Where We Are Now: March 2021

With uncertainty around the future of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent reduction of COVID-19 funding, we are faced with the challenge of providing much needed support to our community with limited resources. Read below to learn about any updates or changes to current programming.

Family Programming

Family Drop-In, Early Years Drop-In, Arts Umbrella, Kids Kitchen, and CUBS Tutoring

We continue to provide resources and support families in the community that regularly come to the Neighbourhood House and pick up basic goods, such as produce, eggs, and milk. Families with younger children are also able to place custom orders for any items they require from the grocery story. As much as we wish to have families return to the space to mingle and share a nutritious meal, it is currently not possible due to the restrictions placed on gathering. We will continue providing the essential hamper bags until at least the end of May. As the weather improves, we have begun to open our outdoor family programming at the Urban Farm. Families are able to spend time together at the Farm in a safe, outdoor space with plenty of room for social distancing. We are currently developing a weekly Family Garden Program that will provide a garden-based resource for families to enjoy the beautiful greenspace while learning about urban agriculture.

As for other family programming, Arts Umbrella has completed its most recent session cycle. The program will be back up and running starting from April 21st to June 9th. The Kids Kitchen program has also recently welcomed children back into the Neighbourhood House space, where children are able to learn the basics of cooking and nutrition. Finally, our CUBS Tutoring program has continued providing tutoring for children living in the Downtown Eastside.

Community Programming

Community Drop-In, Nutritional Outreach

On January 27th, the Neighbourhood House celebrated our annual turkey dinner, the Mid-Winter Feast. The Community Programming team served 200 delicious turkey meals to the community this year. The meals were filled with turkey, mashed potatoes, mixed steam vegetables, gravy, cranberry sauce, and an apple cinnamon loaf for dessert. 

Our Mobile Smoothie Program has also been running on the day before cheque day each month. This program has been providing the community with nutrient dense smoothies from our front door. Additionally, we have received generous donations from organizations in Vancouver to add to our Community Drop-In meals. For example, we received plant based burgers made by TMRW foods, a donation from Virtuous Pie. These burgers were complimented by pesto made from our Urban Farm vegetables. 

The biggest challenge for the Neighbourhood House in the near future will be the reduction of COVID-19 support funding. This will lead to a decrease in staffing and resources, especially for our Community Drop-In programs. As a result, our Community Drop-In programming will revert back to pre-COVID-19 volumes. We will be reducing the days we provide breakfast and lunch meals from the door from 5 days to 3 days a week. We will need to find volunteers to join our teams alongside additional sources for produce, meats, and dairy. If you are interested in volunteering, please reach out to volunteer@dtesnhouse.ca. Shifts will be available for Tuesdays and Wednesdays starting on April 20th.

Leadership Programming

Let’s Speak Up

The Let’s Speak Up program has wrapped up a few of their recent projects, most notably the first round of the Navigator Project. This project enabled community members to share their voices on the City of Vancouver’s city plan. The program is now focusing on solidifying Let’s Speak Up’s identity through creating a mandate and explicitly stating goals. As a result, Let’s Speak Up has continued making connections with other similar groups in the neighbourhood to understand how we can assist, compliment, or learn from one another. However, the challenge of meeting to include as many community voices as possible has remained due to COVID-19 restrictions. If you or someone you know is interested in being involved, please contact letsspeakup@dtesnhouse.ca. 

Let’s Speak Up is currently working with a graduate student from the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) to develop a report using data from their previous comprehensive survey in the neighbourhood. The student will be holding workshops in the near future to assist our Let’s Speak Up group members in discussions around research in the Downtown Eastside. They will have a reflexive experience of what it means to be a recipient of surveys and how to ensure the research goes back into the community to serve them in a positive way.

Urban Farm

With spring rolling in, planting for future vegetables at the Urban Farm is in full swing. A new addition to the garden this year will be eggplants, which grow very well in sites that attract heat. We look forward to seeing the produce grow to feed our community. In order to organize the space, we will be hiring an Urban Farm Coordinator.

Multiple groups will be joining the space this year. Hives for Humanity, who last year grew a pollinator garden, will be bringing their bee hives into the space. DUDES Club and the SRO Collaborative will have a bed focusing on Indigenous food sovereignty and will be experimenting to develop new urban agricultural practices that can then be used around the neighbourhood. Finally, the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre will be creating a world garden bed to bring Chinese seniors and Indigenous Elders together. 

The garden is currently producing and selling fertilizer, with proceeds going directly back to the Neighbourhood House. The 5-3-1 mix works for all vegetables, excluding carrots. If you are interested in purchasing a package, or just visiting the space, feel free to drop by on Saturday afternoons.