Connecting Communities Initiative

“Micro-projects” are small, highly focused short-term interventions aimed at strengthening different kinds of working relationships.

The Connecting Communities Initiative tested whether micro-projects were an effective way to promote collaboration among service providers within Ontario’s employment training system on three key tasks:

• Getting employers more engaged in the employment process;
• Providing new forms of personal guidance for social-assistance clients through peer support;
• Improving coordination between service providers through community tables.

This new publication from the Public Policy Forum: the final report of the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services’ Connecting Communities Initiative, describes the results from these projects and the lessons learned for the future. It concludes that micro-projects are particularly effective in all three areas. It goes on to propose that a larger, longer-term project be launched using micro-projects to build community-wide mentorship programs and employers networks in a series of communities around the province.