November 18, 2022

Ottawa, Ontario – Upstream Ottawa Mental Health Community Support, a leader in frontline community mental health since 1985, today hosted a Zoom event to celebrate the $59,100 Resilient Communities Fund grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). This grant is helping Upstream in its recovery from COVID-19 by building fundraising capacity in the organization.

“Today marks another success story and financial investment for our community here in Nepean. I was pleased in the last parliament to increase investments toward the Ontario Trillium Foundation by $105 million in one-time funding, to support excellent programs like this,” said Lisa MacLeod, MPP for Nepean. “Upstream Ottawa's core services include Intensive Case Management, serving on average 80 individuals who live with persistent mental illness, on an annual basis. Upstream also provides culturally appropriate mental health and substance-use services to Black, African and Caribbean youth. These programs empower individuals to create goals and strategies to manage their health and well-being. Each person in our community is valuable and should not be stigmatized for their mental health. We are thankful to be able to put those words into action today with our partners.”

With the support of this grant, Upstream Ottawa is rebuilding from the impacts of COVID-19 by diversifying its fundraising strategy, auditing its fundraising database, pursuing grants, developing new events, and empowering staff and board members as fundraisers.

“COVID-19 was hard on our clients and our staff team, and actually created a greater need for mental health and substance-use services,” said Bo Turpin, Executive Director of Upstream Ottawa. “But we got through it. This grant will help us respond to the increased demand for services and provide community-based programs that aren’t covered by government funding but can mean a big difference in the daily lives of our clients.”

Upstream Ottawa Mental Health Community Support provides a range of critical community supports and affordable housing options to people living with suspected or confirmed mental illness and/or substance-use concerns. Services include intensive mental health case management, housing, youth support services with a focus on Black youth and their families, crisis prevention, medication management and life-skills coaching.

For more information on Upstream, go to upstreamottawa.ca, call the Upstream Ottawa office at 248-3330 ext. 401, or send an email to info@upstreamottawa.ca

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) mission is to build healthy and vibrant communities across Ontario. As an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations, last year, OTF invested nearly $209M into 2,042 community projects and partnerships, which included funding for the Government of Ontario’s Community Building Fund. Since 2020, OTF has supported Ontario’s economic recovery by helping non-profit organizations rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Visit otf.ca to learn more.