The CDE Team is growing

SHCHC’s Community Development and Engagement Team is growing

- by Monika Séguin-Gervais

Community Development, as defined by the UN, is a “a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems”. While this appears to be simple, I have come to understand that not everything that is simple comes easily. It takes work, coordinated work and resources, mostly human resources. I have also come to understand that collaborative work between residents, neighbours and partnering organisations is extremely satisfying, and it contributes to innovative solutions to a variety of community challenges.

For Gerald Dragon, Team Lead, “residents are meant to be the driving force when designing initiatives aimed at responding to identified needs”. And this is exactly what it is. Understanding that while we may support community members and associations in the development of different initiatives, they are instrumental because the value of their lived experience and understanding of their neighborhood is incomparable.

In Ottawa, Community Health and Resource Centres have agreed on four guiding principles to define how community development agents such as myself, often called Community Developers (or CD-ers for short), can inform their work in the community. We must be responsive to community, as well as challenge systemic inequity, power dynamics and support empowerment of the individuals with who we work. We do this through partnership and collaboration, keeping in mind that we aim for transformational practice.

While SHCHC has been involved in community development since its inception, the Community Development and Engagement (CDE) department was initiated in the early 2000s. Through the years, the team has been involved in multiple projects to improve the health and well-being of residents. Currently, the CDE team is made up of four members. My name is Malika Séguin-Gervais; I am the latest addition to this formidable team, and I am happy to get to present the team to you via this article.

Our Team Lead, Gerald Dragon, has been with the centre since 2011. Over the course of 10 years, his role has changed significantly, from initially focusing on child/youth programming to ensuring certain services can be accessible to residents, and engaging residents in capacity building activities where they can take the lead and develop initiatives to make their neighborhood better. These past experiences and more have helped prepare him for his current role working alongside colleagues who are equally committed to making sure that SHCHC is responsive to the needs expressed by residents.

Gerald Dragon, Team Lead

Sylvie Roussel, Program Assistant

Sylvie Roussel is our Program Assistant. She has been a resident in Strathcona Heights since 2004. Sylvie volunteered on multiple community development initiatives such as the Art and Craft Group for the children in her community, the Strathcona Heights Neighbourhood Circle, the Good Food Box in Strathcona Heights, the Market Mobile, and other. In 2016, she received the SHCHC Award for Excellence in Health Promotion for her continous involvement with food security projects that had a significant impact in the community of Strathcona Heights. Sylvie joined the CDE Team in 2018 as the team’s Program Assistant. Her strong connections with the residents make her instrumental in increasing residents’ participation in numerous programs. Her role is to act as a liaison between residents and multiple community programs offered by both SHCHC and other service providers.

Anabelle Gisanza, Community Services Coordinator

We have a new position in our department, a Community Services Coordinator, so Annabelle Gisanza joined the team in May 2021. With over 10 years of professional experience in community program development and implementation, she reports being “honored to be the first Community Services Coordinator, a position which Strathcona Heights’ residents have long advocated for”. Her role includes: establishing relationships with the community, responding to emerging needs, and facilitating service navigation. In addition to coordinating services with our partners’ network, she is aiming to offer a wide range of services to residents by using various preexisting communal rooms amongst the neighbourhood.

Over the summer months, Anabelle met with residents in the community and with local service providers to arrange that healthy foods are available to the community. Some examples were the Ottawa Mission food truck that distributed freshly cooked meals every Thursday, and the Good Food Box that still continues to deliver fruits and vegetables to the residents at an affordable price.

In collaboration with various organizations, we have been able to bring children programming in the Dutchy’s Hole Park (also known as Robinson Park, on the Rideau River): • Christie Lake Kids has offered programs in July; • over the summer months, the Boys and Girls Club offered activities every Wednesday morning; • the Parent Resource Centre hosted two successful fun days in August.

Malika Séguin-Gervais, Community Development Agent

And then, there is me, Malika. I joined the team in June 2021. I have professional experience in strategic and action planning, community development project management, advocacy efforts, and a passion for social justice. My role is to collaborate with individuals, community associations and citywide partners on various initiatives with the objective of making our city more just by effecting initiatives to tackle inequities.

As a team, our work is grounded in community development principles, and the voices of residents, clients and patients are the building blocks of all our work.

Do you have a resident-led project you would like to see implemented in your neighborhood? Concerns about lack of services or barrier to access services? Do you see something unjust or something missing in your neighborhood? Do not hesitate to contact us to share your views and ideas.

Here is a short list of past and current collaborative projects in which our team has been involved: • Lees cross-walk implementation, • speed bumps throughout, Strathcona Heights, • yard sales, • community gardening, • movies in the park, • back-to-school backpack, • Christmas hampers, • “I Love to Dance”, • “Jumpstart Soccer”, • “Girls Night - Let’s Talk”, • Springhurst Park renewal, • “Paint It Up!”, • Awesome Arts, • Youth Active Media, • Market Mobile, • Ottawa Public Library Book Mobile, • transportation advocacy, • voters’ engagement.