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Human Needs Task Force

Human Needs Task Force

A Human Needs Task Force was implemented as part of the City’s Emergency Management Plan and emergency response to COVID-19 to ensure that we are responsive to the emerging needs of the community.

The task force is focused on responding to immediate, medium and long-term community needs on:

  • Financial and food security
  • Homelessness and sheltering

Task force partners

Contact information

Email HNTF@ottawa.ca
Call 613-580-2424 ext. 26753

Please ask anyone facing difficulty to call 3-1-1. The City of Ottawa has many supports in place for residents in need and are expanding our capacity to meet local needs.

Donations

The City of Ottawa has partnered with community agencies to be able to connect donors of cloth masks and other donated items and or residents in need to specific community partners during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Corporate offers of donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Supplies to the City of Ottawa

These items include, but are not limited to:

  • N95 masks (1870+ or 1805)
  • Surgical masks
  • Procedural masks
  • Face shields
  • Gloves
  • Protective gowns
  • Protective goggles and glasses
  • Hand sanitizers
  • Disinfectant wipes

To donate, we ask interested businesses to email: donations@ottawa.ca and provide information on the items and quantities. The City will review donations being offered and follow up on your offer.

The Ottawa Hospital is also collecting, processing and storing all donated medical equipment, to help supply the many front-line healthcare staff across the Eastern Ontario region who are responding to the pandemic. You may also contact The Ottawa Hospital at COVIDdonations@toh.ca.

Additional offers of donated items

The Human Needs Task Force does not directly accept donations from the community. Please contact the following community partner who may be able to accommodate your donation:

Please contact the Gifts in Kind program at the Rideau Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre. Please contact Gifts.InKindProgram@crcrr.org or by telephone at 613-745-0073. Please call in advance of dropping off your donation.

In addition, you may also contact one of the Community Health and Resource Centres in your area. They may be able to connect you with an organization which would benefit from your offer.

The information and resources below are provided by the Human Needs Task Force in partnership with community agencies to inform residents in Ottawa where donated goods may be directed and where residents may obtain certain needed items. For any additional questions, please contact the Human Needs Task Force at: HNTF@ottawa.ca / 613-580-2424 ext. 26753.

Thank you for your support

The City of Ottawa thanks you, in advance, for your assistance. While we must keep our distances, we can still offer our hand to help and touch the lives of so many people in our community.

Donate blood

Canadian Blood Services are supporting patients’ on-going needs for blood and blood products. They have taken steps to comply with the Public Health Agency of Canada’s directive on physical distancing. They have added screening measures for the safety of donors and employees. To book a blood donation appointment, visit blood.ca(link is external) or through the GiveBlood app.

An equity lens to COVID-19

Applying an equity lens to all stages of the COVID-19 pandemic response helps ensure everyone gets the support they need.

The City developed a series of documents that highlight the importance of applying an equity lens to COVID-19 supports. Differences in barriers and access to resources that people have based on their socio/cultural/economic reality and demographic identities need to be considered.

For more information on an Equity and Inclusion lens to the COVID-19 response and recovery. email: womengenderequity@ottawa.ca.

Wellness visits

The Human Needs Task Force and the Red Cross have partnered to complete community wellness visits. These visits are to see if residents are doing well, provide information about community resources, answer questions and drop off emergency supplies like a food hamper, if needed.

Volunteer

If you are looking to support your community during this critical time, you can help by checking in with neighbours and friends who may be vulnerable, overwhelmed, lonely or in need of help.

However, please do not do so if you have a fever, new onset of cough or difficulty breathing, or if you have been in close contact with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19.

Due to the evolving situation with COVID-19, we are not looking for volunteers. If you wish to lend your volunteer support to local community organizations during the COVID-19 situation, please visit Volunteer Ottawa for more information. Volunteer Ottawa (link is external) has established a pool of pre-screened volunteers and will continue to accept new applicants. 

Social Services Relief Fund - Closed

The City of Ottawa is inviting funding applications from established, local non-profit agencies that are providing essential services to clients and can have the biggest impact through providing services and supports to priority populations during the COVID-19 crisis and recovery. 

This new round of Social Services Relief Fund (SSRF) ($2.5M) is available to non-profit, charitable organizations delivering essential social services to assist them with the extraordinary costs associated with their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Priority for this funding is for essential services and programs: 

  • Responding to access to basic needs, mental wellbeing, and organizational capacity,
  • that are in direct response to COVID-19, and
  • need to be sustained until the end of 2021.

The documents below provide information on eligibility criteria for applicant agencies, eligible uses of the funding, funding priorities, and the allocation process. 

Application Deadline: March 30th, 2021, 11:59 p.m.

Any questions or comments should be directed in writing at communtiyfunding@ottawa.ca. 

Keeping Ottawa Clean

We are seeing an increase in disposable gloves and masks discarded on the ground in public, especially in grocery store parking lots.

Used gloves and masks are garbage and do not belong on the ground. Improper disposal of garbage is a safety risk and harmful to the environment. Residents should dispose of all garbage, including gloves and masks, in waste bins.

If you take your used gloves and masks home, throw them away in a garbage bin lined with a plastic bag, and be sure to wash your hands after.

Any person found depositing waste on any property can be charged with littering.