**NORTHERN ONTARIO SERVICE DELIVERERS ASSOCIATION NEWS RELEASE**

Community leaders responsible for delivering vital social services across Northern Ontario are looking to gain the attention of Provincial political parties during the 2018 Provincial Election campaign.

“The Provincial Party Leaders are talking about public transit, hydro costs and the like, and while we’re concerned about those things too, we also worry about affordable housing, homelessness, how to get our sick to hospital when they need it, getting people the supports they need to break free of personal crises, and helping them get and keep quality child care for their kids. We want to engage leaders of all political stripes in some important discussions now and after the election is over on how to get the social services we need here in the North” stated Iain Angus from the District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board who is Chair of the Northern Ontario Service Deliverers Association (NOSDA). ‘Our concerns extend far beyond this political cycle’ noted Angus, who has spent a lifetime in public service.

Janet Gawne, Vice Chair of NOSDA, from the Sault Ste. Marie DSSAB noted “Elections are a time to provide clear suggestions to all Party Leaders and candidates on the needs of their constituencies. We are anxious to work with any Provincial Government or political party that will recognize the differences and difficulties as well as the unique opportunities for delivering high quality social services in Northern Ontario. We look forward to the dialogue”.

‘At our Annual General Meeting coming up in June, we have a broad variety of resolutions to help focus thinking at Queen’s Park as to the social service needs of the North’ explained Barry Baltessen, Vice Chair of NOSDA from the Kenora DSB. “We want to work with politicians of all stripes to improve child care services, affordable housing, Ontario Works and Land Ambulance across the North”

“For example, as recently as last year, NOSDA requested that the Province upload the costs of the delivery of Land Ambulance and Social Housing in the same manner as it did with Ontario Works. Ontario is the only Province in Canada that does not fund 100 percent of the costs of land ambulance or social housing and there is a limited property tax base from which to pay for any portion of these services. Further, NOSDA members wish to be recognized by the Province as the Service System Managers for Human Services. This would engage NOSDA members as full partners in managing and planning Human Services within their respective communities and jurisdictions.

As we move toward the June 7th Provincial Election and afterward, we hope to engage the Party in power on ways to improve the delivery of social services in Northern Ontario.

 

ABOUT NOSDA

The Northern Ontario Service Deliverers Association (NOSDA) brings together Service Managers in Northern Ontario who are responsible for the local planning, coordination and delivery of a range of community health and social services – including social housing. NOSDA champions healthy social development and accessible labour-market development in Northern Ontario communities and NOSDA members deliver government programs – that are financed on a cost-shared basis between local municipalities and the Government of Ontario.

NOSDA is composed of ten District Social Services Administration Boards (DSSABs), a form of governmental board unique to Northern Ontario, and one municipal Service Manager (City of Greater Sudbury) that cover the entire geography of Northern Ontario (with the exception of First Nations) from the Manitoba border to the Quebec border.

NOSDA members deliver programs across the North that result in measurable gains to the quality of life of Northerners through:

• Providing financial and other supports to persons in financial crisis and/or having difficulty entering or re-entering the labour force;
• Creating, maintaining and providing affordable and social housing;
• Addressing homelessness through funding and delivering diverse emergency shelter and homelessness prevention services.
• Providing quality early learning and child care services to promote child development while enabling parents’ educational/skills upgrading and employment; and
• Delivering emergency medical services in times of medical crisis in areas that have undertaken to do so

Our core values include:

• aiding member organizations and its’ local municipalities by demonstrating creativity, responsiveness, and efficiency in the planning, design and delivery of human services through a willingness to explore innovative and evidenced-based ways to achieve results
• being respectful and enabling in our relations with our clients and to be accountable to taxpayers, as well as being model employers and good ‘corporate citizens’
• working to earn the reputation as a good partner and as the authoritative voice on human services in Northern Ontario, among government agencies and other organizations.

NOSDA’s strategic goals are:

1. To Lead, Promote Linkages and to Collaborate. This will be accomplished by expanding Service-Delivery Partnerships and by improving stakeholder communications and advocacy with like-minded organizations, municipalities and urban Aboriginal communities
2. To Realize our Potential. This will be accomplished by expanding the scope and impact of human services delivery; and by becoming a “trusted advisor” to governments
3. To Innovate. This will be accomplished by advancing the Service-System Manager model of delivery; and by promoting research into best practices and innovative delivery.
4. To Improve Outcomes for Persons in our communities through Productivity, Efficiency and Effectiveness. This will be done by advising on standards for performance and program effects; by identifying and advocating for removal of barriers to policy and program success; and by enhancing the organizational capacity of NOSDA and its member organization.

In the past several years, NOSDA has entered into Memoranda of Understanding with other organizations with which NOSDA shares common clients, including the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC), the Ontario Aboriginal Housing Service (OAHS) and the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association (OMSSA). Strong working relations have also been formed with the Housing Services Corporation and the Northern Local Health Integration Networks.

For further information, contact Fern Dominelli, (705) 222-7777