75 Years of Building Community & Changing Lives: United Way Ottawa’s Story
1933 / A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS: Until the 1930s, the federal government intervenes as little as possible in the economy and believes that churches and charities should take care of societal issues. As a result, federated charities made up of church groups spring up everywhere, including Ottawa. Enter UW/CO (called Ottawa Federated Charities) in 1933, which at the time is a loose federation of the Roman Catholic and Non-Sectarian Federation and the Protestant, General and Non-Sectarian Federation. UW/CO begins to make an impact by funding local agencies and organizations that spring up to meet the needs of the population — which numbers just over 174,000. Agencies include the May Court Club, Children’s Aid Society, Ottawa Boys’ Club, YMCA and Vacation Bible School.
Although the emphasis is on raising money in the community to help the community, the values behind this new charitable organization — sharing what is raised, giving back to people and organizations, volunteering and working together to build a stronger community — underpin UW/CO throughout its 75-year legacy.
UW/CO begins to make an impact in the lives of the people in the community, and other organizations are also involved in support for the community. Faced with an expanding case load because of events happening south of the border, the private Family Welfare Bureau, which has been providing monetary assistance (“relief”), is replaced by the Ottawa Public Welfare Board, which the city sets up in 1933 to take over the Bureau’s responsibilities. UW/CO steps in to provide bedding, furniture and household items through donations. Around this time, UW/CO approaches the Ottawa Council of Social Agencies, a research and advocacy umbrella group, to ask it to act as an authority on the activities of the agencies UW/CO supports — a gesture that highlights the importance UW/CO places from the very beginning on being accountable to the community in which it is fundraising. This type of relationship between UW/CO and the local social planning agency continues until the 1990s, with the planning agency conducting research and promoting social planning and UW/CO raising funds.
Midway into the depression, adequate, affordable housing stock is rare and the demand for basic household items such as bedding and furniture increases. Around the same time, UW/CO (its new name is Ottawa Community Chests) adopts the slogan “Be a Good Neighbour” to reflect the scope of its work.
By 1939, member agencies benefiting from the work of UW/CO, along with support from the Ottawa Council of Social Agencies and the Social Service Exchange (a confidential index to help coordinate relief to families), numbers 18: Catholic Welfare Council, Joan of Arc Institute, St. Joseph’s Orphanage, St. Mary’s Home, Sisters of Service, Daily Vacation Bible School, Ottawa Hebrew Benevolent Society, Protestant Children’s Village, Union Mission for Men, YMCA, YWCA, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Children’s Aid Society, May Court Club, Ottawa Boys’ Club, Ottawa Day Nursery, Ottawa Welfare Bureau and Victorian Order of Nurses.
UW/CO's reach during the decade: • growth in assistance from several member agencies to 18 by the end of the 1930s highlights UW/CO's influence in the community
