Board Of Directors 2000/2001

Officers

President	Avril Phillip
Vice President	Elizabeth Boyd
Vice President	Sue Nador
Secretary	Cori Kalinowski
Treasurer	Stephanie Bird

Directors

Margaret Beare	Karen Hirst
Avil Beckford	Denise Jeffers
Jill Copeland	Raiza Kolia
Kim Crozier	Shoshana Pollack
Carolyn Fineberg	Jennifer Watson*

Staff 2001/2002

Executive Director	Leslie Kelman
Financial Administrator	Elizabeth Davis*/Elly Vlietman
Office Manager	Paulette Athill*/Camella Jones-Phillip
Receptionist	Camella Jones-Phillip
Manager - Direct Services	Martha Arbuthnot
Social Workers	Gillian Crawford
	Andrea Slack
Parenting Program Counsellor	Linda Brotman
Drug and Alcohol Groupworkers	Mary Lemke*
	Laurie Charlton
Sexual Abuse Counsellor	Elizabeth Amerongen
Shoplifting and Fraud Counsellor	Gillian Crawford
Volunteer Programs Coordinator	Cheryl Champagne
Diversion Courtworker (College Park Court)	Eugenia Messner
Residential Supervisor	Nzinga Walker
Residential Counsellors	Elizabeth Amerongen
	Margaret Arnason
	Peggy-Gail DeHal
	Elizabeth Guete
	Susanna Riquelme*
	Maryam Salad
Coordinator of Community Relations and Fundraising	Nancy Webb
Director of Development	Jonathan Rudin/Barbara Yip

* resigned during the year

History and Mission
The Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto is a woman-centred, non-profit organization that represents and fosters the community's interest in and responsibility to women who are, have been, or may come into conflict with the law. Founded in the early 1950s, the Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto was named after the nineteenth century English reformer of the penal system whose work among the women and children of Newgate prison began a long tradition of addressing the special needs of incarcerated women.

The agency offers transitional accommodation, counselling services, a court program at College Park Court, and facilities for research and education. Our volunteers and staff regularly visit the Metro West Detention Centre, Vanier Centre for Women and Grand Valley Institution.

Our mission is to facilitate the empowerment of women and to address the reasons why women come into conflict with the law by:

• facilitating choices and opportunities for individual women;
• affecting systemic change of social conditions, laws and structures;
• promoting a system of justice that leads to the healing of society and responds to the needs of all women involved in and affected by crime;
• ensuring that in all its operations, the Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto embraces the diverse racial and cultural backgrounds of the people it represents and serves.

The Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto is a member of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) and of the Council of Elizabeth Fry Societies of Ontario. There are currently 24 Elizabeth Fry Societies across Canada including nine in Ontario.

President and Executive Director's Report
I'd like to express my deep appreciation to the staff, Board and all the volunteers of the agency for making this such a successful year. After a number of years of struggle, the dedication of all those involved with the Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto has brought the agency much closer to the stabilization that we enjoyed in the 1980's. We have been able to continue programming without interruption and have even added a second Survivors of Abuse group. Our volunteer programs have grown, our linkages with external agencies strengthened and expanded, and our own staff development more comprehensive.

Yet we continue to be challenged by community misconceptions, often fueled by the media and by political platforms. Canadians believe that the crime rate is increasing although all recent statistics state just the opposite. They believe that there is a significant increase in crimes committed by women and in particular, young women, although the numbers are far too small to suggest a pattern of increase. They believe that the system is too lax although fewer and fewer offenders are being released on parole. It is time for us to focus more attention on community education by disseminating the facts so the public does not continue to support the counterproductive and ill-informed 'get tough on crime' philosophy.

Our goals in 2000/01 will be to increase our work in the community and increase our community services. In order to break both the individual and generational cycle of offending we must be able to offer continued support and counselling when women are no longer under sentence. True change requires support and time. The Toronto Elizabeth Fry Society looks forward to this challenge and we remain firm in our resolve to facilitate choices and opportunities for individual women, to foster community involvement, and to preserve community alternatives to incarceration.

Direct Services Report
The Direct Services team has continued to provide high quality service to women in conflict with the law. Half way through the year the manager's position was filled, having been open for some time. We are very grateful for the patience and dedication of the staff throughout this hiring process.

Our group programs are very active and well attended. We now offer nine group programs, and continue to help women work on issues related to shoplifting and fraud, sexual abuse, substance use and parenting. Highlights of the year include the following:

• Sexual Abuse Program: expanded by increasing staff hours to full-time and offering a second group focussing on women's experiences of ritual/cult abuse. There are very few resources available to help women in this area and to date we have the only free service group program in Toronto. This group runs for 12 weeks, three times per year. Successful outreach to approximately 25 community agencies, parole officers and court workers has created a growing waiting list. The first group developed in the sexual abuse program continues to help women with issues related to childhood sexual abuse and runs concurrently with the aforementioned group. In total we were able to offer over 1100 hours of group and individual service to women. In addition 3 staff were able to complete training in this area of childhood sexual abuse.
• Shoplifting and Fraud Program: expanded by offering a second group focussing on follow-up support for women who have completed the 12 week group. This group meets monthly and helps women continue to integrate new awareness and learning taken from the initial group. It helps women to identify and integrate different coping strategies for life issues and stresses thereby decreasing levels of risk.
• Drug and Alcohol Program: continues to offer a harm reduction group and a group focussed on relationships with self and others. Both groups have continual intake and are becoming well known throughout the city. We have also expanded our participation within the Drug Treatment Court Program beyond membership on the community advisory committee member, to creating an agency community partnership. This means our agency is acknowledged as a resource for therapeutic intervention for women registered with the Drug Treatment Court.
• Parenting Program: continues to offer groups for incarcerated mothers at the Toronto West Detention Centre and Vanier Centre for Women. We served approximately 100 women at The West and 63 women at Vanier, using an open group discussion format. These two groups provided incarcerated mothers an opportunity to receive support and practical information regarding relationships with their children and family caregivers. In addition to the groups, women at both facilities may also seek individual support and brief counselling for more in depth issues.
• Diversion Program: located at the College Park Court served 96 women this past year. A majority of the offenses are theft-under and appear to highlight the impoverished lives of women. This pilot project has been successful in assisting women with a first time offense to keep a clean record. Our presence at the court also provides additional opportunity to inform women of our programs and services that may be of assistance to them in reducing risk of conflict with the law.
• Individual Counselling: continues to be available for women on probation through our contract with the Ministry of Correctional Services. Due to staff shortages, our intake was low this year. However we anticipate improvement with our full staff compliment and intend to increase our outreach to probation and parole staff informing them about our programs.

Some of our intentions for next year include: enhancing the flow of services between residence and direct services; creating positive connections with community child welfare agencies in the parenting program; pursuing funding opportunities for all programs; and creating an anger management program.

Residential Program Report
The past year has been a time of development and change for the Residential Program. The Residence continues to offer 14 beds at 215 Wellesley East in addition to a bachelor and two-bedroom apartment at our satellite locations. Women who are staying at the residence have been actively involved in securing education and employment opportunities. The residential team continues to visit Vanier and Grand Valley Institute to provide information and intake to women interested in completing their sentence in a residential setting. Many women find it a more appealing and effective way to re-integrate into the community as well as maintain ties to family and community.

Recent changes to the provincial government's policy on Standards for Release have had an impact on the number of women who are accessing the Residential Program. These changes have contributed to a decrease in the number of women on provincial parole being released to our agency. This year we have had only four women on provincial parole in the residence, an incredible difference compared to past figures. We will continue to support their applications to participate in the Residential Program.

Major housecleaning took place in the residence this year including the purchase of some new furniture. These changes make the residence more inviting and certainly brighten the dimmer areas of the residence. We continue to work with the women staying in our residence to make it as comfortable, safe and resourceful as possible. Our residential staff team has also been facilitating support groups in the agency and are encouraging our residents to participate in an ongoing support group environment.

We look forward to another year of change and growth, and women passing through our agency before they return to their homes in the community.

Resource Development Report
The past year has been one of our most successful in terms of fundraising activities. The significance of this success is that it allowed the agency to continue to offer needed programs and services. Fundraising is never a goal in and of itself. We rely on fundraising because some of our programs and some of the expenses necessary to ensure the smooth operation of our agency are not covered by way of grants or contracts with government bodies.

Broadly speaking, our fundraising activities fall into five areas:

1. direct mail
2. foundation appeals
3. special events
4. bequests and
5. charitable gaming.

The Elizabeth Fry Society is very fortunate to have dedicated supporters who regularly donate funds to one or more of our three direct mail appeals each year. Each of our direct mail appeals is targeted to a particular theme or activity and the funds raised from the appeal are applied to that activity. Over the past few years the average donation we have received has steadily increased. At the same time, the cost of our direct mail campaigns has been decreasing. Keeping costs down is an important goal for the Resource Development Program.

In addition to individual donors, we are also fortunate to receive funding from foundations. Some foundations support our general operating expenses, others provide grants to specific programs. Donations to support operating expenses are always appreciated and much needed. In terms of specific program support, we are extremely grateful for the continued support that our Sexual Abuse Program has received from the Pacifica Fund, part of the portfolio of the Toronto Community Foundation.

Our special events activities give people the chance to enjoy themselves while also providing us with a another source of funding. Our major special event continues to be Rebels for a Cause. The 1999-2000 fiscal year edition of this event held on May 19, 1999 honoured Angela James, Sue Johanson, Linda Lundstrom, and Kim Phuc. We have heard nothing but praise for the Rebels who shared stories of their lives with those in attendance. In addition to the wonderful speeches of course, our silent auction is also an integral part of the event. The auction is becoming more spirited every year. We thank all the individuals and corporations who donated items to the auction and made it such a success.

We are very fortunate that many of our supporters choose to remember us by way of bequests in their wills. Bequests are an important source of funds to the organization. It is very gratifying to know that our work is seen as significant enough that people choose to think of us as they are planning their estate.

For us, charitable gaming is spelled 'b i n g o'. We have had another successful year at the Delta Bingo Hall on St. Clair Avenue West. Bingo is a great source of funds, but is labour intensive. We run an average of three bingo sessions a month at the hall. Without a dedicated group of bingo volunteers, we would not be able to tap into this significant source of funding.

On behalf of the Board, staff, volunteers, and especially the clients of our agency, we thank all of our donors for their generosity over the past year.

Volunteer Programs Report
Our volunteer program continues to be a vibrant and vital part of our agency. While our core programs are still going strong, we have also expanded into new areas of volunteer activity this year. On the front lines, volunteers assisted women at College Park Court and the West Detention Centre, as well as in the Sexual Abuse and Parenting Programs. They attended the Community Assessment Team, assisted with our fundraising event, Rebels for a Cause, provided office support, operated Bingo's, facilitated workshops for clients, and trained staff on computers. Our volunteers are an amazing group of talented and generous people!

The gifts and accomplishments of our volunteers are many. In concrete terms, this past year 131 volunteers gave over 5100 hours of their time to the agency, and assisted 2,442 women. The court volunteers assisted 1,363 women, made contact with over 2,700 women and made 382 referrals. At the Metro West Detention Centre , 45 volunteers provided service to 1,011 women. The holiday parties at Vanier and the West continue to be a highlight - this year we provided a party and gifts for 200 women. With the assistance of a student from the Assaulted Women and Children's Advocate Program, we undertook focus groups and a survey to get feedback from the women at the West and Vanier on current and future program needs. The Elizabeth Fry Society also collaborated on special projects with Centennial College Wellness Certificate program and Pro Bono Law Students.

The presence of our volunteers at the Metro West Detention Centre has become more important than ever. In the fall of 1999, recreation staff at detention centres in Ontario was eliminated. As a result, those incarcerated at the West no longer have access to physical or recreational activities except from outside agencies like ours. With decreased staff levels, we also had a number of our programs cancelled at the last minute. The response of our volunteers to these new challenges was remarkable - we are grateful for their commitment and perseverance.

Our outreach to the community was enhanced through our Speaker's Bureau and by participation at community events. Volunteers staffed a table at the Take Back the Night and International Women's Day events. A number of volunteers worked on the 10th International Conference on Penal Abolition spearheaded by Rittenhouse.

The work of volunteers behind the scenes is also critical to our success as an agency. Our Board of Directors provides ongoing leadership and support. As our technological needs have increased, we have had volunteer assistance with computer software training and web site design. Our 15 Bingo volunteers contributed 800 hours, which brought over $48,000 into the agency. Our office volunteers were there to keep things going when we needed them.

This year we held three Volunteer Orientation Sessions and welcomed 22 new talented women to our volunteer roster. We held four volunteer development sessions on the topics of Violence Against Women, Women and Homelessness, Harm Reduction, and Prostitution. These sessions continue to challenge us to understand the complex lives of the women we serve, assist us to provide more effective referrals, and strengthen our links to other women's organizations. In total, our volunteers participated in 438 training hours.

It is impossible to measure the gifts our volunteers bring to the agency. The impact of volunteers is best demonstrated by the difference they make in the lives of the women we serve. We hear repeatedly from the women who attend our volunteer programs how amazed they are that people in the community take the time to care about them. It is a testimony to what the Elizabeth Fry Society is all about.

Hope is critical to our ability to move forward in life - to believe that we can have control over our own lives and make a difference. Our volunteers bring hope in many forms by letting the women know that they matter. By participating and believing in our work at E. Fry our volunteers help us to continue our efforts to promote a more humane, compassionate, and just, community response to women in conflict with the law. Our volunteers put their values into action by supporting and participating in the mandate of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto. They give their time, their energy, their commitment, and their hearts.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed people can change the world -- it is the only thing that ever has" (Margaret Mead).

And our volunteers do.
Cheryl Champagne,
Co-ordinator of Volunteer Programs

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