Hamilton Community Foundation

Located in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada, the Hamilton Community Foundation began their original grassroots grantmaking program in 2002. The program sprung from the President and CEO’s vision that Hamilton be a model community where all citizens have input into their community’s development.

Hamilton is comprised of 162 neighborhoods, 20 of which were found to have extreme challenges. The committee focused on the following distress indicators: education level, income level, diversity, and mobility within the neighborhood. Four neighborhoods were found to be the most distressed and were chosen to support through the grants program. The program launched in 2002 as a five-year pilot.

There are four program components: neighborhood outreach and development, leadership development, small project grants, and program planning and evaluation. Grants range from $100-$1500. All of the grantees are new organizations that organized in response to the program; multiple groups can apply within each neighborhood. Groups are asked to partner with existing charitable organizations in their neighborhoods—churches, non-profits, and school boards—whose missions must align with the neighborhood projects. Through this strategy, sustainable connections to existing agencies are being built to increase the capacity of those neighborhoods to affect change.

In 2007 Hamilton Community Foundation began a new initiative which directed all of its unrestricted funds to addressing poverty.  The initiative was named “Tackling Poverty Together” and involves providing financial support to “neighbourhood hubs” in 8 of the City’s most challenged neighbourhoods.  Hubs have been described as “a safe, shared space where children, families, neighbours, businesses, community organizations and service providers can come together to play, to learn and to identify and solve community issues.  A hub of activity can be both a physical space and an “emotional space”.  While hubs have similar qualities, each is unique depending on the neighbourhood in which they are based.  Hubs are governed by a “local planning team” comprising representatives from local residents, businesses, service providers, institutions such as schools, recreation centres and libraries.  The team identifies priorities for the neighbourhood and how these can be addressed.  Residents have a strong voice on local planning teams as they have the best insight into the barriers preventing them from moving out of poverty.

The previous neighbourhood small grants program was incorporated into Tackling Poverty Together and each hub receives $5,000 a year to be distributed for resident-led initiatives.  Decisions on which projects receive funding are made by the hub local planning team.  In 2011 the Foundation entered into a partnership with the newly formed Neighbourhood Development office of the City thereby increasing the resources available to the existing hubs and allowing for additional neighbourhoods to be included.  HCF and the City work together to provide a coordinated team of community development workers to support this neighbourhood development.

A video on the neighbourhood hubs can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li4AAilcFhg

Contact Person:  Sharon Charters
Title: Grants Manager
Email: s.charters@hcf.on.ca
Telephone: 905 – 523 – 5600