Ongwanada is excited to announce that it has been selected as one of the recipients of a 2022 Community Investment Grant from the City of Kingston and United Way. This one-time grant in the amount of $24,040 awarded under the impact area “Building Strong and Healthy Communities” will go towards supporting the Kingston-Frontenac Community Risk Watch program.

Ongwanada is one of 16 partner agencies that participate in the Community Risk Watch program and one of Ongwanada’s managers serves as the Chair of the Risk Watch Operations Committee. Launched in 2016, the Risk Watch table was established to assist individuals and families in our communities who may be at risk. Community Risk Watch is a collaborative, integrated multi-agency team striving to build safer and healthier communities through rapid mobilization of resources and service connections to meet the immediate needs of individuals and families who are experiencing  acutely elevated levels of risk.

Acutely Elevated Risk is defined as a situation where an individual or family is facing a composite number of risk factors that cut across multiple human service sectors and in all likely- hood will lead to something bad happening and happening soon. These could include individuals that may be at risk of doing harm to others, becoming a victim, relapsing on a treatment plan, and/or ending up on the street.

Ongwanada sponsored the grant application for the Community Investment Fund on behalf of the Risk Watch table and will be responsible for management of funds and reporting. The grant is intended to assist the table with hiring a part-time coordinator to facilitate and coordinate table meetings; ensure follow up on the situations presented at the table; develop educational materials and raise awareness of Risk Watch; provide education and awareness to community groups about the role and function of Risk Watch; assist in recruiting new agency participants to the table; recruit and on-board new table members; and support the table with data collection and analysis.

For more information about Community Risk Watch: https://www.globalcommunitysafety.com/resources/community/kfla

For more information on the 2022 Community Investment Fund grant recipients: https://www.unitedwaykfla.ca/newsrelease-cif/

Submitted by: Lisa Holmes, Manager, Eastern Region Community Network of Specialized Care