Fernwood NRG Annual Report 2015 by Fernwood NRG

Annual Report 2015

A Word from the Chair ››

e r n w o o d i s f u n k y. It’s a l s o family-oriented, fun, fresh and for everybody. In 2015, Fernwood NRG worked hard to deliver programs and initiatives that meet the needs of our diverse community. We are your Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group. Our daycare programs continue to be the heart of our organization. A young Fernwood tot can take their first steps in our infant and toddler care, graduate to three-to-five care and come back to us as George Jay elementary student for out-of-

school care. This important service helps more and more families each year - in 2015, Fernwood NRG provided daycare for more than 70 children. Some residents might say the Cornerstone Building is the actual beating heart of our organization and neighbourhood. In September 2015, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the restoration of the Cornerstone building – it’s a visual reminder of the power of community to create great gathering spaces, local employment opportunities and affordable housing.

Kelsey Singbeil

Affordable housing continues to be a key focus for Fernwood NRG. In 2015, we explored the option of purchasing two new properties, 2013 and 2017 Fernwood Road to develop more affordable housing in the neighbourhood. After careful consideration, our board decided not to pursue the purchase. The sites made it challenging for Fernwood NRG to develop a high level of affordable housing and the lack of public funding at the time made the financing of the project particularly tight. Thank you to all the neighbours who took the time to speak with us about the project. In 2015, we continued to work towards a Public Hearing for our property at 1310 Gladstone, which we hope to develop into a mixed-use commercial and residential space as part of the Fernwood Village. It’s our hope that making room for more local businesses, community spaces and residents will add to the lively and walkable centre of the neighbourhood. Food security is an ongoing thread woven into Fernwood NRG’s general programming. We know that growing and having access to healthy, local food is part of a healthy, sustainable neighbourhood. Take a walk past the community centre and you’ll see our kitchen garden growing up, the community orchard branching out

and a range of food-related programming germinating inside. Our weekly Monday night family dinner at the centre continues to serve more than 250 families a month and every day our kitchen cooks, bakes and prepares fresh snacks for our childcare and family support programs. In December 2015, we also launched our Gift of Good Food fundraising campaign, which raised more than $45,000 to provide 90 families with more than 10 tons of fresh food in 2016! If you’re looking for a regular box of fresh, local produce at a reasonable price, check out the Good Food Box program in the Fernwood Community Centre gym every other Wednesday. Last year Fernwood was also a go-to place for community celebrations and events. June’s FernFest was bigger and better than ever and it’s hard to find an unpainted hydro pole in Fernwood after our September pole painting celebration. These events help bring Fernwoodians together – they’re a chance to meet neighbours, dance in the Square, give your hydro pole some artistic flare, and celebrate our great neighbourhood. Thanks to all our neighbours, staff and local businesses for a great 2015 – here’s to staying funky in the years to come! 2015 Annual Report

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Walk a block with Fernwood NRG Although we’ve been in Fernwood for over 35 years, many of our neighbours haven’t heard about all the things we do in the neighbourhood. For this year’s Annual Report, we’ve got a map of all of our activities, as well as a few highlights by program from 2015:

GOOD FOOD BOX The Good Food Box is a non-profit alternative fruit and vegetable distribution system. Boxes are available for pick-up or delivery every second Wednesday. We prioritize locally grown, unsprayed produce with a focus on seasonal fruits and vegetables. In 2015, we packed 4,333 boxes for customers. We gave 600 of those boxes to families in need through the Gift of Good Food fundraiser, enough to support 24 families in Fernwood for the whole year.

SPRING RIDGE COMMON Spring Ridge Common is Victoria’s oldest public permaculture garden. It is owned by the School District of Greater Victoria, and leased and maintained by Fernwood NRG with support from the City of Victoria. Designed as a permaculture demonstration site, the Common contains over 100 species of plants, many of which have food and/or medicinal value. The Common is a place where neighbours can meet, engage and grow on common land.

NEIGHBOURHOOD ORCHARD & KITCHEN GARDEN Fernwood is one of two neighbourhoods in Victoria which houses the City of Victoria’s Neighbourhood Orchard Pilot Project. The Fernwood Neighbourhood Orchard was planted in 2013 with the help of 20 incredible volunteers. Volunteers also helped us plant a kitchen garden in 2014 in front of the Community Centre, as a demonstration of what is possible in boulevard gardening. These projects demonstrate new ways of growing food in public places.

PARK PLACE AFFORDABLE HOUSING 1222 YUKON STREET Built in 2008, Park Place houses six families at rents that are $300-$400 per month cheaper than market rates. We also have solar hot water panels on the roof to help offset utility costs. We received support from four levels of government and from the Victoria Foundation to build this attractive apartment building on two vacant lots.

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2015 Annual Report

FERNWOOD COM 1240 GLADSTONE AVENUE BEST BABIES Fernwood NRG is the host agency for Victoria Best Babies, a community based, federally funded Prenatal Nutrition Program. The goal of the program is to reach pregnant women living in conditions of risk that are known to increase the likelihood of negative outcomes for themselves and their infants. Since being established in 1992, the program has registered over 3,000 pregnant women and on average supports 75 healthy live births per year.

FAMILY PROGRAMS Our Family Program team provides a variety of services to families in Fernwood including: our twice weekly family resource program (drop-in), the mother goose program to encourage pre-literacy, Ready to Rent tenant education, Nobody’s Perfect parenting education, hamper pickup for families registered with the Mustard Seed, an income assistance worker, law clinic and tax clinic on site, and our weekly Family Dinner (free!).

ltogether, Fernwood NRG’s activities span a few blocks in Fernwood and represent approximately $4 million of neighbourhood investment (see our 2015 financial statements at fernwoodnrg.ca/ financial- statements-2015/ ). We are lucky to have the generous support of the City of Victoria to operate the Fernwood Community Centre at 1240 Gladstone. We have been managing the Community Centre since it was built in 1980. The signs on the building are original: it was built as a

community centre and child care facility. We currently offer 75 licensed child care spaces. In 2000, we built the large portable building behind the community centre, and since 2004 it has been in use as a licensed child care facility for 20 children under three years old. In 2005, we purchased the Cornerstone Building—it was boarded up at the time. We celebrated the 10 year anniversary of neighbourhood ownership of this building in 2015. We received nearly $400,000

in grants to create four affordable housing units for families upstairs. We also operate the Cornerstone Café and Studio 1313 Hair Design on the ground floor through our subsidiary company, Fernwood NRG Holdings. In 2008, we purchased two vacant lots on Yukon Street and built Park Place—a sixplex of affordable family housing. We took over the stewardship of Spring Ridge Common in 2010—it has not been entirely without its challenges, but we’ve done our best to be responsive to issues

and concerns from neighbours. In 2015, with support from the City, we’ve hired a new coordinator to lead the maintenance in 2016. We added two new properties in 2013, with our purchase of 2009 Fernwood Road and 1310 Gladstone Avenue. We have an active redevelopment proposal to create a new mixed use building for Fernwood at 1310 Gladstone. It may seem like a lot, but there’s lots more—come and walk the block with us…

FERNFEST & FERNWOOD BITES

2009 FERNWOOD RD & 1310 GLADSTONE AVE

FernFest is a music and arts festival and neighbourhood celebration held in Fernwood Square on the weekend closest to the summer solstice. FernFest celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2015. Local artisans, kid’s activities, art, neighbourhood groups, local musicians and performers, and many volunteers all come together to create an inspiring weekend of shared celebration. Fernwood Bites is our annual food and beverage tasting fundraiser, which celebrated its 6th year in 2015.

Fernwood NRG purchased these two properties in the core of Fernwood Village in 2013 for future development as mixed use and affordable housing. We have an active redevelopment proposal for 1310 Gladstone Avenue which will proceed to public hearing in 2016. We are actively looking for a new tenant or tenants at 2009 Fernwood Road as the M’akola Group of Societies will soon move to their new home in Langford.

MMUNITY CENTRE

CHILD CARE Fernwood NRG provides 75 child care spaces across four programs. There are 8 infant spaces, 12 toddler spaces, 25 three to five year old daycare spaces and 30 out of school care spaces for school age children. We have a total of 14 licensed full time educators supporting our programs, who provide quality child care taking a holistic approach that focuses on community and social development.

CORNERSTONE BUILDING 1301-1313 GLADSTONE AVENUE CORNERSTONE APARTMENTS AFFORDABLE HOUSING In 2005, with generous support from four levels of government and private foundations, we gutted the upstairs of the Cornerstone Building to create four units of affordable family housing. We also installed a geothermal heating system which reduces our natural gas consumption by enough to prevent 15 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, as well as keeping costs down for tenants.

RECREATION

CORNERSTONE CAFE

STUDIO 1313 HAIR DESIGN

In 2015 the Fernwood Community Centre was home to 50 programs and public events that saw just under 135,000 visits to the centre. We offered dozens of recreation programs for all ages, from Creative Dance classes for 2-5 year olds to our weekly Seniors Lunch. Event highlights for the year included the much anticipated Fox Fair, Owl Designer Fair, Anarchist Book Fair and Vinyl Supernova which welcomed over 6,000 people to Fernwood!

In 2015, the Cornerstone Café moved into expanded evening service. We installed a new pizza oven and rolled in a beer cooler with the help of our friends at Phillips Brewery. So now neighbourhood residents have one more option for a bite and a beer in the evening. We think the coffee tastes even better knowing that the profits are used to support local programs and services!

Studio 1313 has enjoyed steady growth since opening in 2013. Last year, we hired a sixth stylist to meet the demand. In partnership with Victoria High School, we host students from their job readiness program and we donate services to students for their Graduation Ceremony. Thanks to our inspired staff and loyal clients, Studio 1313 is a successful social enterprise which directs its profits back into neighbourhood programs and services.

2015 Annual Report

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Our Staff Sarah Alpert Germaine Asplin Kristin Backlund Eira-Shay Barker-Hart Kari-Anne Barr Shonna Bell Justen Casey Boss-Moodie Alexandra Bristow Heather Cadieux Joshua Casey Abby Cronk Kristin Crossman Ashleigh Cyr Mila Czemerys Ticara De Rose Coetze Brianne Deman Jesse Douglas Lanna Duffy Claire Eide Joshua Elder

Greg Enkel Carina Foran Nicholas Francis Shael Fripp Eric Ganassin Julie Anne Gilchrist Isleish Grier Kennedy Healey Adrian Heim Katarina Heim Shelley Heit Ashley Henderson Lee Herrin Robert Hill Vic Horvath Aaron How Asia Jacob Katherine Jacobs Bailey Jensen Andrea Johnston

Patrick Jupe Kathryn Juricic Arie Kelerstein Moyuru Koga Sarah Laxton-Scott Tracy Laine MacDonald Laura MacKenzie Vanessa MacLean Joshua Manning Shannon Martin Thomas McCann Jennifer McCarthy Camille McElroy Patricia Minor Jill Moran Sadie Neilsen Leah Norwood Jessica Payne Stephanie Peper-Arroliga Sharon Policnick

Yuri Pomeroy Hazen Price Suzannah Randaschl Kirsty Rankin Lenore Rankin Shanti Richardson Tina Robinson Jacqueline Rogers Stephanie Ruddell Nicholas Schroeder Laurel Sleigh Sean Solberg Kaori St. Cyr Morgan St. John Emma Stanford Nathan Sun Judith Swanston Meghan Taylor Alysa Marie Thomas Kari Thoresen

Dana Tower Kathleen Unfreed Simon Widmann Mary Catherine Wolfe Caitlin Wynne Current Board Members

Sarah Amyot Caitlin Davies Paula DeBeck Brett Gaylor Michael Lancaster Lisa Matthaus Kelsey Singbeil Matt Takach Amy Zidulka Brett Gaylor Brett G

Outgoing Board Member

Geoff Cross

A big thank you to All our amazing volunteers!

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2015 Annual Report