Link: http://victoria.tc.ca/~reed

50 Fresh Starts and Counting

Life-altering transformations take place here. A former rooming house, Cool Aid Society's Next Steps Transitional Shelter provides the opportunity for 15 emergency shelter clients to access the resources they need to make the transition from a state of homelessness to stabilized housing.

Funded by BC Housing and the United Way of Greater Victoria, and fully supported by the community through a Good Neighbour Agreement, Next Steps is fundamentally different than most shelters. While emergency shelters such as Streetlink and Sandy Merriman House meet the basic needs of temporary shelter, hygiene services and meals, Next Steps provides a vital bridge between these much-needed emergency shelters and permanent housing. Residents find a longer-term, more stable home at Next Steps, staying between 30 and 90 days. This is in contrast to emergency stays at Streetlink that are usually a result of short-term crises.

During their stay at Next Steps, the three unique core elements of the transition program are actively developed: income, long-term housing, and the development of community within the shelter. At present, four of the residents work, while two volunteer at the Mustard Seed and the Immigration Centre. Employment services that are available include assistance in preparing resumes and covering letters, online job searches facilitated by Project Literacy, and mock interviews. Training in Foodsafe is available on-site, while WHMIS and Industrial First Aid training is available through the John Howard Society. The REES network also provides a pool of prospective employers.

The majority of Next Steps clients move into housing provided by Pacifica and BC Housing. In instances where only market-based housing is available, the United Way provides vital top-up. According to one of the client services workers, “independent living is preferable, as sharing can be destabilizing if one person decides to leave.”

Promoting a sense of community, responsibility and interaction with others is an integral part of this program. Various rotating chores (cooking, cleaning, and landscaping), movie and pizza nights, a survival cooking program and an art group develop these important life skills. The “ambiance of a home setting fosters personal ingenuity and creativity,” while the one-on-one counselling allows the individuals the get “more in touch with their personal needs.”

In addition to the three core elements, Next Steps also provides medical and dental services, follow-ups every 3 to 6 months after departure, the opportunity to reconnect with family, assertiveness training, and relaxation exercises.

Next Steps focuses on supporting individuals who have elected to move forward in their lives after a crisis. In this smaller community setting of only 15 residents, there is a much greater emphasis on individual growth and how they interact with others, something that is not possible in an emergency shelter of 95 beds. Making the transition to a more promising future is a complex process that requires not only commitment by client services and outreach workers, but by each individual who takes ownership of the process by constructing a personal action plan.

After only one year of operation, fifty individuals have moved through this program and are now living independently.

Link: http://victoria.tc.ca/~reed

Community building and sustainable living are two ideas that few people can quarrel with, but when it comes down to it most of us just don't have a clue where to start. Well now there is a new group in James Bay that is working to bring these concepts down to Earth by bringing people together, online and off, to share simple and practical techniques for making a more sustainable and livable James Bay.

In early June the James Bay Sustainability Commons (JBSC) launched their website and blog at a well-attended public meeting held at Moka House, Shoal Point Fisherman's Wharf. Hosted by members Colleen Woods, Linda Chan, Bill Wilson, Stan Horner, Joyce Jason, and Fred and Heather Gonneville, they described in detail the mandate, mission statement of the JBSC and gave a preview of their website, while guest speaker Kris Obrigewitsch, of R~Earth, introduced us to composting as a landfill diversion strategy.

Last week (July 10), the JBSC held their second meeting at James Bay New Horizons, 234 Menzies Street. Guest speaker Paula Sobie of City Harvest spoke to a full house about converting urban lawns into food producing gardens.

Inspired by a discussion course on Choices for Sustainable Living offered by The Canadian Earth Institute, an affiliate of the Northwest Earth Institute in Portland, the mandate of the JBSC is to promote environmentally sustainable choices in James Bay. While a sense of community is at the core of all efforts to strengthen and build community, a sustainable community must constantly adjust to meet the current economic and social needs of its residents while ensuring that adequate resources remain for future generations.

Media headlines and an abundance of scientific research papers published in peer-reviewed journals attest to our changing climate: the 4,500 year-old Ward Hunt Ice Shelf is disintegrating; the permafrost is melting; retired entomologist Bob Duncan is growing lemons in North Saanich — they are flourishing; our polar bears’ world is disappearing; BC’s forests are now a net source of carbon, not a sink.

In 2005, 1,300 experts from 95 countries released the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment warning, “a majority of the life-supporting ecosystems on our planet are under severe stress.” To further elevate this sense of urgency, Dr. Andrew Weaver recently expressed in the Times Colonist that, “We know the climate has continued to warm…it takes time for people to wake up and smell the roses.” The University of Victoria climatologist and recipient of the shared 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), also warned in a March 2007 Winnipeg lecture that “massive climate change can only be averted if we reduce our CO₂ emissions by 60 – 90% by 2050.”

The magnitude and accelerating pace of these large-scale climate changes can understandably fuel environmental fatigue: but community-based proactive initiatives can significantly offset this fatigue by focusing on local results-based projects that reduce our carbon footprint, and by promoting neighbourhood climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Guided by the principles of Reduce, Recycle, Repair and Re-Use, the JBSC will engage the community and raise awareness of the importance of practicing and learning about sustainability by developing an online resource, highlighting local sustainability projects and initiatives, and supporting sustainability by collaborating with individuals and other local or external organizations with compatible goals.

The JBSC website will provide a forum where local citizens can find or make suggestions for relevant resources related to the practice of sustainability in the James Bay area and post their own sustainability projects. In addition JamesBay.org is proud to host the official JBSC discussion forum. This online resource will allow the community to participate in discussions related to sustainability, find out about future speakers or tours, and provide other opportunities to network.

Included among the JBSC local sustainability initiatives are: growing and buying food locally, conserving water, buying or consigning second hand goods, selecting goods with less packaging that are produced with a minimum of energy consumption, biking, car-sharing, saving seeds for future crops, removing lawns to grow food, composting kitchen waste, and repairing items for re-use or trade.

For more information about the James Bay Sustainability Commons, or to find out about our future meetings please contact jamesbaysustainability@gmail.com or visit their website at: http://jbsc.seedwiki.com/.

Please note that all are welcome to attend the next JBSC presentation August 14, 7:30 – 8:15 p.m. at James Bay New Horizons, 234 Menzies Street: Guest Speaker Geoff Johnson who will be presenting about growing food in containers on apartment balconies. For more information please contact jamesbaysustainability@gmail.com or Linda at 380-6383.

Level Ground Trading will provide Fair trade coffee.

Resources
R~Earth: http://www.r-earth.com/
International Composting Corporation: http://www.internationalcomposting.com/
Composting for Apartment Dwellers: http://www.perc.ca/PEN/1994-07-08/king.html/
Canadian Earth Institute: http://www.canadianearthinstitute.org/
Centre for Sustainable Community Development: http://www.sfu.ca/cscd/
City Harvest: http://www.cityharvest.ca/

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