Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

Our mission is to support women who are, have been, or are at risk of being in conflict with the law.

We share a vision of a society that ensures all women have the dignity and capacity to make informed choices about their lives and avoid conflict with the law.

We are committed to:

Agency – to be instrumental in our lives and the lives of others

Dignity – to ensure each person is regarded as worthy, honoured and esteemed

Diversity – to respect and celebrate human difference

Innovation – to create change that makes things better

Resilience – to recover from and adjust to change and challenge

History of Organization

In 1951, a group of women from the First Unitarian Church met to discuss the need for a community based agency to serve women in conflict with the law. On May 13, 1952 The Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto was officially formed and held its first public meeting. The first office was comprised of two rooms on Jarvis Street. In 1955 the agency moved to Yorkville Avenue, where the first residence opened in 1958. On June 23, 1970 the current community programs and residence opened. In 2006 Post Incarceration Housing Support Program started and shortly thereafter the Homeless and Outreach Department was formed to focus on education and prevention.

Accolades and Accomplishments

With over 60 years experience in providing diverse programming, engaging in outreach, creating partnerships, and building community awareness we continue to foster the community's interest in and responsibility to the women we serve.

In the last fiscal year (2011-12) we:

• Provided volunteer opportunities for 301 people, including corporate, administrative, event and direct service volunteers.  They gave 6,324 hours of their valuable time to the agency.
• Residential Programs' staff made 54 visits to prison; made over 13,000 contacts; 198 new individuals were seen.
• Our Court and Volunteer programs served 1,893 clients; made 6,192 client contacts and diverted 911 people through the Direct Accountability program.
• Community Programs helped 991 new women; ran 164 groups; and made 51 visits to prison.
• Homelessness and Outreach programs served 863 new women; 34 women were permanently housed; 30 women upgraded education or found employment.

"This experience has been one of the best things that has happened to me.  I have learned so much and it has given me the knowledge and skills I need to grow and continue as a better person."

      - Elizabeth Fry client

Programs

>Food for Thought
>Healthy Lives
>Opportunities for Women Now (OWN)

Residential Programs operate a 14-bed transitional residence for women paroled from federal and provincial prisons.  Residents work toward community integration in a supportive and structured environment.  The program provides individual and group counselling, life skills, and practical assistance. The agency also runs two satellite apartments; one is a two bedroom mother-child residence.

Community Programs provide counselling around Drug and Alcohol, Probation & Parole Counselling, Theft & Fraud, Anger Management, Parenting programs, Healing from Abuse, Partner Abuse.  The goal is to provide counselling and psycho-educational services for women (16 years old and up) who are, have been or are at risk of conflict with the law.  All programs are free and provide first stage of healing.

Our Court Program features:

• Direct Accountability Program (available to individuals who have been charged with a minor criminal offence)
• Court Support Program (aid and clarification of court process, information and referrals to community resources, referrals to lawyers assistance with applying for Legal Aid)

Homelessness/Outreach Programs include:

• Pre- Employment Program which assesses strengths and employment readiness, help to explore employment goals that are unique to homeless women with a criminal record.
• Post Incarceration Housing Program offers help to homeless women, who have been released from prison in accessing adequate, affordable housing, or to enable women to maintain their housing.
• Project OWN (opportunities for women now) focuses on prevention and changing public awareness of issues related to women and the law. A unique feature of this program is the use of peer educators who educate the public on the Canadian legal system and the impact of that system on the lives of marginalized women.
• Newcomer Program provides counselling, support, education and referral to women ages 16+ who are new to Canada or who may have a precarious immigration status in Canada and who are in conflict or are at risk of being in conflict with the law.
• Work Safe Program is designed to provide counselling, support, education and referral to sex workers in regards to health and legal concerns/issues.

Food for Thought

Through our community programs we work with women and their families to ‘improve life outcomes’ by ensuring all can participate in society using their ‘talents, skills and abilities’. Our work is particularly relevant as the women we work with largely live in poverty, are single parents, are Aboriginal, women of colour, are newer immigrants and in conflict with the law. Through our community programs women are able to access a variety of individual, group and facilitated peer support group counselling services. These services are designed to assist women to address the barriers they experience that may contribute to offending. Food insecurity is a primary concern for many of the women who use our services. Our main concern is to improve the ability of women to participate in our programs by addressing their primary need of food security.

Funding and Program Partners

Due to the hardship of economic reality in recent years, we found that our clients are in need of basic nutrition.  This is a new initiative for our Agency and we want to ensure that providing food to women who participate in our community program continues into the future. We will be working with our core funders to cover costs associated with core programming, as well as, illustrating to new and existing donors that this is an area of programming where their contribution makes a difference.

Program Impact

Food for Thought will impact the women by:

• Reducing the consequence of hunger while in programming therefore increasing the rate of attendance participation and better focused attention.
• Reducing the negative impacts of physical and emotional health tied to inadequate nutrition such as addictions or depression.
• Improving self-esteem and cognitive abilities.
• Reducing anxiety, irritability and shame while in programming and when with families.
• Overall improvement in physical and mental health symptoms which impacts family and socio-behavioural attitudes.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“The poor still pay more for food" (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2011)

"Social assistance does not cover even the basic cost of nutritious food and shelter for families and single households" (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2011)

Food insecurity is a primary concern of the women who use our services. Previous research has demonstrated a link between acute and chronic physical and mental health conditions and food insecurity. Resulting mental health conditions, though not discussed as frequently as physical health conditions, are substantial, and include higher levels of stress, anxiety, irritability, social isolation, heightened emotional responsiveness, eating disorders and depression, as well as impaired cognitive abilities, guilt and shame.

Participant Vignette

JP has been in counselling at Elizabeth Fry Toronto for the last 4 weeks now. She's facing numerous challenges including concentration, participation and interaction. We noticed her struggle with managing her basic needs which impacted not only her relationships at home with her children but also with our counsellors and other group members. She is continuously distracted and disrupts the counselling process with inappropriate comments. She is mandated to miss only three sessions out of the series and has already missed two. When we asked what would help her in the session, she simply asked for a snack. She had not had a proper meal for the last 42 hrs. Lack of nutrition exacerbated JP's challenges. By providing food, Elizabeth Fry Toronto helped JP focus in her sessions and make progress toward solutions.

Healthy Lives

Women in conflict with the law have limited social supports and life skills prior to their conflict with the law. These deficits are exacerbated by prolonged institutionalization and the withdrawal of familial support which often occurs upon incarceration. This project will help women develop skills necessary to successfully integrate upon release and develop the capacity to build a healthy support system. Healthy Lives will provide women with group based and individual psycho-educational sessions in our new counselling room.

Healthy Lives is an integral part of our Residential Program with objectives to:

• Assist women make healthy choices to successfully reintegrate in the community after a period of incarceration
• Prevent recidivism by providing women viable alternatives to involvement with the law
• Support women in developing the skills to live independently

These goals will be met using a group based psycho-education format with supplementary one-on-one support. The groups will occur once a week for approximately 2 hours in our new group room.

The topics covered will include: Self-care, setting goals/targets, life skills (budgeting, cooking healthy meals, and medication management, communication and interpersonal skills, trauma etc.). The group will be run by a trained facilitator/counsellor and a volunteer co-facilitator and will have ‘expert’ guest speakers in the areas of trauma, mental health, addictions, pardons, employment and housing. Facilitators will provide enhanced individual support to women especially as they come closer to their release date and need support to prepare.

Funding and Program Partners

Our funding sources include Catherine Donnelly Foundation, McLean Smits Family Foundation, Bennett Family Foundation and Green Shield.

Program Impact

Women in conflict with the law often have limited social supports and life skills prior to their conflict with the law. These deficits are exacerbated by prolonged institutionalization and the withdrawal of familial support which often occurs upon incarceration. This project will help women develop skills necessary to successfully integrate upon release and develop the capacity to build a healthy support system.

Women in conflict face extreme disadvantage, in part because they belong to groups that are generally marginalized (poor, ethno-cultural, Aboriginal, have mental health and addictions and have limited educational and employment histories) and because of their criminal record. The successful reintegration of a woman after incarceration not only benefits her and her family but it benefits the community at large.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

Toronto has been described in the Vital Signs® report as “a City of disparities and increasingly localized poverty, where health, employment prospects and access to basic services are linked to neighbourhood income levels” (Toronto's Vital Signs®, 2009).  Although the report deals with issues of mental health, it does not show the link between poor mental health and risk of conflict with the law.  Most of the women seeking assistance from Elizabeth Fry Toronto struggle with mental health issues, history of abuse and addictions. Our clients come from backgrounds of poverty, homelessness, and histories of violence.

"More than half (55%) of homeless women experience violent abuse" (Toronto's Vital Signs®, 2011) 

"Lack of access to good housing is a barrier to participation in the social and economic life of the community" (Toronto's Vital Signs®, 2011).

Participant Vignette

KT is a woman in her early 30s who resided at Elizabeth Fry Toronto for one year as a condition of her parole. Throughout her stay in the residence she received support from all staff but especially counsellors. She had a severe history of addiction but with help she was able to deal with her psychological issues which led to her addiction. While in residence, she attended courses at a local college, which was difficult as she has not been in school for 20 years. Nearing her discharge from Elizabeth Fry Toronto she received assistance with finding safe, affordable housing and referrals that were necessary to maintain her sobriety while living independently. Today while continuing her education in the college and being abstinent for over 3 years she recognizes her stay at Elizabeth Fry Toronto as a life changing experience, and for providing her with tools to live a successful and positive life.

Opportunities for Women Now (OWN)

Women with a criminal system involvement face significant barriers in accessing meaningful education and employment. Through our OWN and pre-employment programs we determined that there is a large unmet need for a more substantial and supported employment training and experiential program. This program is for criminalized women who are ready to begin practical, supported work in the field of social services.

Funding and Program Partners

Project OWN has been primarily funded by Status of Women Canada and the United Way, however there is a need to raise funds to ensure program effectiveness and continuity.

Program Impact

Our pre-employment program assesses strengths and employment readiness of women who have been in conflict with the law. The objective is to explore pathways to employment goals which are unique to homeless women with a criminal record. Project OWN is an education program that focuses on prevention and changing public awareness of issues related to women and the law. A unique feature of this program is the use of peer educators who educate the public on the Canadian legal system and the impact of that system on the lives of marginalized women.

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

The women we serve through project OWN are marginalised on basis of their poverty, history of violence and abuse, poor mental health, lack of access to basic services, poor employment prospects and education.  The Vital Signs® report states that:

• "Employment options remain limited"

(Toronto's Vital Signs®, 2011)

The women who are given the opportunity to go thorough pre-employment programs and project OWN not only have a better chance not to re-offend but also gain independence and become leaders in their families and communities, which are often identified as high risk.

Participant Vignette

Women who have participated in the peer component of the OWN program have expressed:

• An appreciation for the opportunity to educate the public about their experiences and affect positive change in themselves and others
• An appreciation for the opportunity to learn personal and professional skills that they can use for their own professional and personal development