Early last week, the
Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto (NWRCT) was awarded close to $30,000 in funding for a new community initiative that will allow their members to better share their stories.
The funding comes courtesy of the
Toronto Community Foundation (TCF). A Toronto-based community charity, TCF annually awards money to "high-impact" civic initiatives, through their Vital Ideas Grant Stream (a full list of 2012/2013 recipients
here).
NWRTC was awarded the grant to develop a new community initiative, Debwein Kwe Sharing Circle. At it's core, the Sharing Circles program aims to give a stronger voice to the urban Aboriginal community in Toronto.
The program will connect NWRCT staff, volunteers, and clients with lived experience of particular issues to non-aboriginal community agencies and service providers across the city.
Though, the initiative was only recently given a name, an official mandate, and funding -- the NWRCT has long had an established practice of sharing their stories.
"We've always been doing it. We just didn't call it anything other than speaking engagements," says Crystal Melin, executive director at the NWRTC. "Our commitment to our community has meant that staff, board members and myself go out and speak about issues that affect Aboriginal women and girls."
"The impetus behind Debwein Kwe Sharing Circle was to continue to outreach, advocate, and educate the general public while also building a social enterprise so that money comes back into the Centre and eventually the women that we serve will also be presenters and be paid for their time and lived experience."
The speaking engagements will help educate other service providers on histories of the NWRCT membership, the roots of the ongoing challenges they face, and strategies for addressing the health and wellbeing of urban aboriginal women. The talks will also work to destabilize and challenge stereotypical assumption about Aboriginals living in urban settings.
Vital Ideas is one of three Toronto Community Foundation grant programs that come out of the organization's Vital Toronto Fund. The Fund's mandate is to fund organizations working for social change "by addressing the root causes of the trends identified in the Toronto Vital Signs Report."
The Vital Signs Report is the annual report released by the TCF that assess quality of life issues in Toronto.
"Our support of NWRCT is the first step in a very important journey to wider community impacts," stated Toronto Community Foundation's President and CEO Rahul K. Bhardwaj in a press release. "We are pleased to support their effectiveness so they can continue to thrive, build on their great work to date and build a stinger Toronto."
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Crystal Melin, Executive Director, Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto