Community Access Partners

ROM Community Access Logo

Children in the ROM in My Backyard program fill out an activity sheet in front of the T-rex at the ROM.

 

The ROM works with 100 community partners to deliver inclusive museum experiences to a diverse range of communities across Ontario.

While the ROM has listed each partner under a specific category on this page, please note that most of our partners work with communities with intersectional identities, and thus impact multiple ROMCAN communities. For more information about the work of each partner, please reach out to the partner directly.

ROMCAN Communities

ROMCAN Partners

Persons Living in Poverty

  • Dixie Bloor Neighbourhood Centre offers programs free of charge and responsive to the needs of the community residing in the Dixie Bloor area.
  • Frontline Community Services is a non-profit organization designed to provide an array of support programs for under-served individuals within our community.
  • Kidnetix Kids Association provides access to quality educational and recreational programs that encourage healthy childhood development, to disadvantaged children and youth.
  • Kids Up Front Foundation Toronto is a charitable organization that provides access to arts, culture, sport and recreation for children in Toronto who otherwise do not have the opportunity.
  • Rexdale Community Health Centre provides a range of medical, dental, physical and mental health services, community programs and advocacy for individuals and families in north Etobicoke.
  • Roots of Empathy is an international organization that offers empathy-based programs for children, with research to prove impact.
  • Toronto Public Library. Sign out a Sun Life Financial Museum + Arts Pass with your adult library card, and you and your family can get free admission to many Toronto museums and other cultural attractions. ROM passes are available at 50 library branches and are each valid for 2 adults and 2 children.
  • United Way Halton and Greater Hamilton has a profound impact on our community everyday by ensuring an essential network of programs and services work together to achieve lasting, positive change.
  • United Way of Greater Toronto is the largest non-governmental supporter of social services in the region, dedicated to creating the opportunities people need to improve their lives and build a better future.
  • Vaughan Public Library (Experience Vaughan) provides free family passes to local cultural, educational and recreational facilities in and around Vaughan.
  • Warden Woods Community Centre is a multi-service agency providing over 50 programs and services to over 6000 clients annually out of our main Centre and several satellite locations.
  • West Neighbourhood House enables less advantaged individuals, families and groups in the community to gain greater control over their lives and within their community.
  • YMCA of Greater Toronto is a charity tackling the most critical social issues in the GTA. For more than 160 years, we have offered children, teens, young adults and families the opportunity for personal growth, community involvement and leadership.

Underserved Youth

  • Albion Neighbourhood Services, Albion Boys and Girls Club works in partnership with the community to enhance people’s lives through the delivery of programs, services and supports that are accessible and responsive.
  • Boys and Girls Club of East Scarborough provides programs and services for more than 6,000 children and youth, in over 19 locations across east Toronto.
  • Boys and Girls Club of West Scarborough provides a safe, supportive place where children and youth can experience new opportunities, overcome barriers, build positive relationships and develop confidence and skills for life.
  • Covenant House is Canada’s largest agency serving at-risk, homeless and trafficked youth, providing the widest range of services and support to as many as 300 youth a cay.
  • Critical Distance Centre for Curators provides valuable experience and opportunities to curators and artists, administrators, and arts enthusiasts.
  • Dovercourt Boys and Girls Club is an organization committed to providing fun, rewarding and affordable after school programs for children of all backgrounds.
  • Eastview Boys and Girls Club offers a warm, welcoming and safe place for children and youth to participate in a wide variety of social and recreational activities.
  • Emerging Artists (EYA)’s mission is to increase appreciation for emerging and underrepresented artists' work through artistic development and public exhibition.
  • Eva’s is an award-winning organization that provides shelter, transitional housing, and programming to help homeless and at-risk youth reach their potential to lead productive, self-sufficient, and healthy lives.
  • Horizons for Youth is a shelter for at-risk and homeless youth aged 16-24 in Toronto.
  • JAYU is a charitable organization that shares human rights stories through the arts and engaging conversation.
  • Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture creates a safe space for Filipino-Canadian youth, both second generation and newcomers, to overcome multiple barriers that prevent them from meaningful engagement in society.
  • Reel Asian is a not-for-profit charitable cultural organization that advocates for Asian representation through media arts.
  • SKETCH is a community arts enterprise based in Toronto that engages diverse young people, ages 16-29, from across Canada, who are navigating poverty, living homeless or otherwise on the margins, to experience the transformative power of the arts, build leadership and self-sufficiency in the arts and cultivate social and environmental change through the arts.
  • St. Alban’s Boys and Girls Club serves over 2,000 members a year at their founding clubhouse plus 1,000 more in 18 satellite sites including locations in three United Way identified priority neighbourhoods.
  • The 519 is a city organization dedicated to advocacy for the inclusion of LGBTQ communities.
  • Toronto Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club operates four program sites serving families living in Toronto's inner-city; Regent Park, in the downtown east and Trinity Bellwoods, in the downtown west.
  • VIBE Arts is an award-winning charitable organization committed to providing children and youth in under-resourced communities with high quality community and school based arts education.
  • Visions of Science Network for Learning is a charitable organization that aims to advance the educational achievements and career aspirations of youth from low-income and marginalized communities through meaningful engagement in STEM fields and research.
  • Whippersnapper Gallery provides emerging artists with resources and development opportunities to create public programming that starts conversations.
  • Youth Rising Above focuses on transforming the lives of marginalized youth through dynamic, engaging and interactive program opportunities, which build resiliency, skill and personal well-being.
  • Youth Troopers for Global Awareness is a youth led Non Profit mobilizing and empowering young people for social justice through the arts, various events, workshops, campaigns and special projects.

Newcomers

  • Airsa Art and Thought Association’s goal is to support Internationally Educated Artists/Art Workers who are new to Canada through training, events, and community art initiatives to create a context for them to thrive and adapt to the new society, Toronto.
  • Arab Community Centre is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious organization that aims to help all newcomers to Canada, especially Arabs, and to provide a friendly place to socialize and reach services and opportunities.
  • Centre for Immigrant and Community Services empowers newcomers in settling and integrating as contributing members of Canadian society through diverse, professional and innovative services.
  • Centre for Spanish Speaking offers services and programs to the Spanish speaking community in Toronto, Ontario.
  • CultureLink is a settlement and community organization with 30 years’ experience in developing and delivering services to meet the needs of diverse communities
  • Institute for Canadian Citizenship (Cultural Access Pass) provides new Canadian citizens with free admission to more than 1,400 of Canada’s premier cultural attractions and discounts on travel during their first year of citizenship.
  • Kababayan Multicultural Centre is a not-for-profit organization that aids in the settlement of newcomers to Toronto and provides community programming for families.
  • North York Community House is committed to building strong, vibrant communities – serving over 20,000 residents in northwest Toronto every year.
  • Sick Muse Art Projects works with new Canadians, specifically refugee children and women to do art, creative writing and storytelling workshops.
  • Skills for Change is known for pioneering programs that respond to shifting immigration and workplace trends and lead to employment.
  • The Neighbourhood Organization (TNO) is a community-based, multi-service agency providing a wide range of community services since 1985. Their programs, services and activities support low-income, marginalized and newcomer communities across Toronto in more than 50 languages and at no cost.
  • Toronto Community and Culture Centre provides personal and group employment counselling and educational services for new and long-term immigrants, especially youth, in order to facilitate their settlement and/or integration into Canadian society.
  • University Settlement is a multi-service agency that was founded in 1910 and has the distinction of being the first community-based social service centre in the City of Toronto.
  • WoodGreen Community Services makes thousands of opportunities for thousands of Torontonians, thousands of times a day.

Women in Need

  • Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic offers legal representation, professional counselling and multilingual interpretation to women who have experienced abuse.
  • Elspeth Heyworth Centre for Women empowers immigrant and newcomer women, seniors and families through advocacy and services focused on promoting healthy families, community relationships and economic self-sufficiency.
  • Sistering is a multi-service agency for at-risk, socially isolated women in Toronto who are homeless or precariously housed.
  • The Redwood offers safety, healing and opportunities for growth for women and their children fleeing abuse.
  • Working Women Community Centre is a charitable organization that has been making a difference in the lives of Toronto’s immigrant women and their families since 1974.
  • YMCA Toronto is dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls. It accomplishes this vision by being a strong advocate for women and girls, providing transformative services in the areas of employment support and training, housing options and shelters, leadership development programs for girls and key supports for women and children who have experienced violence.

Seniors at Risk

  • Alzheimer Society of Dufferin County is dedicated to providing help for people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and their caregivers.
  • Alzheimer Society of Toronto offers support, information and education to people with dementia, their families and their caregivers, increases public awareness of dementia, promotes research, and advocates for services that respect the dignity of the individual.
  • Lumacare enhances, engages, and empowers the members of our diverse community by providing equitable, accessible and high quality services.

Persons with Lived Experiences of Mental Health and/or Addictions

  • Across Boundaries provides a dynamic range of mental health support and services and works within Anti-Racism/Anti-Black racism and Anti-Oppression frameworks.
  • Bellwood Health Services has been treating addiction and related mental health disorders for over 30 years.
  • Breakaway Addiction Services provides seamless, comprehensive and effective harm reduction services and a full range of addictions treatment services that are amenable to an individual’s needs and goals.
  • Central Toronto’s Youth Services is a community-based, accredited Children’s Mental Health Centre that serves many of Toronto’s most vulnerable youth.
  • Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health teaching hospital and one of the world's leading research centres.
  • Community Outreach Services of Toronto East Health Network works in partnership to provide community based mental health services which respond to the needs of our clients, families and the community.
  • Creative Works Studio is an art studio for folks living with mental health challenges.
  • Family Service Toronto helps people face a wide variety of life challenges.
  • George Hull Centre for Children and Families offers a full spectrum of child and youth mental health services from birth to age 18.
  • Gerstein Crisis Centre is a 24-hour community-based mental health care service.
  • Inner City Family Health Team helps men who use Seaton House Shelter with their health care needs.
  • Loft Community Services promotes recovery and independence for people with complex challenges including serious mental health challenges, dementia, substance abuse issues, physical health challenges and homelessness or the risk of becoming homeless.
  • Mood Disorders Association of Ontario offers free support programs to people across Ontario, and their families, who are living with depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder.
  • Oasis Addiction Recovery Services provides programs and services in the GTA to help stabilize recovery, overcome personal barriers, and join the workforce by finding viable employment.
  • Peel Children’s Centre is one of the largest children's mental health treatment agencies in Canada.
  • Progress Place is a recovery centre for people living with mental illness such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Depression and Anxiety.
  • Regeneration Community Services is a charitable not-for-profit community mental health and addictions organization providing affordable supportive housing and case management services for adults with serious mental health and/or addiction issues.
  • Salvation Army Homestead exists to serve women who want to experience recovery from substance use.
  • Workman Arts is an arts and mental health organization known internationally for its artistic collaborations, presentations, knowledge exchange, best practices and research on the impact of the arts on the quality of life of people living with mental illness and addiction.

Persons with Disabilities and the Deaf Community

  • Aptus Treatment Centre provides people who have developmental disabilities with meaningful opportunities in the community to explore what matters to them.
  • Autism Ontario is the leading source of information and referral on autism and one of the largest collective voices representing the autism community.
  • Bob Rumball Canadian Centre of Excellence for the Deaf provides the Deaf Community a space without communication barriers.
  • Canadian Helen Keller Centre empowers the deafblind community through consumer driven services and opportunities that maximize independence.
  • CNIB is a non-profit organization driven to change what it is to be blind today.
  • Down Syndrome Association of Ontario is a charitable, non-profit organization, which is composed of local Down Syndrome Associations from across the province.
  • Geneva Centre for Autism is an international leader in the development and delivery of clinical intervention services and training.
  • Hands of Fire is a charitable organization providing sculpture classes for the blind and visually impaired.
  • March of Dimes provides a wide range of services to people with physical disabilities throughout the country.
  • Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre provides opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to be active, learn, connect and participate in a wide range of cultural experiences. The MNjcc offers programming that is accessible and inclusive.
  • REACH develops integrated, inclusive recreational opportunities to enrich the lives of children and youth with special needs, their families and their communities.
  • Silent Voice serves Deaf adults, youth, children, and their families in an American Sign Language (ASL) environment.
  • Vita Community Living Services and Mens Sana Families for Mental Health provide safety, respect and community through services for individuals with intellectual disabilities and/or mental health needs.

Children with Serious Medical Conditions

  • The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids), affiliated with the University of Toronto, is Canada's most research-intensive hospital and the largest centre dedicated to improving children's health in the country.
  • DEBRA Canada is a voluntary, registered, non-profit organization dedicated to providing support for families affected by Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) and to increasing Canadians' awareness of this challenging disease.
  • Holland Bloorview is Canada's largest children's rehabilitation hospital, providing treatment, research and education services in the area of kids disability.
  • Make a Wish Foundation grants wishes to children with life threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.
  • Ronald McDonald House Toronto is a home away from home for seriously ill children and their families.
  • SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health helps 6,000 children and families each year through a combination of prevention, treatment, research and education activities.
  • Starlight Children’s Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to bringing laughter, joy and hope back into the lives of children with serious illnesses.

Indigenous Peoples

Students

Contact Us

For questions, comments or more information on accessibility at the ROM, please contact:

Tel: 416.586.8000
E-mail: romcan@rom.on.ca