Message from Grandview Children’s Centre Chair and CEO

The 2018 year in review outlines our efforts and successes that have been inspired by our Strategic Plan “Building on Excellence”. Throughout the pages, we hope you enjoy the stories and feel our pride in the accomplishments and milestones reached by the children, youth and their families supported by the expert team at Grandview.

In addition to the accomplishments of the goals set out in our Strategic Plan, the past year brought challenges unanticipated at the start of the 2018/19. We found ourselves responding to some transformative announcements by the Ontario Government. The announcements most impactful to families and to the day to day operations at Grandview pertained to The Ontario Autism Program (OAP) and the School-Based Rehabilitation Program – formerly the School Health Program.

Ontario is transitioning the way in which autism services are delivered with the move to a Fee for Service model. Families will receive an OAP childhood budget allocation from the Government and can then purchase services directly from the provider of their choice. Grandview feels a responsibility to offer these services to families in our Durham community within our not-for-profit framework.  We spent a great deal of 2018/19 planning to deliver autism services in a valuable, accessible and accountable way.  Over the past 66 years our social mandate, family-centered values and not for profit operating framework have set the foundations on which the decisions about operating a Fee for Service aspect of Grandview are being made.

2018/19 also saw Grandview transition to oversee contracts for School-Based Rehabilitation Services. These services offered within schools across Durham were previously the responsibility of the former Community Care Access Centres (CCAC) and then the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs).  This new service adds a layer of complexity to our day to day operations and reduces complexity for families managing multiple providers and goals. We are striving to meet this new responsibility with the expected level of excellence we have come to be known for.  The program transferred roughly 8000 additional children and youth to Grandview’s oversight in January of 2019. 2000 kids were in active service and 6000 were waiting. Grandview’s total demand for services with the School-Based Rehabilitation Services included is now close to 19,000 children and youth.

We continue to advance the work required to build our new facility. 2018 saw phase I of our Capital Project completed. Phase II approvals have been confirmed and we are working with Governments at all levels to get building as soon as possible. Our very generous community has worked with the Grandview Children’s Foundation to raise over 15 million of the 20 million dollar local community contribution needed to build. We are so grateful to live and work in a community that values Grandview kids and the work we do to help families across Durham.

The steadfast leadership of the Grandview Board of Trustees allowed us to meet all of the challenges of the past year with confidence and a commitment to live our mission, vison and values. This tireless group of community leaders serve the children, youth, and families of Durham today and are laying the foundation to be able to do so for decades to come.

Thank you for your interest in and support of Grandview. Enjoy the stories.