Priority Risks:
The following risks were selected by the planning committee as priorities to be focused on in their four year plan:
Low Educational Attainment Rates
o At the town-hall community engagement sessions, members of the public and the local school boards identified a lack of educational attainment in Grassland. Statistics provided by Ontario Works also indicated that Grassland has an above-average number of individuals being financially supported by their services that have not obtained their high-school diploma. The local school boards have noticed a significant increase in the number of individuals dropping out before they reach grade 12 in the past two years. This was supported by statistics received from Statistics Canada, which show Grassland having a significantly high number of people that have not completed high-school compared to other municipalities of a similar size.
Mental Health
o Mental health was identified most frequently (12 out of 14) by the agencies/organizations that were engaged on a one-on-one basis as being a risk faced by many of the individuals and families they serve.
Domestic Violence
o Statistics provided by the Grassland Police Service indicate that they respond to more calls related to domestic violence than any other type of incident. Grassland also has the largest women's shelter within the region; it is often over-populated with women having to be referred to services outside of the municipality.
Implementation Teams and Members:
Increasing Educational Attainment Working Group
o Purpose: to increase educational attainment in Grassland by creating awareness about the impacts of dropping out of school and ensuring youth receive the support they need to graduate.
o Membership: this group includes representation from the planning committee as well as organizations that were engaged during community engagement whose mandate aligns with this group's purpose. Specifically, membership consists of:
- Julie M., Grassland Catholic School Board
- Ray A., Grassland Public School Board
- Shannon C., Ontario Works
- Ram T., Ontario Disability Support Program
- Claudia T., Municipality of Grassland (Social Services)
- Sam S., Employment Centre
- Stephen W., Local Indigenous Agency
- Allan R., youth living in the community
Mental Health Task Force
o Purpose: to ensure Grassland community members who are experiencing mental health issues are properly diagnosed and have access to the most appropriate service provider who can assist in addressing their needs.
o Membership: this group has been in place for the past two years and was identified after completing an asset mapping exercise of existing bodies as a body that could be responsible for coordinating/developing strategies related to mental health. Existing members will continue to be on this implementation team and include: