Board Announces Paid Indigenous Holidays June 21 and September 30

Sep 20 2021

Walking TogetherThe Social Development Centre Waterloo Region is providing June 21st, National Indigenous Peoples Day, and September 30th, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, as holidays with pay for staff. The Board voted for this unanimously, for three reasons:

• First, we recognize the ongoing physical and cultural genocide of Canada’s Indigenous peoples –including murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, the trans-generational legacy of crimes against humanity and trauma of residential

Life Stories: Point in Time Count of Homeless Sept 21-23

Sep 17 2021

A team of staff and community connectors of our organization are participating in this year’s Point in Time Count of Homeless across the cities in Waterloo Region. Our focus is particularly on ‘hidden homeless’, usually described as couch surfers or sleeping in different beds with friends and acquaintances for prolonger periods of time. Below you can see the distinction we make between hidden homeless and precariously housed residents, and if you know individuals who are currently homeless but not living rough, let us know at sdcwr@waterlooregion.org or faryal@waterlooregion.org. 

Some people would agree to complete the survey for the Pint int Time Count and get a small compensation,

Eviction Prevention Waterloo Region

Eviction Prevention

We have been hearing about the need for a peer-outreach supports for tenants in Waterloo Region for many years. Please read the article from February 10, 2022 about gaps in enforcement of tenant's rights in Waterloo Region. Thanks to the funding from the United Way Waterloo Region Communities, direct peer support is now available to all tenants of Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge. Building on the expertise of the two outreach workers, Hollee George in KW and Michelle Knight in Cambridge, the program will also focus on 2SLGBTQ+, BIPOC, immigrants, refugees & low-income renter households. The research and practice on displacement in Kitchener-Waterloo (SDCWR, 2021) identifies a range of tenant experience and landlord practices from discrimination to renovictions as forcible moving and un-homing of the tenants in Waterloo Region, we will be responding to the following: 

  • to at risk of or in the process of being evicted legally or illegally
  • to at risk of or experiencing legal or illegal rent increases (Above Guideline Rent Increase)
  • to at risk of or experiencing unsafe or unaffordable housing
  • to at risk of or experiencing homophobia, transphobia or racism in a landlord tenant relationship.

Displacement in Urban Core Mapping Project

Map of Displacement 2020 KW

Released May 12 2021 - Mapping Displacement in Kitchener-Waterloo: REPORT

Interactive Map of Displacement 2020

CKMS Interview with researchers Faryal Diwan and William Turman 2021

The 'hidden' sides of transit-induced gentrification and displacement along
Waterloo Region's LRT corridor, Brian Doucet 2021

Life Stories of Displacement 2019

The Displacement Mapping project expanded on the 2019 Life Stories of Displacement study, and is funded by the Ontario Job Creation Partnership while being incorporated into a SSHRC-funded project that examines gentrification led by Dr. Brian Doucet. In addition to the 20 interviews collected in 2019, 30 interviews were added in 2020 exploring the impact on racialized, LGBTQ+, Indigenous and immigrant populations.

COVID Safe Pubilc Spaces

Living RoomBuilding 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 BingoAs 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 101WRCLS, 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.