(Canada) Ont: $279K for autism services; "tens of thousands" served since 2021

Nov 28, 2025, Dawn Gallagher Murphy: Ontario Investing in Autism Services to Better Serve Children and Families

https://dawngallaghermurphympp.ca/ontario-investing-in-autism-services-to-better-serve-children-and-families

NEWMARKET —The Ontario government is investing $390,073 [$279294 U.S.]

to help more children and families access clinical services in the Ontario Autism Program. This investment includes funding for Kerry’s Place, headquartered in Newmarket.

“Children with autism and their families deserve real support, so I’m proud to say that our government is listening and taking action,” said Dawn Gallagher Murphy, MPP Newmarket—Aurora. “Our investment in Kerry’s Place will help build and retain stable and skilled teams that will allow more families to access the services they need close to home.”

Service providers are receiving funding through the Ontario Autism Program’s workforce capacity fund. This fund provides two-year grants ranging from $50,000 [$36,000 U.S.] to to $400,000 [$286,000 U.S.] in value to help providers to hire new staff, increase staff hours, train employees, invest in technology, and reach rural and remote communities.

 Funding for local service providers through the workforce capacity fund is part of the province’s total investment in the Ontario Autism Program. Since 2019, Ontario has more than doubled the program’s annual budget, bringing it to a total of $779 million [$558M U.S.] with the addition of a $175 million [$125M U.S.] investment through Budget 2025. This new investment will continue to support the enrolment of children and youth in core clinical services.

The workforce capacity fund is one initiative under the OAP capacity action plan. The province prioritizes applications that support families and service providers in northern, rural and remote communities, as well as francophone and Indigenous families recognizing the unique challenges these groups face.

QUICK FACTS

Workforce capacity fund grants awarded in 2022 and 2023 supported providers to: serve an additional 6,000 children and youth on the autism spectrum, boost training for more than 2,000 staff and fund more than 500 clinician positions.

The Ontario Autism Program has served tens of thousands of children and youth with autism aged 0-17 through multiple streams in the program, including caregiver-mediated early years programs, the entry to school program, foundational family services, core clinical services and urgent response services.

Since the workforce capacity fund was created in 2021, Ontario has awarded more than 350 grants in total to autism service providers across the province.