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Organizational principles
Early in 1999, concerned agencies, community members and groups came together to discuss the growing needs in East Scarborough. The primary concerns of this group were how services and supports could be brought to the people in this community, especially to those who have been marginalized and living in poverty. Two years of consultation and discussion resulted in this unique collaboration.
With lots of co-operation and enthusiasm, the Storefront opened its doors in Morningside Mall in February of 2001 with the following aims:
Over the next few years, the Storefront became a unique community hub. The hub began to be known as the “Storefront model”: a model that co-ordinated the work of agencies from various parts of the City to bring services to a “high risk” neighbourhood. In this model Storefront programs and services are all provided by partner agencies, each agency bringing its expertise to the people of East Scarborough on a particular day at a particular time. Storefront staff link community members to the services and ensure that the agencies have everything that they need to offer the community high quality and effective resources and information.
In the first month of services in 2001, as we looked for furniture, co-ordinated the work of more than forty agencies, and began to build relationships with local residents and businesses, we provided direct service to 43 people: three years later, in March 2005 we saw more than 5400 visits to the Storefront.
Despite having built a thriving “hub” and a new model for effective service delivery, in 2005 a policy change at the federal government meant that the Storefront’s funding was threatened. For a while, it looked as if the Storefront would not be able to carry on. Thanks to its community partners, however, it did:
Community members staged a march to bring attention to the need for services in East Scarborough. Agencies from across the City wrote letters and formed delegations. As funders heard about the Storefront through media, letters and personal interviews with many supporters, they too were excited about the collaborative work happening in East Scarborough and formed their own collaborative approach to funding: five funders committed to supporting the ongoing work of the Storefront.
The struggles faced by the Storefront in 2005 were, however, not yet over. With the demolition of the Morningside Mall slated for the following year, the Storefront was forced to relocate. Again it was the collaboration of community members, agencies, politicians and City Staff that made it possible for the Storefront to move into its new home in the old 42 Division substation at 4040 Lawrence Ave E.
It is impossible to capture all the different facets and elements that have developed at the Storefront. The following gives a brief outline of what we are doing. The Storefront is ever growing and ever changing working with the community as it changes and grows.
Community Building
The Storefront is committed to community building. To that end, the Storefront staff facilitate groups of community members to voice their visions and concerns, to work together to improve their community and to connect with other groups, politicians, agencies and bureaucrats to get what they need for their community. The following are some of the ways that the Storefront works with people to help improve lives in the community:
Community Resources: Storefront staff have a wealth of knowledge about what services, programs and supports are available to community members to help them, their families and their friends meet their needs and reach their goals. At our community resource centre, community members meet Storefront staff who listen to them and link them to the services that they need.
Community Speaks: Every three months or so, community members gather for dinner, fun activities and facilitated discussion on topics relevant to the community. From these discussions come recommendations which guide the Storefront’s community building activities in the following months.
Community Volunteering: Volunteers make things happen. The Storefront helps them to do so by recruiting, training and supervising groups of volunteers to support events that strengthen the community. Volunteers handle registration at job fairs, organize children’s programs, henna application and barbeques at picnics and celebrations, pitch in at community clean ups, markets and anything else that makes East Scarborough a better place.
Civic Engagement: Community members need ways and means to influence the political forces that shape our City. Storefront staff organize focus groups, voter education, community surveys and issues based campaigns to help community members’ voices to be heard.
Guiding the work of the Storefront: All community members have a voice in guiding the work of the Storefront through Community Speaks. It is, however, the Storefront Steering Committee that, through policy development and capacity building initiatives shape the direction of the Storefront on an ongoing basis. Seven community members, along with seven agency members are nominated and elected to the Steering Committee.
Collaboration
The Storefront is committed to working collaboratively in everything that it does. The Storefront itself is a partnership of the service providing agencies, community members and other community stakeholders all who have a role to play in making the Storefront a vibrant community hub.
Storefront service providing partners ensure that the people of East Scarborough have access to their programs and services, by offering them at the Storefront. Agency staff are scheduled to be at the Storefront on specific days, at specific times. When they are at the Storefront it is their place of work. Each agency is provided with an office, phone, computer and anything else they may need to provide high quality service to the people of East Scarborough. Storefront staff ensure that community members get connected with the right agency to meet their needs.
Agencies do more than provide individual services, they work together to form and shape the Storefront as a whole. Quarterly, the agencies gather together to share ideas and information about how they can work together to effectively serve the community. The agencies elect 6 representatives to make up 50% of the Steering Committee which guides the ongoing work of the Storefront through policy development and capacity building initiatives.
The Storefront is not a legal entity but a complex consortium of people and agencies all coming together for the good of the East Scarborough Community. In order for the Storefront to function well, people working in all parts of the organization have a decision making role appropriate to their work at the Storefront. All decisions affecting our work in the community are made at a local level. Our governing body, however, is a national organization called Tides Canada Initiatives.
Storefront is a Project of Tides Canada Initiatives (TCI). TCI Board has full governing, legal, and fiduciary responsibility for all of its activities. The Storefront has a steering committee, overseen by the Board. The Storefront Steering Committee provides leadership for program operations.
The following outlines how local decisions affecting the Storefront are made:
The Community Group
The Community Group meets quarterly at the Storefront "Community Speaks" and is made up of any community members interested in participating in the development of the Storefront and the local community. The Community Group has a strong voice in determining the future direction of the Storefront. They are active decision makers in the overall vision of the Storefront which is reviewed every few years. To ensure the community voice is heard, updates from all community speaks are presented to other decision making bodies within the Storefront, and seven community members sit on the Storefront Steering Committee (see below).
The Agency Group
The Agency Group is made up of representatives from each of the partners agencies. The Agency Group meets quarterly. The Agency Group is responsible for determining the direction that the agencies will take within the Storefront structure. Their opinions are sought about any major issue affecting their work at the Storefront. The Agency Group has a strong voice in determining the future direction of the Storefront. They are active decision makers in the overall vision of the Storefront which is reviewed every few years. Agency Group members are kept up to date about Storefront activities through regular emails and summaries provided at each agency meeting. Feedback from the Agency Group goes directly to the Steering Committee (below). Seven agency representatives sit on the Storefront Steering Committee.
The Steering Committee
The Steering Committee is the governing body of the Storefront. Made up of seven community members and seven agency representatives, the Steering Committee develops and approves the policies that guide the Storefront in its operations. The pages following this overview outline in detail the Steering Committee's terms of reference and relationship to our trustee agency in decision making.
Storefront Committees
The Storefront has several committees with mandates to perform certain functions. The mandate for a committee is approved by the Steering Committee. Each Committee is responsible for decision making within its mandate. Decisions that are not in accordance with the Storefront vision, beliefs and values, policies or usual procedures must be approved by the Steering Committee. Committees are made up of agency and community representatives and supported by staff. One of the roles of the staff member is to be aware of how Committee decisions might effect the other operations of the Storefront. The staff member's responsibility is to bring to the committee's attention decisions that might need further consultation with other parts of the Storefront or approval by the Steering Committee.
Agencies
The agencies who bring their services to the Storefront bring their own expertise, their own procedures and their own organizational policies. When providing services, it is these things that guide their work. The main responsibility the agencies have in regard to the Storefront is to communicate how they work and what procedures they would like to follow. Staff will then be able to determine that they are in accordance with Storefront beliefs, values or vision. If there is any question of conflict between agency policies and practice and Storefront beliefs and values, the issue will be brought to the Steering Committee.
Staff
Storefront Staff make day to day decisions at the Storefront based on all of the guidelines, policies and procedures developed at other levels. The Storefront
Co-ordinator is responsible for ensuring that all decisions made at all levels work well together. If decisions are made that do not work well with other decisions, then the Co-ordinator will bring the issue to the attention of the appropriate people.
Volunteers
Volunteers are involved at the Storefront at every level. When they work on committees they take on the decision making role of committee members. When they work with agencies or staff, they are encouraged to offer feedback and participate in decision making whenever possible. All volunteers are encouraged to actively participate in the Storefront Community Speaks, thereby influencing the overall direction of the Storefront.
The Storefront Decision Making Model
The following diagram outlines the relationship of the various Storefront decision making bodies to each other.
* The Tides Canada Initiatives Board has full governing, legal, and fiduciary responsibility for all of Storefront's activities. Each Project establishes a steering committee, overseen by the Board. The committee provides advice and support for program operations. The activities of each Project furthers Sage Centre's mission and adheres to its policies as well as the requirements of the Charities Directorate of the CRA.