Highlights from the 2023 OMSAA Exchange Conference

This past May, three staff from Prosper Canada attended the OMSSA Exchange conference in Ottawa, ON. The Ontario Municipal Social Services Association (OMSSA) hosted a gathering of more than 330 people to exchange knowledge, best practices, and examples of local projects and ways of working. This included representatives from human services, Ontario Works, child care, health, and other municipal services, and some community partners such as Prosper Canada.  

As a featured partner, Prosper Canada was able to introduce financial empowerment (FE) to conference attendees with information and resources about the Benefits Wayfinder, Prosperity Gateways (our work with municipalities), and the newly released client-facing course, Making the Most of your Money. With a cost of living and housing crisis across Ontario, these resources can be of incredible help to caseworkers and other municipal staff to better support their clients through various challenges.  

The team also presented on a panel about person-centred case management, with partners at Ottawa Employment and Social Services and EBO, a community agency providing financial counselling help to people living on low income. The presentation focused on the work of the Prosperity Gateways team (Prosper Canada’s team to embed FE services into municipal systems) with the City of Ottawa and EBO, to explore opportunities to design and test pathways from OW/social assistance to FE supports such as tax filing help, access to benefits, budget counselling, and more.  

The team used this opportunity to connect with municipal staff from across the province and build Prosper Canada’s network of municipal staff wanting to learn about financial empowerment. The panel and plenary sessions were also a great source of insight on topics, including the employment transformation, using data to make program decisions, and the growing focus within OW for empathetic and human-centered care. The experience at the conference was invigorating and the Prosper Canada team is looking forward to exploring future possibilities to collaborate with municipal staff in embedding financial empowerment help into their services.  

Thank you to OMSSA for inviting Prosper Canada and giving us an opportunity to connect with and learn from passionate municipal leaders from across Ontario.

About OMSSA
OMSSA is a non-profit association whose members are Ontario's Consolidated Municipal Service Managers (CMSMs) and District Social Services Administration Boards (DSSABs). The organization supports, connects, and advocates for their members across Ontario, they help them to achieve their collective mission of delivering the best human services outcomes for Ontario's communities. Learn more