Message from Leadership
Letter from the Chief Executive Officer
As I reflect on the past year, I am humbled by the work we have accomplished at COSTI, serving our clients with dedication and excellence. Together with our partner agencies, volunteers, funders, donors and the Board, we have accelerated social and economic security for those we serve.
Chief Executive Officer
We continued to provide top quality in-person services while innovating in the digital space. In fiscal year 2023/2024, our services were accessed 192,863 times through both digital and in-person channels.
We made significant impact across multiple fronts. Recognizing that employment is a core pillar to enabling client journeys, we continued to enhance our efforts in employment, skills training, bridging and mentorship, enabling meaningful jobs and economic security for our clients. Additionally, we empowered women through entrepreneurship and digital skills programs, applying a gender-inclusive approach to our programs.
We hosted successful job fairs and established partnerships with major employers, creating vital opportunities for clients to match their skills with career-related jobs, facilitate on-the-spot hires, and build meaningful career paths. We also continued to promote professional networking, bridging and skills training for our clients. These initiatives were acknowledged by third-party recognition, receiving the TRIEC Mentoring Partnership Recognition Award and commendation from WCG-Employment Ontario for successfully employing multi-barrier clients, underscoring our commitment to supporting the most vulnerable in our community.
We helped to address the housing and homelessness crisis in the Greater Toronto Area by providing temporary shelter for clients and supporting their transition to permanent housing and long-term social and economic security. Our clients, including single parents with children, come from diverse backgrounds. Several now live independently in permanent housing and have secured necessary services and support.
The COSTI facilitated International Student Connect Program gained further recognition as a best-practice model for addressing the needs of international students. While the Orientation to Ontario (O2O) program gained prominence, demonstrating the positive impact of pre-arrival information and services on the successful settlement of newcomers. Our family and mental health services continued to meet the needs of vulnerable clients and our programs for seniors, youth and women provided spaces for these communities to flourish. We are grateful to our partners across the province for their invaluable contributions to the success of these programs.
We also played a major role in upskilling clients, providing essential English and sector-specific language skills, particularly in health, finance, logistics and entrepreneurship. Our clients’ achievements were celebrated at our annual Women’s Day Conference, where former clients shared their career journeys, and female entrepreneurs showcased and sold their products in a women-led market.
Our commitment to welcoming and resettling refugees remained strong, including those fleeing conflict in Afghanistan. We secured stable housing, meaningful employment, and integration into Canadian society, effectively resettling newcomers in response to humanitarian crises.
We supported Ukrainians arriving under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) by assisting them with finding temporary housing through COSTI’s Housing Host Program.
We were humbled to receive the CanadianSME Small Business Magazine’s Small Business of the Year 2023 Award, celebrating our team’s passion and hard work in helping our clients build fulfilling lives in Canada.
Our global presence expanded as we hosted international delegations from Finland, Austria, Germany and Italy, facilitating knowledge exchange and best practices.
Additionally, we were honoured to host several high-profile leaders, including the Deputy Prime Minister, the Mayor of Toronto and the provincial Associate Minister of Small Business.
While prioritizing these critical initiatives, we also focused on improving our service delivery by refining our organizational structure, enhancing communications and support for our staff. We established new senior leadership roles, enhanced our organizational design to align with client and program priorities, engaged staff through town halls and other platforms, and strengthened capacity through enhanced staff training programs.
These advancements are the result of our collective efforts. We are deeply grateful for your commitment, which fuels our mission and inspires us as we look to the future with excitement.
Meegwetch,
With gratitude,
Samina Sami
Chief Executive Officer
