On Wednesday, January 10, 2007, Kathryn Ann Hill, an OCVO steering committee member made a presentation to Ottawa’s City Council in response to the draft budget directions which proposed a 0% increase in property taxes. The Ottawa Chamber of Voluntary Organizations, along with over 100 other community organizations wanted to make a clear statement to the Mayor and City Councillors that cutting funding to community groups would result in a negative impact to the sector as a whole as the needs of those who depend on the sector will not go away.

• To read the text of the presentation click here.
  
• View the video of the presentation (in English only)
  
• scroll down to Archived Video on Demand, 2007 Council Meetings, click on January 10-11
  
• go to the Video Demand Index for January 10 th and click on "hearing of public delegations" when it opens advance the bar to time/clock setting to 5:31:05 (or as close to that as possible).

Following the presentation Mayor O’Brien and the City Councillors were all forwarded the following statistics on the voluntary sector in Ottawa which were gathered by the Ottawa Transition Board Voluntary Sector Project Team.

• 35% of people over the age of 15 volunteer in Ottawa
  
• 225,000 citizens contribute an average of 145 hours annually
  
• Voluntary Sector contributes $571 million to local economy
  
• More than 2,500 voluntary organizations and informal groups provide quality programs
  
• Ottawa ’s percentage of volunteers is 35% greater than the Canadian average (31.4%) and Ontario average (32%)
  
• High degree of collaboration and partnerships exist Volunteers represent a multitude of interests