Evaluation of the United Way Social Impact Investment Funds for Regent Park. 

By Dimitrije Martinovic
Dimitrije is a staff at FOCUS MEDIA ARTS CEMTRE.

Ronni Gorman (Manager, Neighbourhoods, United Way Greater Toronto UWT) began the virtual meeting held on April 11, 2022, to go over the  recently released United Way Social Impact Investment Funds (SIIF) for Regent Park. The SIIF is a community engaged granting structure, made-up by  United Way Greater Toronto UWT, The City of Toronto, and Daniels Corporation, in which the Daniels Corporation provided $1 million in seed funding to assist community service organizations and grassroots groups – through grants – to work on established community priorities as determined by the Social Development Plan (SDP).

These priorities fell under four pillars:

*     Safety: Creating the reality that Regent Park is a safe and welcoming community.
*     Employment and Economic Development: Increasing both sustainable employment and
        entrepreneurial opportunities.
*     Community Building: Bringing both market rent and Toronto Community Housing residents
        together in accessible formal and informal community spaces.
*     Communication: Deploying easily accessible information to the community.

In Ronni Gorman's summary of the Evaluation of the United Way Social Impact Investment Funds for Regent Park, she covered some of the key findings, what worked well, what can be improved on, and the next steps and recommendations.  

For example in What has worked well, the report identified Neighbourhood Readiness for the SIIF Grant Administration, Donors Who Understand Complexities of Community Work, SIIF Overlapping with Community Priorities, Resident Informed Granting Process.

In the section What can be improved on, the report identified Capacity Building Supports for All Involved,  Capacity Building Supports for All Involved,  Increased Flexibility in Granting Streams, and Redefine Role of Trustees.

And finally in Next Steps and Recommendations, these were the key findings, Supporting All Involved in the SIIF,  Reinventing Trustee Role, Amplification of Resident Voice,  and Enhancing Community Buy-In: Increased Transparency.