Social Development Centre Waterloo Region

COVID Safe Pubilc Spaces

Building Covid-19 awareness is an ongoing challenge for many groups. Encouraging reflection about how we have adapted and changed to live with our new realities during a global pandemic here in our own neighbourhoods and communities is the purpose of the COVID Safe Pop Up Living Rooms. Social Development Centre has brough together two initiatives the Kitchener's Festival of Neighbourhoods and Covid Safe Pubilc Spaces to set up a site-specific pop up gatherings for a few hours within neighbourhoods that do not experience safety in many regards. We will practice the evolving COVID safe protocols and everyone can be as confident as possible that they are doing what they can to be protected from transmission, while unpacking deeper levels of what safety means to each of us.

This is also an opportunity to for your community or neighbourhood to reflect upon changes and how to stay safe in public spaces. First stories are being recorded. Hear from Jimmy Swaka and his take on the community safety in times of the pandemic.

To learn more about the project or to bring COVID-safe Living Room to your neighbourhood, contact Heather Majaury at heather@waterlooregion.org.

Produced in partnership with Kitchener's Festival of Neighbourhoods (FON)!

FON Comeback BINGO!

Jul 23 2021

Comeback Bingo As restrictions begin to lift, we want to get back to prioritizing connection by actively building strong and vibrant neighbourhoods. And to help renew enthusiasm, Festival of Neighbourhoods has designed a simple, family-friendly activity to challenge you and spark new connections over the next few months.

This bingo card is chock full of prompts designed to initiate conversation and encourage curiosity for your neighbourhood and the people in it. The prompts are adaptable, so be creative! If you're on social media, keep @FONKitchener in the loop using #comebackbingo (we're on Facebook and Twitter). We wanna see your smiling faces! Submit your bingo card by September 28 to enter the raffle draw at our season finale event in the fall. Details can be found on our website page.

Housing Crisis and Impact on Services

Jun 14 2021

Housing Crisis 101 WRCLS, in n partnership with the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region, hosts an information session about the current Housing Crisis and how this may impact the clients you see June 16 at noon. Please register at Eventbrite to join in the lunch and learn. We will focus on Indigenous people's challenges in the area and how they may be impacted. We will touch upon what is currently happening within the region to mitigate circumstances for those who are currently homeless , precariously housed, or are within high-risk groups for potential housing loss. We will discuss resources and initiatives connected to the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region, especially through the Unsheltered Campaign as part of the Civic Hub and our ongoing support for A Better Tent City and LandBack KW.

54th AGM June 29 - Walking Together

54 ABM

54 Years in service to the communities in Waterloo Region, and fortunate to adapt and walk the talk, especially during challenging times. Read more in our 2020 reports about what we mean by relying on partnerships, on the knowledge rooted in lived experience, and on the vision and resilience of the underserved communities. 2020 Activity Report - 2020 Financial Report

Join us on June 29 at 6pm - over the Internet or over the phone. Virtual Zoom doors open 5:30pm for a chat or a technology testing.

Register in advance for this meeting via Zoom by June 28. After registering online, you will receive an email containing information about joining us. If you will be joining over the phone, call us so we can register you and share the call-in information.

Make sure your membership status is up to date as there is still place for you on our Board of Directors! Please review the Board Candidate Information Package and let us know by June 14th in order to meet our co-chairs Brad Ullner and Barbara Spronk and learn more about our working board dynamics.

Eviction Prevention Peer Workers On Board!

May 15 2021

Eviction Prevention

Please welcome two extraordinary new staff with lived experience to lead the Eviction Prevention Program, Hollee George in Kitchener-Waterloo & Michelle Knight in Cambridge. The focus of the program will be supporting and resourcing for LGBTQ2S+, BIPOC, immigrant & refugee renter households. Information and referral, prevention and mitigation, education and access to Landlord and Tenant Board hearings, and more. Maintenance, Health and Safety, Security, as well as Evictions for Renovations are locally developed tools to be shared and distributed to tenants in the three cities in Waterloo Region. See the Navigate online application to support housing outreach workers and tenant groups, and renters themselves.

Eviction Prevention in WR - Two positions open!

Apr 19 2021

Two positions open for tenant information and outreach workers with Social Development Centre Waterloo Region funded by the United Way Waterloo Region Communities. Evictions are an ever inreasing threat to tenants in Waterloo Region, and we are looking for outreach workers in Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge - starting at 25hrs per week. Please see the full posting below and email your resume and cover letter to admin@waterlooregion.org to Aleksandra Petrovic - the posting is open until the positions are filled.

Job Post: 2021 Festival of Neighbourhoods Program Coordinator

Apr 1 2021

Neighbours Taking Over

Kitchener’s Festival of Neighbourhoods team is seeking a candidate with experience in community development and community engagement, both face to face and online, to fill the 2021 Program Coordinator position. Apply by April 16th.

Inclusivity and equity in the city are a particular focus of the Festival of Neighbourhoods and this year, while still in the pandemic mode, we will be building on everything we learned about challenges and successes of remaining good neighbours to continue connecting virtually and transition to face to face encounters again. As virtual and physical remain inseparable, we are looking for a coordinator who is at ease working in both environments and has applied equity and anti-racism lens in their community work. See the qualifications and tasks below, along the application guidelines.

A Better Tent City Living Report March 26

In memory of Ron Doyle, the willing landlord at Lot42.
To watch the videos of the sessions, your true still live report, visit our YouTube Channel.

To review the generative questions about the future of ABTC open this presentation.

Mental Health - African Immigrant Perspective

Mar 16 2021

mental health PAC The Peaceful Canada Mental Health Support Group presents a series of discussions to support mental health and wellbeing during COVID-19 from the African immigrant community perspective and cultures. Hear and share more during the four sessions, starting April 9 2021: promotion of mental health and self-care; accessing resources, information and advice on how to build a support network; sharing experience and learning from each other; shame, stigma and attitudes around the COVID-19 patients. Read more & register for Zoom sessions. Project realization in collaboration with Peace for All Canada and African Women's Alliance, funded by the United Way Waterloo Region Communities.

For the Weary - SONICA Exibit in theMUSEUM

Jan 31 2021

Mary Neil For the Weary The Social Development Centre of Waterloo Region produced Life Stories of Displacement & Homes for All, a series of podcasts where local residents who live on low incomes and have experienced marginalization in its many forms, including housing, spoke about their stories. Mary Neil, a community musician, listened to them all and she got angry: "I got angry at how the system is failing. I got angry at how people could be treated like dirt. I got angry about unfair stereotypes and unjust circumstances." And she wrote the song "For the Weary" that is now part of the SONICA exhibit at theMUSEUM - you have to listen and see. More at Unsheltered Testimonies page.