Black-led, Black-focused, and Black-serving community agencies projected to increase their capacity to deliver services in Peel

BY PAUL JUNOR

It was an historic and significant day at the City of Brampton City Hall on Sunday, August 10^th, 2024, when the Region of Peel launched its first B3 Fund.

It was over four years ago in June 2020 that Peel Region’s Council approved Resolution 2020-1448. This resolution affirms its commitment to address systemic discrimination by supporting policies, equitable funding, and programs that address the inequities faced by the Black community and other organized groups in Peel. This resulted in the formation of the Community Investment Program, which received formal support from the: Diversity, Equity and Anti-Racism Committee as well as the Regional Council in 2023.

The subsequent development of the B3 Funding Framework was intended to respond to Council’s recommendation to ensure Black-led and Black-led serving social service agencies in Peel are funded equitably through regional funding mechanisms. This funding framework for: Black-led, Black-focused, and Black-serving (B3) community agencies was projected to increase their capacity to deliver services in Peel. Some of the accomplishments of the Community Investment program include:

• Development of an action plan in 2020 to use an equity lens to support thinking and discussion around equity within the CIP granting streams.
• Realignment of $1.3 million to the long-term and medium-term priorities of the COVID-19 pandemic to address racial and systemic discrimination. In 2020 and 2021, 35% and 37% of successful applicants for the Capacity and Change Fund were Black-led, Black-focused and Black-serving.
• Development and implementation of a new Service Provider Profile Section within GooGrants-Peel Region’s online grant management platform in 2023 to collect key equity information.

There were several aspects to the plan which includes the following:

• B3 Advisory Board Creation
• B3 Funding Framework Development
• B3 Funding Implementation

The B3 Advisory Board is a community based social service agencies which consist of regional staff and others who have worked together to affect the following:

• Inform, educate, consult, and c-design the development of the B3 Funding Framework
• Ensure the: interests, perspectives, and needs of Black communities in Peel are reflected throughout the c-development process. There was a crude cross section of stakeholders including those from the 2LGBTQIA + food services.

Councillor Martin Reid states, “This was a long time coming. It’s just great to see so much thought put into supporting these grassroots organizations, which often don’t have formal non-profit status. This is an opportunity to not only support those organizations, but also to coach them along the way.”

Councilor Reid is supportive of the work that Juliet Jackson, Peel Region’s Director of Culture & Inclusion is doing to ensure that these funding programs are available. In a released statement, she states, “The B3 Fund responds to historical funding disparities from all levels of government. We are proud to provide the necessary resources and support to foster measurable change within our community.”

Dogma Koy, Founder of Restoration and Empowerment for Social Transition Centre (REST) described the importance of the funding. She states, “REST Centres is excited about the 2024 B3 Fund. As Black youth continue to represent the largest youth population facing housing insecurity in Peel, this fund represents a crucial opportunity to bolster our core operation, allowing us to further our mission of supporting Black youth with greater effectiveness.” She elaborates further, “The potential impact of this funding will significantly strengthen our ability to deliver essential services and drive meaningful change in our community. We eagerly anticipate the transformative possibilities this support will bring.”