Community evokes a sense of belonging. A place where everyone feels included, celebrated and welcome. A Canvas of Belonging - the theme of this year’s report – is centred upon the idea that everyone contributes to a community of belonging and inclusion. Our five-year strategic plan continues to guide our work to support our vision and mission. Together with our partners, over the past 12 months, we have made noteworthy advances on the four directions in our strategic plan.
Our first strategic direction is people at the centre of what we do. We are passionate about providing opportunities that build a sense of community. This can be seen through our work with families to design an engagement framework to support stronger and more collaborative connections with them and the many inclusive events held in each of our communities where kids and families were able to participate in recreation and social activities.
The second direction of our strategic plan is to strive for excellence. We are leaders in supporting the wellbeing of kids, youth and their families and aim to champion this throughout the network. Over the past year, we made progress on our Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Indigeneity and Accessibility (EDIIA) work through education sessions and opportunities to learn together and from each other. We updated our governance policies to ensure compliance with new provincial legislation, the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, and developed a quality plan for performance and measurement.
Fostering accountability and stewardship to support community needs forms our third strategic direction. We have advanced service modernization through network collaboration to better serve families. As the central access point for the SmartStart Hub in York Region and Simcoe County, our Service Navigators connect families with the right support at CTN and in the community. We innovated our speech therapy model of service for school-aged kids and youth. We also introduced Extensive Needs Service, in partnership with Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, to help kids and youth facing diverse challenges and their families who have exhausted other resources.
And finally, highlighting our last strategic direction, we are committed to transformation through equitable, data-driven service innovation. By pursuing improvements to our services using information and technology, we have introduced a new automated appointment reminder system for families in some of our clinics and leveraged technology to make it easier for families to connect to CTN.
Guided by our values of inclusion, collaboration, responsibility and innovation, we continue to build a sense of belonging for everyone. Working together with our partners, we are committed to providing services in the best way possible and exploring responsive ways to grow and change. Thank you to our employees, partners, families and volunteers whose support enables us to come together, energized and inspired to create a vibrant community where all kids, youth and families belong.
Visit our website at ctnsy.ca for more information about CTN's services and a list of locations in York Region and Simcoe County.