Staying True to our Grassroots

Apr 30, 2025

The organisation that eventually become known as morphed into Community Living-North Frontenac was established in 1976, and after almost 50 years of change and development, the initial goal has not changed: to provide supports for developmentally disabled people and their families where they are living and as well as to help foster the relationship between the supported people agencies clientele and the local community where they live.

The closing of institutions where many of the original supported people clientele of Community Living-North Frontenac (CLNF) had been living, and working on recovering from some of the abuse and neglect that occurred in those institutions was an important part of the work of the agency over its first decades.

CLNF has undergone steady growth over the last 25 years, in line with changes in the finding funding models from the provincial government.

The core programs: Community Participation, Supported Independent Living, Employment Services and Host Family, have all been growing to serve the existing population in Central Frontenac and people who have moved into the community over time.

As part of its efforts to serve people its clientele and the needs of the larger community, the CLNF Board of Directors took over the operation of the Treasure Trunk, which has provided work placements for people clients and a source of affordable household products for community members. The Treasure Trunk also created a revenue stream for the CLNF Board that was and has remained distinct from the funding CLNF receives from the government of Ontario to run its support programs and administration. The Board purchased a property on Road 38 for the Treasure Trunk in 2016, which came with two rental units. With many supported people clientele struggling with housing issues, it was a natural to rent those units to supported people a couple of this clients and use the rental money cover mortgage costs of the building. Since then, the CLNF Board has purchased other buildings in Sharbot Lake for a similar purpose.

Today Community Living owns 6 properties and rents 2 locations. With the development of new programs, CLNF continues to require supportive housing for different support needs.

A couple of years ago, an opportunity arose to support a local family whose child requires 24-hour care. “The family was having to find care for their child far from where they live, and that made it difficult for everyone, so we took a leap to develop our Children's Services Residential program Children’s Out of Home Services,” said CLNF Executive Director Dean Walsh. The CLNF Board was able to find a property in Sharbot Lake and two children are now living their there , with ongoing intensive support from the ever-growing CLNF employee staff complement. The growth has continued, and the Board now owns a total of 6 properties and rents 2 others. “I know people talk about the property's that our board has taken on, but each of them came about organically,” said Dean Walsh. “The other thing is that each of those properties ends up resulting in new employment staffing and new jobs in the local economy.”

The most recent changed for CLNF was a decision to rent the building that used to house the St. Lawrence College Employment Centre on Garrett Street, in Sharbot Lake, as the CLNF head office.

The office on Elizabeth Street was originally a private home that was converted into office space. The building burned down, but because of the insurance requirements, it was replaced with a building of the same size and shape. Even though the new building was set up as an office space, it was never ideal for a growth minded agency. By moving to the former employment centre space, the former office is now being converted into a space to that can support house up to 6 adults who may require a higher level of support.

“We now employ 47 people, almost all of them full time. We pay good wages have great starting salaries that come with and full benefits,” said Walsh.

And in its hiring practices, CLNF focussed on hiring potential employees with high critical thinking skills as well as providing education and rather than previous training in the developmental services field for people who do not always have education as a Developmental Service Worker.

“We are committed to professionally developing, supporting and funding training for our employees,

both in the work environment and through in person and online training. that we pay for. We spend over $80,000 per year on training and professional development programs for our employees, that is a lot for a small agency,” said Walsh.

Walsh sees CLNF continuing to grow over the next few years, to the benefit of the people who need service, and to people looking for good jobs and career opportunities. All of this and for the benefits of the community as a whole.

As the agency continues to expand grow, the board and employees are mindful not to create “group homes” but rather homes that will not have more than 2 people living together.

There is an amazing benefit from this for the community of Sharbot Lake and surrounding area as CLNF is dedicated to hiring local community members that can earn a great salary wage and have full benefits for themselves and their families.

CLNF is always looking for dedicated volunteers to assist at the Treasure Trunk as well to serve on their Board of Directors.

As May is Community Living month, stay tuned for the many activities happening so you can help us celebrate this month. We will also be having an open house in May, we would love to have you visit our new location at 1099 Garrett Street.

If you would like more information, please reach out to us at 613-547-4711 or by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.