In 2004, the Ontario government introduced the
Community Use of Schools program (CUS) to make public schools more accessible to community organizations. Previously, changes in funding from 1997 had drastically increased user fees for community access to schools and resulted in a drastic drop in community use.
And for as long as the program’s been in place, Toronto’s SPACE Coalition has been monitoring its progress. The
SPACE Coalition, a nonprofit outreach group that works with
Social Planning Toronto (SPT) is dedicated to monitoring, advocating for, and expanding the Community Use of Schools Program.
Late last month, SPACE and SPT published their latest report on CUS, entitled "Public Space for Public Use: A Review of Community Access to School and Municipal Facilities in Ontario" (full report
here).
"Schools are great public spaces and community assets," says Lesley Johnston, a research and policy analyst with SPT and the research advisor on the recent report. "They are in every community, they have to be in every community. They are within walking distance for families, for seniors, right there in the heart of the community and they are already safe space for most people. They feel very familiar. … They can be less intimidating than City Hall type places… And yet, after six, these places often sit closed. But they are ready to be used, so why not take that place and maximize it? This is already happening in a lot of communities and schools, but it would be great to expand it."
While the SPACE Coalition has tracked the increase use of school space since the launch of CUS in 2004, their most recent report suggests that there is still work to be done if the program is to achieve its full potential, which, according to the SPACE Coalition’s mission statement would involve "increasing access to schools and truly benefiting the broad, diverse community in an equitable manner."
"The reason SPACE was formed was to make sure the money was really making the difference. It's great to have the policy, but monitoring and evaluation is key to make sure it is benefiting communities," says Johnston.
"And what we found was that while there are some really great things happening, there are also a lot of issues."
Among other recommendations, the new report suggests that the permit process needs to be streamlining and sped-up.
"It can take a long time and lot of work to apply for a permit to use a school space," explains Johnson. "That can make it hard for groups to plan programming for the future and, if they don’t get the permit, can result is lots of wasted effort."
But Johnston adds, even with a decrease in red tape, financial barriers will still put these spaces out of the reach of some groups despite reduced fees.That’s why, she says, the SPACE Coalition continues to push the Liberal government to honour its 2008 commitment to add an additional $66 million to the CUS funds.
CUS funding has flatlined at approximately $48 million over the past three years.
"This money would make a huge difference in opening up access to what is an essential community public space. We will continue to push the Ministry to honour that commitment."
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Lesley Johnston, Research and Policy Analyst, Social Planning Toronto
Photo: postbear