About Connecting Communities

Our work

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People who don’t speak English or French and people who live in rural or remote communities face significant barriers to accessing the legal information and services they need. CLEO’s Connecting Communities addresses these barriers and promotes greater access to legal information and services through its work.

The Connecting Communities staff team helps organizations develop legal information training projects for front-line workers in their community. We do this by helping organizations plan their project, find project partners, and prepare proposals, which are then submitted to the Law Foundation of Ontario.

Connecting Communities developed the Learning Matrix, a resource for community workers that contains a collection of tips and resources from past Connecting projects. Connecting Communities also collects legal information training resources developed through Connecting projects and makes them available to community workers who are planning or conducting legal information training through our training materials database.

Many Connecting projects have been funded across the province – and we look forward to seeing many more innovative projects that meet identified community needs funded over the coming years.

ImageJohn is told that his rent is increasing by 5%, effectively immediately. Maria’s landlord says that her building has a policy of “adult residents only”, and her young family is threatened with eviction. Ahmed’s boss asks him to work overtime, but refuses to pay him for the extra hours.

People are at risk of being taken advantage of when they don’t know their legal and human rights. Those who don’t speak English or French, or who live in rural or remote communities, often face even greater obstacles to gaining legal information that can protect their basic rights.