Healthy Communities in Waterloo Region

Stories from the Front - Group 4

Multiple Stories from Victoria Hills Neighborhood
Members of the Victoria Hills community will share stories about the first community garden in Kitchener, a unique neighborhood based alternative measures program for young offenders and how community centre activities have helped build community.

Alternative Measures

by Eileen Woodworth

(This story contains notes taken during the telling of this story)

I attended the Safer Community meeting at Victoria Hills community centre in 1994, as the President of the Ingleside Tenant Association. They had some great ideas including involving The John Howard Society, a community garden and Alternative Measures (youth program).

Alternative Measures works out of The John Howard Society on Frederick St. but we thought if we held the program for Victoria Hills youth in Victoria Hills it would make a difference directly for the youth and to the community..

The John Howard Society began a pilot project in the local community centre with local people, staff and youth to address community service alternatives for youth in trouble with the law. This was based on the assumption that the youth in trouble who had harmed the community would have to pay back to their OWN community. It is very effective for community service assignments to take place in their community, as the reparation efforts are directly visible.

Three women, including myself, were interviewed and took the training, then we took turns doing the program with youth and were applauded at the success we had. It was a great way to help our youth who had made their first mistake because this gave them a second chance. It also was an opportunity for these youth to give back to their own community.

In the beginning, there were over 100 cases per year and now there are only 25-30 cases. The youth have a list of about 90 jobs which they can choose from with the point being not that they are being chastised, but that they have to restore community they damaged.. For most of the youth it is a first offence so it is a great learning experience for them and it hopefully acts as a deterrent. It also offers an alternative to the justice system and a chance to make amends.

It is rewarding to see a youth who is given a chance as an alternative to having a record. I see how relieved he/she can be and how they can be very willing to give back to their community. Our rate of re offending has been very low.

Youth in a Changing World

by Annie Reimer

(transcribed from notes taken during the telling of this story)

Victoria Hills holds a youth night every Friday night where they believe that youth have the right to be treated with the same respect as adults. Youth also need a space of their own, where they belong, and where they can make their own decisions. Generally, 60-80 kids participate with the maximum at 114.

They show videos, play basketball, have snacks and video games implementing a zero tolerance rule for the evening. They have a ritual signing in, with complete name and address, and pay $1 each. There are 3 paid staff and 4 volunteers, all young adult leaders. Advertising takes place through flyers at school, but largely through word-of-mouth. The evening is for youth ages 12 + and the activities are not organized for them by adults, but rather they do their own thing. No parents are allowed inside, even to pick up their kids. In the summer the program runs every week night with a lower attendance, but it rises again in the winter on Friday nights.

Community Garden

by Councillor Christina Weylie

(transcribed from notes taken during story)

The John Howard Society chose Victoria Hills community for a crime prevention group. There were 29 different groups involved, although the key players were the John Howard Society, the police, and the schools. Victoria Hills is a high density community, with 10,000 people at that time: 40% of households were in apartments, 20% in row housing, and 30% in semi-detached housing. It is a transient community, with many young families and new Canadians living there.

It all began in 1993 with a Community Action Plan. First, after much debate a mission was developed. Then the "Safer Community Group" developed 5 programs:

The Community Gardens began on a piece of unused land that had N. Waterloo Housing Authority buildings on both sides looking down on to the land. The new owner agreed to allow the use of the land and in May 1993 they began to address environmental issues and safety issues by cleaning up the property of: junk, tall grass, garbage and then completed the process with a community barbeque. Then they began to hold monthly meetings to plan for the gardens where they decided they needed funding for a gardening coordinator. A local person was hired with a grant from the Solicitor General and police funds.

It wasn't until a year later, in the spring of 1994, that flyers were distributed to generate interest in the gardens. Rob Davis, a police officer, generated significant interest through his own contacts in the community. As a result, 53 plots were created, including a children's playground, a social area, and even a place for wheelchair users to garden. The gardening began.

The gardeners included:

The participants began to socialize and the children to play together. The police came on Saturday mornings to socialize with the gardeners, with very positive outcomes. The limited water availability was a large source of conflict the first year, but after that the water tanks were filled up by the fire department. A mediator was used in the first year to deal with any conflicts such as: struggles over shared tools, water, language, and customs resulting in many cultural groups learning from each other. The social aspect grew and grew, with pot lucks being held at the end of every summer.

The police statistics showed a drop in crime from 118 occurrences to 94 in one year. An unsafe vacant lot was turned into a positive community builder and the City of Kitchener changed its policy on community centres to broaden their mandate from recreation to allow for other community activities like community gardens.

Ingleside Tenants Association

by Eileen Woodworth

(transcribed from notes taken during the telling of this story)

In 1992 a group of tenants began meeting in the driveway of a 50-unit complex. They had just renovated the units, and it looked good so they decided they could do more as a group than as individuals in building community. The first year they focused on activities for children, and met in driveways to do the planning. Parties were often held in the basements of empty units. Then, they asked the N. Waterloo Housing Authority to rent them a unit for a centre. and they attained a 3 bedroom house with a pool table in the basement, music and a couch. All of this was for the youth with rules of no smoking or alcohol. The upstairs held a clothing room, library, and office and the main floor had a preschool. They had activities for children and adults all through the year like: Easter parties, Christmas parties, and whatever else they could think of. They paid for the rented unit by doing work for the Housing Authority such as: painting, cleaning, doing car-washes, etc. It was a pleasure to be part of the centre and people took pride in their combined activities.

Unfortunately, the centre folded after 5 years, because they couldn't make payments on the unit anymore and the interest in participating was waning from the volunteers.