Archive for 'Community Engagement'
Full House to Save the City’s Housing and Homeless Support Services
Posted on 28. Nov, 2011 by Jeremy.
Check out the videos from this event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBocAn4v9l0 ( part 1 of 8 )
One hundred residents filled the gym of St. Stephen’s Community House to discuss the fate of affordable housing and homeless support programs in the City budget at the “Housing, Homelessness and the City Budget” public meeting on Thursday, November 24. Hosted by Housing Action Now (HAN) and co-organized by Social Planning Toronto, the event was moderated by HAN co-chair Barb Hurd with Kensington Bellwoods Community Legal Services. Speakers included Beth Wilson (Social Planning Toronto), Linsey MacPhee (Toronto Drop-In Network), Susan Gapka (Tenants for Social Housing), Joy Connelly (openingthewindow.com), Phil Nazar (Toronto Christian Resource Centre) and Michael Shapcott (Wellesley Institute).
HAN co-chair Beth Wilson with Social Planning Toronto kicked off the night with an overview of the City’s role in developing affordable housing, ensuring tenant rights and supporting homeless people, a recap of the housing-related cuts from the 2011 budget and a discussion of the budget process for 2012. Beth’s presentation is available at www.socialplanningtoronto.org.
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Register for the November 24th Housing Action Now Public Forum on Housing, Homelessness and the City Budget
Posted on 04. Nov, 2011 by Jeremy.
Housing, Homelessness and the City Budget
Thursday, November 24 from 6:30-8:30 PM
St. Stephen’s Community House
91 Bellevue Avenue in the Gym
(south of College, between Spadina and Bathurst)
On Thursday, November 24, Housing Action Now will host a Public Forum on the City of Toronto’s role in:
- Creating and maintaining affordable housing
- Providing emergency shelter, and
- Supporting tenants and homeless people
Find out what’s at stake in the 2012 City budget and how you can get involved.
Speakers:
- Michael Shapcott, Wellesley Institute
- Beth Wilson, Social Planning Toronto
- More to be confirmed
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New APCOL Project Gets Underway in Mount Dennis
Posted on 01. Nov, 2011 by admin.
Mount Dennis is the site of a new project that brings together adult residents, youth, small business operators, the Action for Neighbourhood Change (ANC) team and researchers from the University of Toronto in a collaborative effort to promote and support neighbourhood development. This project is part of a larger five-year study – the Anti-Poverty Community Organizing and Learning (APCOL) Project – which is being carried out in different neighbourhoods across Toronto, led by the University of Toronto’s Centre for the Study of Education and Work. Social Planning Toronto is one of the partners in this city-wide study.
The Centre for the Study of Education and Work is studying anti-poverty organizing and learning in communities across the city, focusing, in particular, on low-income neighbourhoods. As one of 13 priority neighbourhoods within the city, with higher levels of poverty and weaker community supports than other Toronto neighbourhoods, Mount Dennis was well placed to be involved in a project of this kind. Social Planning Toronto’s ANC team was more than ready to help with on-the-ground co-ordination, since the project fitted so well with ANC’s resident engagement activities and the area’s resident action plan. In Mount Dennis, project work will be centred around the theme of economic development – the idea is to focus local community engagement, leadership development and planning on enhancing economic development opportunities, using entrepreneurship as a key connecting point.
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SPT’s Strategic Planning Survey: We want to hear from you!
Posted on 20. Oct, 2011 by admin.
Social Planning Toronto is developing its strategic plan for 2012-2015. The strategic plan sets the priorities and direction for the organization’s work over the next four years. Rather than starting from scratch, this plan builds on the directions set out in SPT’s previous strategic plan. Our intent is to continue SPT’s tradition of social and economic justice work.
We would like your help in shaping SPT’s priorities and direction. This short survey asks for your feedback on SPT’s draft plan. Thank you for taking the time to complete this short survey.
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From the mouths of taxpayers: Torontonians weigh in on city hall’s proposed service cuts
Posted on 20. Sep, 2011 by admin.
by Anita Elash
From Saturday’s Globe and Mail
Published
Israt Ahmed, 44. Married with one adult child.
Occupation: Community planner
Neighbourhood: Lawrence Avenue and Kingston Road, Scarborough. A “thriving, very mixed community” with a large immigrant population. Designated a priority neighbourhood in need of development.
Transportation: TTC. Drives an “old” Toyota for grocery shopping and visiting friends.
Her ideal city: A place with “a lot of services for people from all cross-sections and opportunities for people from different socioeconomic groups to work together.”
Most important issues: Transit, poverty.
Which city services are most important to you and which ones do you think could be cut?
Why should I have to compare child care with senior services or snow shovelling? They all are important to me. The overarching issue here is poverty. People are working but are not making ends meet. A lot of people in my neighbourhood depend on child care because that allows them to go to work. They say, “if I lose my child subsidy, I’ll have to stay home and I’ll have to apply for social assistance.” So think of the burden that it will bring to our economy if we have to take these people out of the workforce.
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