York Region

An Interview with Katherine Chislett

An Interview with Katherine Chislett

From 2017 to 2024, Katherine Chislett served as Commissioner of Community and Health Services for York Region and as President of Housing York, Inc., overseeing a $1 billion budget, 3,000 staff, and more than 300 programs that support York Region’s residents. Katherine’s focus on integrated service management and her dedication to equity and inclusion have enriched the lives of over 1.2 million residents.

She is also the recipient of the 2024 OMSSA Lifetime Achievement Award. OMSSA sat down with Katherine for an interview to discuss her work and career and thoughts on human services in Ontario.

Building Partnerships and Innovative Programs to Expand EarlyON Child and Family Programs

Building Partnerships and Innovative Programs to Expand EarlyON Child and Family Programs

Before the pandemic, York Region organized a “Think Tank session” with EarlyON agencies to evaluate current outdoor programming. They also recognized that their EarlyON educators, who were trained in Early Childhood Education (ECE), often did not have outdoor education or Indigenous cultural training to make the necessary changes to the curriculum development for outdoor program delivery. To address these concerns, the Region sought the advice of outdoor education and Indigenous worldview experts to help develop a new four-season outdoor program. Then, they partnered with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to support training and curriculum development, leading to the creation of the Walking Together Through the Four Seasons collaborative initiative. Kathy Lucky, the Manager of EarlyON Programs with York Region, explains how this program was developed to benefit the community.

Making York Region EarlyON Child and Family Programs More Accessible for Families Through the New EarlyON Registration Tool

Making York Region EarlyON Child and Family Programs More Accessible for Families Through the New EarlyON Registration Tool

OMSSA is featuring several of our 2022 Local Municipal Champion award recipients and their work in the Knowledge Exchange Blog. Please read the entry from York Region. In April 2022, the York Region EarlyON Child and Family Programs and Ontario Child Care Management System (OCCMS) teams in collaboration with CMSMs/DSSABs came together to develop and implement a system-wide, centralized online registration platform for EarlyON programs.