Final Touches & Reflections

By Molly Damiani, 1st year MDP student

Hello everyone! I am going into the final stage of my domestic field placement with the WestEnd Commons. In these closing weeks, I will be making the final touches to my project and reflecting on my experience in the inner-city work-study program. My closing priorities are finalizing the report, making edits to the educational materials, and completing the community outreach tracking spreadsheet. I will also complete an assignment that is a joint deliverable between the work-study program and my placement supervisor addressing a key challenge that the organization faces. This challenge is community engagement.

Despite many efforts from the staff, the WestEnd Commons struggles to engage tenants in the building. They have planned a diversity of events, offered food/refreshments, offered childminding, and other incentives, all to no avail. My own engagement attempts were likewise unsuccessful. There is a clear divide between the leadership and the tenants, and between awareness and action that affects the community-building potential of the housing space. I hope that the research, educational materials, and recommendations generated this summer can support bridging this divide. Ultimately those in positions of power within the WestEnd Commons, need to commit to taking appropriate action and making structural and policy changes in the interest of cultural safety and responsiveness.

 This summer was certainly not without its challenges. The workload between the work-study course and placement was heavy. It was an important reminder to advocate for my needs and request accommodations when necessary. I am thankful for the support of the instructors and administrators, which has allowed me to be successful and to take away so many important lessons, readings, and resources. I could not have asked for a project better aligned with the research I plan to undertake this school year. It has truly made me feel so immersed and energized to keep learning and doing this work.

A Reconciliation Plan for The WestEnd Commons

 By Molly Damiani

Hello! My name is Molly and I am finishing up my first year in the MDP program. This summer I am completing my domestic field placement through the University of Winnipeg’s Inner City work-study program. This program involves 450 placement hours in addition to a 6-credit course examining Winnipeg’s inner-city challenges and community-based initiatives.

My placement organization is the WestEnd Commons. The WestEnd Commons is a project of St. Matthews Non-Profit Housing Inc. addressing the need for safe and supportive housing in the neighbourhood of West Central Winnipeg. The WestEnd Commons is located in the St. Matthew's Anglican Church which has been renovated to feature 26 units for tenants and a neighbourhood resource centre on the lower floors. 

My work with the WestEnd Commons is centred on creating a reconciliation plan, and developing a strategy towards reconciliation in the workplace and the building as whole. This work speaks to the organization’s commitment to the cultural safety of tenants and staff. They are working towards creating an inclusive and supportive space for their tenants to build community, raise their families, and lead fulfilling lives.

This project involves research, community engagement, the development of educational materials, and the creation of a final report summarizing findings and the developed strategies. It has been interesting getting to know the WestEnd Commons and exploring reconciliation in the relation to their unique history, residents, and connections with the community. This project offers an fascinating opportunity to contribute to the future of this space, and the lives of the residents. I am excited to continue this work, and I am especially looking forward to hearing from the different groups who collectively make up the WestEnd Commons.

Breaking the vicious cycle of homelessness

By Nontokozo Ndlovu, 2nd year MDP student

Homelessness cannot be entirely blamed on the loss of housing or expensive housing only, it involves a lot of systemic challenges. Homelessness however becomes more visible than other systemic challenges encountered by people. Indigenous people have been overly represented in the numbers of people experiencing homelessness. This is because of colonial and neo-colonial oppression and exclusion. Below is a vicious cycle of homelessness identifying the causes of homelessness beyond just inability to secure housing. This cycle was created by Schmidt, Hrenchuk, Bopp, and Poole (2015) on their study on trajectories of Indigenous women’s homelessness in British Columbia. While it addresses them as causes of homelessness, this is also the cycle to be used to amend the gaps that cause or put Indigenous women at risk of being homeless. It identifies: 

•             Poverty and social exclusion- Indigenous people were moved to peripheral areas, further from their sources of food, spiritual connection and their land was taken away. The Metis were left to fend for themselves, surviving through road allowance and doing cheap labour.

•             Inability to find and maintain housing- Indigenous people were moved to reserves where infrastructure and housing were not maintained well and receiving less funding. Migration to the city brought more challenges ranging from racism to expensive housing.

•             Ineffective services- Services offered to Indigenous people are not trauma informed and services are not culture and language informed perpetuating racism in institutions meant to help them.

•             Unresolved trauma- Indigenous people have faced trauma from residential schools, oppressive policies and colonialism. Metis people are often excluded from residential schools, but Metis people were admitted in residential schools despite less records showing it.

The report on Advancing coordination of Winnipeg homelessness sector of 2017 says, “Approaching homelessness is described as a fusion policy issue because there is no one department, agency, or body that is solely responsible for addressing it.” During my practicum, I did a scan of organizations in Winnipeg that are actively involved in homelessness. These organizations included shelters, health facilities, community and resource centers and emergency facilities. The aim was to understand the services they provided and how best they deal with the issues raised in the vicious cycle.

Breaking the vicious cycle will take more than just organizational intervention as it will require policy change. A lot of housing initiatives have also been reactionary and thus there is need for pro-active strategy. Reaching Home program brings about self-determination of Indigenous people on housing. It is also a pro-active strategy that allows communities to address issues that will reduce the risk of losing housing. It is my hope that the implementation of Reaching Home program brings about change and opens doors to permanent housing and addressing systemic gaps.