Grants and Contributions

This 27-month project will support a feminist response and recovery from the current impacts of COVID-19, through systemic change. Pier Labs will achieve this by establishing a steering committee, conducting research, designing workshops, developing prototypes and disseminating their evaluation and knowledge.

At the end of the project, the organization will have contributed to addressing systemic barriers by increasing a more equitable distribution of authority, voices, and decision making power, enhancing networks and collaboration to accelerate systemic change, and advancing inclusive policies and practices to support women’s equality.

Pier Labs and their key partner, the Valley Regional Enterprise Network, aim to develop a better economic infrastructure that integrates care work via supporting local women to design and test conceptual prototypes across the Annapolis Valley Region. This initiative will help advance women’s economic recovery from the current impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supplemental funds were provided to allow additional time and resources to complete the full scope of work with a participatory approach.

This 30-month project will develop and implement two culturally appropriate toolkits and an awareness campaign to strengthen community engagement to address the root causes of gender-based violence. Cooperation Integration Canada Inc. will achieve this by (1) developing and strengthening partnerships with communities, local officials and potential allies, and community organizations in the National Capital Region, including the eastern regions of Ontario; (2) conducting an environmental and literature scan on the experiences of violence by Black and ethno-cultural women and girls, and the supports and institutional mechanisms that exist, as well as the gaps that need to be filled; (3) developing and testing two culturally appropriate toolkits; (4) developing and implementing a culturally appropriate awareness campaign for Black communities; and (5) disseminating their knowledge through a communications strategy and promotion of committed positive action.

At the end of the project, the organization will have (1) engaged Black women and girls and other ethnocultural communities in the development and implementation of promising practices based on innovative, culturally and linguistically appropriate approaches and strategies to address violence against Black and ethnocultural women and girls; and (2) strengthened the capacity of Black and ethnocultural men and boys to recognize gender-based violence to engage them in playing an active role in reducing violence against Black women and girls and diverse ethnocultural communities in the National Capital Region and Eastern Ontario Region.

This project will involve representatives from the GBV sector and survivors of GBV during COVID-19 in each project component. The effectiveness of the strategy developed and the promising practices piloted by the selected partners will be carefully documented in order to adjust the tools developed accordingly.

This 24-month project will develop, pilot and disseminate a community-based pandemic recovery model to address the root causes of gender-based violence. Heritage Skills Development Centre will achieve this by conducting a participatory needs assessment, creating and piloting a community pandemic recovery model for preventing and addressing violence against women, and disseminating the model and recommendations among community and policy makers.

At the end of the project, the organization will have developed a promising practice that increased networks and collaboration to accelerate systemic change, supported positive distribution of authority, voices, and decision-making power, and advanced inclusive policies and practices.

This project will engage organizations, sector experts, and women with lived experience from the Scarborough community to identify specific needs and priorities, and pilot the pandemic recovery model and action plans developed. Toronto Community Housing (TCHC), Women Multicultural Resource and Counselling Centre (WMRCC), Management Advisory Services of Toronto (MAS) and Cross Edge Community Network will directly participate in the delivery and evaluation of the project. The effectiveness of the recovery model will be carefully documented through ongoing evaluation.