Accountability
For 40 years, New Leaf has been growing and evolving to ensure that our community’s adults with developmental disabilities can also grow and evolve. This fierce determination to serve and support has required excellence in governance and leadership, effective operations and programming, and the highest standards of accountability.
That tradition of innovation and efficiency is evident in the strategic goals and initiatives that drive our operations and outlined in our Strategic Plan.
Strategic Goals and Initiatives
Building Our Organization and People
Continuously improve structures, practices, programs, and service delivery to meet the evolving needs of people who live, work, and interact with New Leaf.
- Enhance the governance environment surrounding New Leaf in order to maintain compliance and alignment with leading practice.
- Work towards a flexible and sustainable organizational structure and service delivery environment that aligns with best practices.
- Enhance retention and recruitment efforts to build a reliable workforce, and enable current staff to grow, develop and evolve in New Leaf.
Connecting, Learning and Evolving
Ensure that all New Leaf people work together to evolve our practices as we learn and grow as an organization.
- Leverage New Leaf’s natural assets to build relationships, and potentially diversify revenue generation streams for New Leaf, with the aim of increasing own-source revenue sustainably and responsibly.
- Develop a strategy and approach to advocate and network with partners, decisionmakers and influencers to tell New Leaf’s story proactively and in our own voice.
Growing and Diversifying our Offerings
Create and grow new service offerings and revenue sources to strengthen New Leaf’s long-term sustainability.
- Identify, develop, and implement updated policies, training, and risk management structures to enable a safe and welcoming environment for staff and people supported.
- Welcome and introduce stakeholders, partners and the community back to New Leaf in a safe, healthy, and compliant way that improves the quality of life of people supported.
Executive Team
Board of Directors
Directors
Charles Dyer, President
Douglas Anderson, 2nd Vice President
Dan Blanchard, Secretary
Michael Szul, Treasurer
Board Members
- Aubrey Basceo
- Elizabeth Ferguson
- Trudy Lalonde
- Denis LaRose
- Tracie Lindblad
- James Lockyer
- Kerry Maisels
- Debra Moskovitz
Executive Director
- Colleen Ashmore-Miehm
Annual Reports & Financials
2023-2024 Report
Read President’s Message from Charles C. Dyer
President's Report
2023-2024
As I am sure we will all agree, recent years have been difficult years for New Leaf. When the Covid-19 pandemic was in full swing, the impact on New Leaf residents and staff was considerable, and not something we will want to see repeated. While there has developed the perception that Covid-19 is over, this is certainly not the case, and we have continued to have outbreaks over the past year. Fortunately, New Leaf has become quite experienced with these outbreaks and in each case has been able to bring them under control by adhering to now established procedures.
Continued dedication and diligence by New Leaf staff and management have ensured that the quality of life for our residents has been maintained. We are most appreciative of the extraordinary efforts of so many of our New Leaf staff and management for their strong efforts to handle this difficult situation.
Some of the difficulties of these last years have renewed awareness of the importance of carefully following all policy and procedures in all areas, particularly where it involves the safety of clients and staff. Review of policy and procedures will continue to be an ongoing process to ensure that evolution of the environment at New Leaf.
With the support from our ED, Colleen, and her staff and from the Board, much upgrading and redesign of functions at New Leaf is under consideration or in progress, with information systems being just an example. Owing to changes in the Ontario act under which New Leaf exists, the Board has had to complete the ONCA process to ensure that our bylaws comply with most up-to-date requirements.
Owing to the resignation of Board members in the previous year, the Board moved to bring new members to the Board. This year we have appointed two new Board members: Kerry Maisels and Trudy Lalonde. We welcome Kerry and Trudy to the Board and look forward to their participation on the Board for many years.
The next years will continue to present considerable difficulties, with some considerable threats facing us, including legal liabilities to be resolved, and inadequate funding by our Ministry in view of rising costs making it difficult to avoid a deficit budget.
So, from the Board of Directors, I want our staff and management to know just how much we admire the job you have done, and continue to do, in these difficult times.
Charles C. Dyer
President
Read Executive Director’s Message from Colleen Ashmore-Miehm
Executive Director's Report
2023-2024
As I reflect on 2023-2024, I am filled with pride and gratitude for all that we have achieved together. Despite the lingering impact of Covid, continued economic and service delivery pressures and uncertainty with funding, New Leaf has made great strides in achieving our strategic goals. Through the hard work, dedication, and skills of an amazing group of employees, we are meeting our goals and are evolving our thinking to be open to new opportunities for growth and impact.
With a focus on our strategic goals, our key accomplishments from April 2023 – March 2024 include:
Building Our Organization & People
- A Coordinator of Quality Services was hired to provide leadership and support to managers and direct support staff to implement quality initiatives and to maintain compliance as per Ontario Reg 299/10 Quality Assurance
- We welcomed 27 new employees and have successfully introduced virtual Job Fairs as a recruitment strategy.
- Medication procedures and practices were reviewed and revised to ensure quality and best practice across all support locations.
- The new database, ShareVision, was launched. ShareVision is a platform designed to streamline our operations, improve data management and access, and enhance communication and collaboration across areas.
- An employee purchasing card system, FLOAT, was implemented to streamline household spending and improve processes for tracking, approving and reconciling.
- The Information Systems Improvement Plan was launched with the implementation of new internet services and MS365. There is a lot more work to be done in the coming year and I want to acknowledge the work and support of two dedicated volunteers on this project – Dan Blanchard and Casey Pruden.
Connecting, Learning & Evolving
- A training plan for Supervisors was created to ensure that all supervisors feel confident in their role and are supported for success. The inaugural training day was held in December with a focus on coaching and supporting employees.
- We introduced the online learning platform - Open Future Learning – as a learning resource for all employees. This is a learning platform dedicated to the Developmental Services workforce that offers multiple videos and learning modules across a variety of topics.
- Managers and Directors participated in a leadership assessment and training series on Conflict Management.
- In November 2023, we launched the first part of a 3-Year Employee Engagement Initiative to assess and change New Leaf’s workplace culture. A culture assessment identified, among other things, a shared desire for increased accountability, open communication, and more opportunities for coaching and mentoring. A work plan has been created and we are providing regular updates to all employees with Quarterly All Staff meetings. A follow up assessment will be completed in the fall of 2024 and 2025.
Growing & Diversifying Our Offerings
- With additional support from a grant from the Trillium Foundation, in the amount of $133,500, renovations and improvements to the woodshop were completed.
- We were approved for the $92,650 grant through the Government of Canada’s Community Services Recovery Fund. The grant will allow us to recruit a consultant to assist us in conducting a feasibility study, create a proposed business model and complete a capabilities assessment for social enterprise(s).
- A $5000 grant from York Region allowed us to make initial improvements to the large sensory garden outside of the café.
- A $5000 grant from ParticipAction Ontario allowed us to offer some unique sports programming and host a Sport Day.
- We met with Seneca’s Environmental and Landscape Management program and with Guelph University to discuss placement, volunteer opportunities and paid summer work positions to support the development and maintenance of our beautiful outdoor spaces.
- To ensure a consistent look and feel in all our communications, new brand guidelines were created. New Leaf’s brand reflects our commitment to fostering individual growth, honoring our uniqueness and connecting to our community and environment.
These achievements reflect the heart of our mission— to provide a safe home to, and enrich the lives of, individuals with developmental disabilities in a unique sensory and natural environment - and we could not have realized them without the collective efforts of employees, the Board of Directors and supporters.
As we look to the future, we remain committed to building on this momentum. In the coming year, we will focus on continuing to improve our employee engagement, systems of communication, policies and procedures review, and the development and diversification of our service offerings.
Thank you to our supported living and community participation supports teams who are passionate about the work they do and the difference they make in individuals and families’ lives. Thank you to the administration team who are key in supporting our operations and keeping the organization on course. Thank you to the leadership team for their commitment and efforts to lead and make a positive impact. Finally, I want to thank our Board of Directors for their engagement and guidance as we chart this path toward a future of promise and potential.
For individuals supported, families, loved ones, and community partners as we enter our 41st year, I look forward to our continued successes living and learning together.
Colleen Ashmore-Miehm
Executive Director