Interest in community benefits has been growing in Ontario over the last few years, as a way of ensuring that public and private infrastructure investments foster prosperity and well-being in the communities where those projects take place.

In October 2015, Dina Graser was contracted to research how community benefits could produce meaningful change for low-income communities, and to make practical recommendations as how to best advance the field in Ontario.

Download Community Benefits in Practice and in Policy

Accordingly, three research components were undertaken between October 2015 and February 2016:

• A review of community benefits agreements (CBAs), “social clauses,” and legislation and policies in the U.S. and in the U.K. This was done to understand the legal, procurement and political frameworks in which they were created.
• Interviews with a wide range of experts and actors in the field of community benefits in the U.S. and the U.K.
• A study tour to California with Colette Murphy, Executive Director of the Atkinson Foundation, to better understand the “ecosystem” that makes community benefits projects and policies possible there. The tour included meetings with leaders in the nonprofit and community sectors, staff in city governments and public agencies, economic development experts, organizers, workforce development pioneers, academics and policymakers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley.

This report summarizes what has been learned through those activities, analyzes the state of play in Ontario, and makes recommendations as to how best to further this work in our own context.

Related reading: Community Benefits and Tower Renewal

Table of Contents

Executive Summary
Introduction
   The California Experience
   The Oakland Army Base: Building a Movement
   Los Angeles: From Projects to Policy
   Concluding Thoughts on the U.S.
The U.K. experience
   Role of legislation and policy
   Scotland
   Northern Ireland
   Wales
   England
   Social Enterprise
   Concluding thoughts on the U.K. Experience
Eight core criteria: lessons from both jurisdictions
   Political will and an internal champion
   A clear policy basis and alignment with other public policy goals and practices
   Policy guidelines and procurement strategies for implementation
   Clear and measurable targets
   A strong workforce pathway system
   Monitoring and evaluation frameworks
   Enabling SME and SE participation
   The Value of Trust
Application to the Ontario context
   Promising developments
   Challenges
      Government: some political will, but a lack of expertise
      Lack of community capacity
      Need for a narrative
      Need for organizational infrastructure