The Public GalleryToronto

Toronto City Council · 2025-12-16 · 2025.MM35.25

The filed record

Community Services Partnership Funding Increase Request for Cecil Community Centre - by Councillor Dianne Saxe, seconded by Councillor Rachel Chernos Lin

The Public Gallery wrote no story on this item. What follows is the city’s own record of what happened to it, as filed: nothing on this page is summarised or scored by us.

The decision

2025-12-16 · Toronto City Council · adopted

As filed

City Council on December 16 and 17, 2025, adopted the following: 1. City Council request the Mayor to consider an increase of $0.135 million to the 2026 Operating Budget for Social Development in the Community Services Partnership program to provide equitable grant funding to Cecil Community Centre's program budget.

On the agenda

As the city filed it

Cecil Community Centre stretches very limited resources to serve a high-needs, low-income population in downtown Toronto. It provides essential community services, like affordable childcare, housing and employment support, and language resources for those learning English, and also acts as a Warming Centre surge site. Acting as a Warming Centre caused the Centre to lose multiple paid bookings, and damaged its ability to raise private funds through hosting events.

Show the rest of As the city filed it, 858 more characters as filed

Despite these many valuable services, Cecil Community Centre receives only $6,567 annually from the Community Services Partnership grant program, far less than the other eight members of the Association of Community Centres that provide similar programs. This wholly inadequate amount has not received a meaningful increase in well over a decade. The Ward Councillor, in consultation with Social Development, Finance and Administration, requests that Cecil's Community Services Partnership funding allocation be brought into equitable alignment with the eight members of the Association of Community Centres that are currently receiving Community Services Partnership funding. This motion is urgent because it is an input into the 2026 Budget negotiations. The proposed amount was just recommended by Social Development, Finance and Administration yesterday.

Staff recommended

Councillor Dianne Saxe, seconded by Councillor Rachel Chernos Lin, recommends that: 1. City Council request the Mayor to consider an increase of $0.135 million to the 2026 Operating Budget for Social Development in the Community Services Partnership program to provide equitable grant funding to Cecil Community Centre's program budget.

    On the record

    The item as the City filed it

    More from this meeting

    The whole meeting