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$75,000 in grants awarded for social isolation research and prevention

The RTOERO Foundation has announced the recipients of its annual grant program. The announcement was made by Board Chair Joanne Murphy at the RTOERO annual Spring Senate event. A total funding pool of $75,000, made available through the fundraising efforts of the Foundation in 2018, has been allocated to two projects, specifically aimed at addressing the growing problem of social isolation among Canadian seniors.

One grant, in the amount of $50,000, has been awarded to a collaboration between two organizations who will co-manage the project; the National Institute on Ageing, Ryerson University (NIA) and the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE). Establishing Best Policies and Practices for Understanding and Addressing Social Isolation in Older Canadians, aims to synthesize and catalogue best policies and practices, nationally and internationally, with respect to social isolation.

The second grant, in the amount of $25,000 is awarded to Catholic Family Services Peel Dufferin for a project entitled Peel Senior Connectors. The initiative aims to reach isolated seniors at community outreach locations, through current one-on-one support systems and at health care facilities.

We were thrilled this year with the overwhelming number of proposals we received, which is evidence that our program has become well known within the granting sector. Additionally, we were so impressed with the rigour that was applied to methodology and measurement, and the truly exceptional originality and ambition that we saw in nearly all the proposals we received. The final decision is always difficult and this year was no exception. Congratulations to both grant recipients and thank you to all our donors who help make the grant program an annual success.