on centers and there will be a focus on quality food security initiatives, accessibility and technology enhancements. The IT modernization funding will support our preparation for the province's new digital platform which will be Ontario's first integrated child care and early years system. Once implemented, this initiative will simplify access to earlier services and importantly it will reduce the need for families to navigate through multiple um systems and application processes. Thank you for that overview. Uh manager Jen Carlo, uh any questions, comments, or concerns at all? I do need a mover and a seconder to actually put this report on the floor, please. uh councelor Alex Wilson and councelor Moren Wilson. Seeing as there are no questions and comments, may I have the vote electronically, please? Votes up. You are so thorough. No questions. And that carries four to zero. Thank you. Now we are on to 8.3 which is HSC26062 building safer communities fund extension. Like to call upon director Chase to give us an overview please. >> Thank you through the chair. This is our division as well. Um so happy to provide an overview of this report. The report that's before you today is a recommendation report to accept phase two of the building safer communities fund um which is a little shy of $2.4 million. Um, this is 100% federal dollars from Public Safety Canada and it spans three years, meaning that the city will receive just shy of 800,000 each year. Um, I do want to highlight that while Hamilton is receiving less funding than the previous phase 1 funding, which wrapped up in March of this year, we are happy to be able to receive this commitment for the next three years. This will allow us to continue advancing the priorities of our community safety and well-being plan as well as build on the investments that were made in phase one which supported over 2,000 youth through community prevention and early intervention initiatives. Be happy to take any questions. >> Councelor Nan, please. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, and through you to Director Chase. um what are the requirements in terms of reporting back to the fund for outcomes and if you could speak a little bit I know we get a pretty comprehensive community safety and well-being plan annual report um but in terms of the requirements for the fund are there outcomes specifically that need to be measured and how is that getting streamlined within the city system? >> Thank you through the chair. I can certainly um start and then I may invite uh the team here that's with us some uh some are in person and some online today that if they want to um add any additional detail they certainly can. Um but we work uh closely to develop a plan that we will then need to submit to public safety Canada um that outlines how those funds will be spent. We also will be looking to identify what are the outcomes that we hope to achieve with the funding. So that will be part of the plan that will be developed. Um we are hoping to have a large chunk of that funding that will go out to community partners. That's what we did in phase one. There was certainly some that was um you utilized internally to support initiatives such as our Hamilton care situation table. Um but a lot of it went out to community partners that were delivering different initiatives to support youth in our community and there was different data uh pieces and outcomes that they were required to report back on. So, we haven't flushed out all of the specific details of that yet, counselor. Um, but that will be part of the work that we're undertaking in the next little while is to develop what those outcomes are. I may just check and see, we have Sophia Stanbury, who's our manager of community strategies online today and just want to check and see if there's any further detail around outcomes that Sophia may wish to add. >> Good afternoon everyone. This is Sophia Stanbury, acting manager of community strategies. So yes, through the chair, we are we have done a environmental scan and continue to do that across Canada and we are also looking um to the United States, especially as it relates to um uh crime and youth crime in particular. And we are going to be developing um some best practices and some indicators of programs that actually work um effectively that we're going to be implementing. Based on that, we will be working with our performance um and evaluation team to develop some a performance measurement outcome framework so that we can um send it out to the organizations that will be uh receiving these funds as indicators that we can measure and that's really to really focus on the impact that this funding initiatives are having and look at return on investment. >> Thank you. And um I then suspect that there'll be a follow-up information report or an update to a future ECS committee on those IDE outcomes through the chair. That's correct. We will certainly continue to keep council updated on the progress of this. Um as well as we very intentionally have tried to link things like our building safer communities funds into when we're doing reports on community safety and well-being plans more broadly. Um, so we will be certainly to bring bring it forward as part of that annual update as well. >> Thank you. Okay, any other questions at all? Okay, seeing none, I'd need a mover and a seconder to put the report on the floor. Councelor Alex Wilson and Councelor Nan. Um, last call for questions. Seeing none, let's have the vote, please, electronically. Yeah, you can try, Angela. I know you can do it. Vote is up. That effort was successful, Angela. It was a 4 and it's carried. Thank you. We're on to 8.4. This is amendments to the outstanding business list. As you can see, committee, there are several items. Um, I don't think I need to read them, but a mover in a second to put them on the floor. Councelor Alex Wilson and Councelor Morin Wilson, please. Any questions on the Obl at all? Seeing none, this is also an electronic vote, please. Votes up. Vote carries four to zero. There are no motions. There are no Oh, are there any notices of motion? Seeing none, thank you all. This has been a wonderful term. Thank you to staff for their hard work on this. So hopefully we'll see you next hopefully I'll see you next term. Anyway, um thank you. This this adjourns our meeting at 2:47 p.m. Thank you. Bye-bye.