Social Development Centre Waterloo Region

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)! 

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. 

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. 

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.