Category One Funding

Grants of up to $30,000 to Ontario nonprofit organizations for programs that benefit disadvantaged residents in eligible locations. Funding is intended to support social service projects in the areas of well-being, safety, and health. Funds must benefit the residents of the Halton Region, which includes the city of Burlington and the towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hills.

The HRCIF enhances the health, safety and well-being of Halton residents through funding to nonprofit human service programs and initiatives. The HRCIF is part of Halton’s approach to community safety and well-being (CSWB) planning and supports a holistic response to human service needs. To be considered for funding, programs and initiatives must:

• Meet all eligibility criteria outlined in the funding guidelines.
• Support populations that are vulnerable to negative health or social outcomes (i.e., achieve a community health or social services objective).
• Ensure equitable and inclusive service delivery to support diverse, equity-seeking or marginalized populations in Halton.
• Demonstrate an impact on one (or more) of the following Community Safety and Well-Being objectives: 
• Health: A community where everyone is supported to reach both physical and mental well-being. 
• Safety: A community where everyone can go about their daily activities without risk or fear of harm. 
• Well-Being: A community where everyone is connected and engaged with a vibrant, healthy environment and strong social supports.

The HRCIF encourages collaborative applications that demonstrate a coordinated, integrated or collective impact approach to meet community needs.

HRCIF applicants must ensure all public health guidance related to the COVID-19 pandemic will be followed in the delivery of programs and initiatives. 

Category One: Category One will support short-term, small capital and/or innovative projects, including piloting a new program, developing an innovative approach to service delivery, program improvements and/or capital items/equipment to improve service delivery.

In addition to achieving impact on one (or more) of Halton’s CSWB objectives, applicants are asked to demonstrate where the proposal fits within the following CSWB planning framework. The framework highlights four key areas that work together to make communities safer and healthier, including:

• Social development to improve the social determinants of health (the things that make people healthy) and reduce the probability of harm and victimization;
• Prevention to proactively implement programs to reduce risks to community safety and well-being before they result in crime, victimization and / or harm;
• Risk intervention to prevent an incident from occurring while reducing the need for incident response; and
• Emergency response for immediate and reactionary responses that involve a sense of urgency.