Judy Nairn and John Thompson thank guest speaker Aleksandra Petrovic Gaovic
ED of the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region
Minutes of Kitchener-Westmount Rotary meeting July 6, 2022
Call to order at 12:15 – Judy Nairn chairing
After National Anthem, toasts and invocation, the following announcements were made:
Reminder of need for volunteers for up-coming Canadian Women’s Amateur Golf Tournament
Reminder of upcoming Rotary Panthers baseball event Thursday August 4 – specially priced tickets available for Rotary members – use “Rotary 2022" as promo code when buying tickets to receive special price
Reminder of Catch the Ace game available via internet – only 19(?) cards left, pot now more than $15,000
Club anniversaries:
Paul Puopolo (32 years) and Andy Williams (22 years) on July 1;
Klara Serjani (8 years) on July 8
50:50 draw: no winner; pot stands at $102
Speaker – Aleksandra Petrovic Graonic of the Social Development Centre of Waterloo
The speaker was introduced by Karin Voisin:
Aleksandra worked in adult education and social justice community development in the former Yugoslavia and Quebec before arriving in Kitchener where she started with the Social Planning Council of KW which has now become the Social Development Centre of Waterloo
Aleksandra serves as coordinator of Festival of Neighbourhoods and will soon take on duties of Community Development Programme Coordinator
Aleksandra explained the role and purpose of the Social Development Centre (SDC) as developing and ensuring the hearing of voices of people not generally heard by “top down” investigations
“Normal” investigations depend on language and concepts which fail to elicit adequate information about the lived experience of those some describe as “living below the line”
In order to obtain, develop, publicize information about these lived experiences, the SDC fosters lived experience groups, retains individuals from disadvantaged groups to seek out information and, indeed, establish the very questions to be posed, operates a civic hub for the exchange of information and provides a financial platform for grassroots organizations
One of the projects is mapping displacement caused by the LRT and redevelopment of the downtown corridors. Often the “official” survey of homelessness misses the true extent, the “invisible displacement”, of people forced out of multiple unit rental buildings by insufficient funds, racism, renovations, large rent increases etc. This information is (only) picked up through the lived experience oral histories collected by the people supported by the SDC. The SDC estimates that 400 units were lost.
The current social allowance system, in providing separate amounts for housing and for food and penalizing those who live together is unfair and contributes to homelessness. If accommodation costs should be 30% of total income and ODSB is about $1,100/month, this does not generate enough for basically habitable accommodation.
After some questions, the speaker was thanked by John Thompson.
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