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Community Matters Toronto (CMT)
Organization
Community Matters Toronto (CMT), a registered name of St. James Town Family Literacy Services, is a charity dedicated to serving newcomers in St. James Town. The organization provides direct services, education, training and research to develop the life and social skills of children, families and adults in St. James Town, and in turn, encourages their contribution to the community. Organization website: www.communitymatterstoronto.org Project Endeavour is collaborating with CMT to develop a sustainability strategy, including program development and volunteer management, for an Internet cafe used by tenants of a Toronto Community Housing building in St. James Town.
Team
November 2007 Project Highlights The first month of our consulting engagement with Community Matters Toronto (CMT) highlighted the importance of communication, understanding your client's needs, and the scope of work document at the start of any consulting project. It also brought into focus the power of community in establishing and enhancing the lives of newcomers to Canada, and the challenges faced by local charities Endeavouring to improve the lives of those within their communities. Initial Client Meeting In early October, our team met with a few tenants of the Toronto Community Housing (TCH) building at 145 Mutual Street in St. James Town, the location of the Internet café project that our client engaged our services for. As a local charity that assists newcomers in St. James Town, CMT partnered with the TCH residents at 145 Mutual Street with the goal of maximizing the use of the Internet café in their building.
Preliminary Research As we waited for feedback from the client on our work plan, we conducted preliminary research on standard literacy levels, best practices in literacy programs, existing literacy programs, learning styles, and evaluation criteria for literacy programs. Some of this research brought us into contact with individuals who are actively involved in community development, promoting civic engagement, and establishing and running children's literacy programs throughout the city. They generously shared with us their advice and information on available resources for going forward in our project. Client Feedback End of Engagement After another two to three weeks of communication among and between our team and our client, we mutually agreed to end the engagement. While both parties are willing to dedicate their energy and time to benefit the children of the Internet café, we realized that to serve the Internet café's immediate priorities required a significant change in our scope of work which our team and Endeavour do not have the mandate or resources to fulfill. Endeavour and all of us appreciate CMT's consideration of our service, and all the lessons and connections that came from this experience. The mission, work and people of CMT are highly commendable, and we would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with CMT in the future. Going Forward The outcome of our project with CMT presents our team with the opportunity to serve another organization in need of our service or to work with Endeavour to address the issues identified so far in the pilot project. Our team will discuss and further explore our options in the coming few weeks. We are eager to contribute our skills and knowledge to another endeavour, and look forward to updating you on where we are in the near future. - Andrea Wong, Engagement Manager
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At the meeting, our team met with Ingred, a CMT volunteer and the Coordinator of the Internet café, along with a few of the children and
parents who live there. We learned that with the recent donation of new computer equipment to the Internet café, our project scope was
narrowed to program development. The parents and Ingred expressed to us their desire to implement a program during the Internet café hours to improve the literacy and social skills of the children, who ranged from ages 5 to 11 years old. The children currently use the
Internet café mainly for playing Internet games and as a gathering place for Friday movie nights. The goal is to establish a structured
program with committed volunteers who would work one-to-one with the children at the Internet café once or twice a week to improve their
reading, writing, vocabulary and social skills. Both our team and the client were excited about working together to help the children of 145 Mutual Street. We discussed with the client how our team could assist with the project, and documented this in a work plan for the client's approval.
In late October, we received feedback from our client on our work plan. They expressed their appreciation for the work plan that we had developed, and their understanding that the actions outlined would provide the basis for a successful, quality program. However, the client also expressed some concern regarding the scope of our work.