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East Scarborough Storefront’s Community. Design. Initiative. — a story of local change
Youth at East Scarborough Storefront
East Scarborough Storefront, a project of Tides Canada, is in the midst of an exciting Community. Design. Initiative. to renovate and expand their current space. This endeavour has the community youth engaging in a process of imagining, designing, and working on the Storefront’s transformation. With mentors from Sustainable.TO and archiTEXT, and students from the University of Waterloo, they’re taking a silo-busting collaborative approach to building a space that is right for residents and the community.
Integrating feedback from other community members and elders, the youth developed a master plan for the site and the building with the following goals in mind: 1) accessibility for all, and 2) sustainability now and into the future.
You can feel the energy and innovation of the process in their latest video and, just below, read one resident’s perspective.
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Yosef*, a Storefront community member and Community. Design. Initiative. participant, provides an insider perspective on the East Scarborough Storefront and its services:
When my family arrived from Ethiopia, we felt alone and confused. My school recommended I get involved in The Storefront. On my second day, I went home and told my parents about all the services The Storefront offers. Within two months, my dad got help finding his first job in Canada. My older brother got help finding a part-time job. My younger sisters have several youth groups and are always here doing new things and meeting people. I’m even working part-time at The Storefront. I’m helping to lead The Storefront’s Community.Design.Initiative, working with architects and planners, helping them to mentor youth as we design the new Storefront building. And just last month, my mother became eligible a micro-loan so she could start her own flower business.
With my parents working and even the kids contributing, we can afford to move out of this neighbourhood. But we won’t move. We live here because we live beside the Storefront and if we move we will not have access to the community services.
*name changed to preserve privacy
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We believe where you live shouldn’t limit your chances in life. Yet we know the community you live in can have a powerful effect on your health, education, employment and well-being. 10 years ago, the community of Kingston-Galloway/Orton Park was known for poverty, poor housing, and a lack of services and supports. For a decade, East Scarborough Storefront has been using the power of collaboration as the foundation for community change.
Where once residents, local schools, libraries, police and others worked in isolation, The Storefront helps facilitate community wide networks that bring everyone together, avoiding duplication and using scarce resources effectively.
And where once residents’ voices were omitted from local planning, The Storefront supports and facilitates a vast array of resident-led initiatives and projects.
In its first decade, The Storefront has developed a new way of working in community – and it’s working. Together with residents, partner agencies, politicians, funders, professionals and academia we are on the road to turning an “at risk neighbourhood” into a thriving one.
Donate to East Scarborough Storefront here.
