Dear Minister Lecce,
I am writing to you today with an urgent request about Priority Schools Initiative (PSI) funding.
First provided to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in 2009, PSI funding is a valuable and needed opportunity for investing in youth engagement and well-being. It serves to promote and encourage the academic and social development of our youth and creates meaningful connections with community organizations and leaders outside of the school day.
Prior to the 2018-2019 school year, the TDSB received $2.6 million in annual PSI funding. That year, funding was reduced to $1.6 million, and was then eliminated the following year. While the TDSB has funded a “Local Neighborhood Support Program” to provide free permits to 44 TDSB schools, the removal of PSI funding has significantly restricted the Board’s ability to offer reduced cost permits to community organizations in its school spaces on evenings and weekends in priority neighbourhoods.
On June 17, 2020, the Board, through the Chair, wrote a letter to you that spoke to how the pandemic disproportionately hit traditionally underserved communities and created and exacerbated considerable student and community need for supports, specifically in areas where PSI funding used to reach underserved communities. The Board then requested that the Community Use of Schools Grant be reinstated to $2.2M. A similar request was made on March 24, 2021.
As you know, Toronto has been experiencing a rise in violence in our communities and at our schools. As the Chair of the Board, I am writing to you once again to urgently request that the Priority Schools Initiative funding be reinstated to enable the TDSB to offer enhanced community-based youth programming in priority neighbourhoods on evenings and weekends so that youth are supported and engaged inside and outside the classroom.
Sincerely,
Rachel Chernos Lin
Chair
Toronto District School Board