Good afternoon Mayor Morgan, Councillors, and Budget Committee members.
My name is Maureen Cassidy, and I'm here today on behalf of Pillar Nonprofit Network
and the thousands of nonprofits, charities, and grassroots groups serving every
neighbourhood in this city.
We recognize the pressures you face - fiscal, social, and political. We also recognize
the direction in this budget: investing in safety, housing, and transit while keeping the
tax increase modest.
I come with a message of partnership and collaboration - because nonprofits are
not separate from the City's goals. We are part of how they’re achieved.
First, I want to acknowledge the areas where this budget aligns with the work that
nonprofits are already doing every day.
There is new funding for housing and homelessness supports. This includes adding
service capacity for people who are precariously housed.
That’s encouraging, because many nonprofits - from shelters to outreach workers, to
housing support organizations - have already built strong, trusted relationships with the
very people these investments are meant to serve.
Our ask is simple: Treat nonprofits not merely as delivery agents - but as core partners
in designing, implementing, and strengthening these supports.
We also see investments in community safety.
But we all know that safety isn’t built through enforcement alone. Safe communities are
created through prevention, belonging, and programs that give people purpose and
connection. Nonprofits deliver those every day: youth engagement, neighbourhood
programs, food security, newcomer supports, and so much more. That is the quiet
infrastructure of safety - and it is worthy of full recognition in a City budget.
This budget also invests in intercity transit, and that matters.
It will help Londoners reach new jobs in places like St. Thomas and bring people from
surrounding communities into London to work, learn, and participate in our economy
and culture.
But we also need to be honest: this doesn’t help Londoners move within London.
It won’t help someone access a counselling session, a food program, a library, or an
employment support service. It won’t help a volunteer get to a nonprofit organization where an extra set of hands are desperately needed or a newcomer family reach a
cultural community and it won’t help someone experiencing homelessness get across
the city for care.
So while intercity transit is positive and forward-looking, it cannot substitute for
improving mobility within our city, especially for those who rely on nonprofit services to
survive and thrive.
We also notice what’s missing.
Library expansions - important ones - have been pushed out to 2027.
Libraries are not luxuries. They are anchors of community life. They are places where
children learn, where newcomers access technology, where nonprofits hold
programming, and where people go to be warm, safe, and connected to others.
We urge Council: don’t let libraries slide down the priority list. They are part of the same
ecosystem of community well-being that this budget aims to strengthen.
We are encouraged to see the City’s expanded winter response - including warming
centres and safety measures for the months ahead. This is essential, and we applaud it.
But as a sector, we have also learned that seasonal responses are not solutions on their
Own.
To make these investments meaningful, nonprofits must be included - not just as
emergency support, but in year-round planning. From staffing to service coordination to
wrap-around care, the nonprofit sector is already doing this work - and we are ready to
co-design long-term solutions.
This brings me to the bigger picture:
This budget makes decisions about nonprofits, and about the communities we serve -
but nonprofits are still not clearly or consistently named as partners in service delivery.
That’s a missed opportunity.
From housing to mental health, from newcomer integration to food security, nonprofits
are a core part of the city's social infrastructure.
We are not asking you to build a partnership. We’re asking you to recognize the
one that already exists - and strengthen it.
As you move forward with this budget, we ask that City Council commit to:
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Create a formal role for nonprofits in shaping and implementing key budget priorities - especially housing and homelessness responses.
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Protect and renew funding tools like the Community Grants Program that sustain nonprofit capacity.
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Reaffirm commitment to libraries and other community spaces as shared public infrastructure.
It’s important to emphasize one more thing: London’s nonprofits have always been
ready to work alongside you - not only to stretch dollars further, but to ensure that every
investment in this budget becomes a real, equitable outcome in people’s lives.
The City’s fiscal discipline matters. Nonprofits understand fiscal discipline.
We make the most of limited resources every single day.
That kind of resourcefulness doesn’t just stretch budgets - it builds solutions that work.
We don’t just hold the social fabric together, we drive economic growth, create jobs, and
strengthen our local economy. But none of that matters without a shared commitment to
belonging, dignity, and community well-being.
We must work together to protect that - for everyone.
Thank you.