The Pilot
In July 2017, Low Income Families Together (LIFT), a founding member of the St James Town Community Co-p, asked CREW to help them build resilience to weather extremes in their downtown Toronto neighbourhood. St James Town’s high rise towers are home to one of the highest density and most diverse populations in North America. When CREW was asked to manage the GTHA Resilience Hub Project the timing was perfect. The St James Town Community Co-op had already begun to explore the possibility of a resilience hub and they enthusiastically agreed to work with their St James Town neighbours, FCG and CREW to explore the Lighthouse Project's Toronto pilot site.
Lidia Ferreira - Toronto Resilience Animator
FCG asked Lidia Ferreira to animate the Toronto pilot. Lidia is the former Executive Director of FutureWatch Environment and Development Education Partners, a leading organization in community based environmental and capacity building initiatives of the City of Toronto. Lidia trained in Argentina for seven years to become an architect and urban planner and came to Toronto from Paraguay in 1999. Since 2000, she has used her ability to engage with Toronto’s multicultural communities to form bridges with mainstream institutions. She has led projects related to urban naturalization, environmental protection, revitalization and community capacity building. She is known for bringing diversity and leadership to Canada’s environmental movement. After only four years of working in Toronto, her skills and talent were recognized when she received the Vital People Award, from the prestigious Toronto Foundation, for her outstanding community work.
FOOD ISSUES
Residents and community leaders have identified food security as a central concern for the St James Town Neighbourhood and an issue that will unite many people. Food security is central to community resilience.
PILOT PARTNERS & COLLABORATORS This is a list that will grow over the next year. Stay tuned! |
Click above to download the Toronto flyer or Slide Deck
Updates as of June 2018
St James Town Lighthouse now has a Steering Committee, and they've already started making a Community Resilience Action Plan. Their focus will be on 260 Wellesley, the Winnipeg building. Their plan will be designed to scale up quickly to other St James Town buildings.
The Steering Committee will meet regularly until the end of 2018.
The Steering Committee will meet regularly until the end of 2018.
We've been busy:
- Asset mapping workshops in locations around St James Town
- Community meetings at St Peter and St Simon the Apostle & Our Lady of Lourdes
- Resilientville Role Playing at Community Corner and at the church
- Some Lighthouse events have been catered by Petra Czech's fabulous Food Team
- Community walks including a special heatwave walk on 100 in 1 Day on June 2nd
Meeting people where they live
Lidia, with help from some generous volunteers, put up a display table in the apartment tower lobbies. Sitting beside the display is one of the ways in which she meets people where they live. CREW volunteer Madelyn Webb has designed and delivered lessons in Emergency Preparedness to Community Matters English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. |
Asset Mapping
Asset Mapping is an ongoing activity. It gets participants thinking about their neighbourhood's strengths and resources and what they could do to help in an emergency. Participants also identify the places and people who would need the most help in an emergency. It's one of the best ways to introduce people to the concept of neighbourhood preparedness.
Asset Mapping is an ongoing activity. It gets participants thinking about their neighbourhood's strengths and resources and what they could do to help in an emergency. Participants also identify the places and people who would need the most help in an emergency. It's one of the best ways to introduce people to the concept of neighbourhood preparedness.
Gardening
Lidia is a trained Landscape Architect and gardening is her favourite thing. Lots of other people feel the same way and it's a great way to meet new people. Home-grown herb and vegetable gardens are a reliable and inexpensive source of good food. This gets us thinking about the OASIS Aquaponics Greenhouse that is proposed for St James Town
Lidia is a trained Landscape Architect and gardening is her favourite thing. Lots of other people feel the same way and it's a great way to meet new people. Home-grown herb and vegetable gardens are a reliable and inexpensive source of good food. This gets us thinking about the OASIS Aquaponics Greenhouse that is proposed for St James Town
Outcomes that outlive the pilot
At the close of the pilot, we will present a viable model for building community resilience.
Our reports to Toronto City Council and the Province of Ontario will show what works at the local level and point to the strengths and weaknesses of the process. We will co-produce a locally designed community action plan that can be regularly refreshed/animated by food projects and make a lasting contribution to the St James Town.
At the close of the pilot, we will present a viable model for building community resilience.
Our reports to Toronto City Council and the Province of Ontario will show what works at the local level and point to the strengths and weaknesses of the process. We will co-produce a locally designed community action plan that can be regularly refreshed/animated by food projects and make a lasting contribution to the St James Town.
St James Town is home to an official count of about 17,000 people. Residents say that number could be closer to 30,000. Developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was once the downtown home of young, often single, professionals. When the middle-class residents left for the suburbs the towers became home for people managing on lower incomes. Many of these are new immigrants. In 2018, there is new pressure from developers who are ready to build in St James Town in response to Toronto's sustained demand for more condominiums.