A way Hydro can help revitalize communities

 

The excitement inside City Hall’s Committee Room 4 was palpable while I was waiting to speak at the press conference where the Green Jobs for All at Hydro campaign was launched. On June 7, community and union activists came together under the banner of the Good Jobs for All Coalition to announce an innovative green community economic development strategy. If implemented by Toronto Hydro, this strategy is sure to revolutionize the way the City works directly with the people to address pressing economic concerns that incorporate environmental and social justice needs.

 

When I walked in the room, I was impressed with the huge solar panel resting against the wall and the number of banners from participating agencies. The five Green Change Agents from Jane and Finch who came with me added their own displays and signs. The campaign launch was attended by a diversity of community groups, unions, elected officials, and environmental organizations. Groups in attendance included the Toronto & York Region Labour Council, the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians, the Chinese Canadian National Council - Toronto, the Jane/Finch Green Jobs Coalition, the Green Change Collaborative, the Society of Energy Professionals, and the Canadian Tamil Congress, Environmental Defence, Toronto Environmental Alliance, and more.

 

Through this campaign, the Good Jobs for All Coalition is calling on Toronto Hydro to take advantage of the subsidies available in the Green Energy Act and plan for an aggressive expansion of Toronto Hydro’s role in renewable energy generation in partnership with other public institutions. The strategy calls for Toronto Hydro to install solar panels on schools, hospitals and other public buildings across the City. Under the Ontario Green Energy and Green Economy Act 2009, renewable energy companies, utilities and homeowners can receive provincial subsidies – through the feed-in tariff program – provided they meet domestic content rules, which require 40 to 60% of the goods and services used originate from Ontario.

 

As I explained in my speech, not only will this strategy generate profits for the public utility company, but by engaging community organizations and unions as partners at the table, it will also generate dividends for the local communities by engaging residents and youth in the revitalization and economic development of their own community. This strategy has the potential to see thousands of youth trained and new job opportunities for residents and other equity seeking groups created.

 

The Good Jobs for All Coalition is also asking Toronto Hydro to make local procurement of green products a priority in all activities. With its strong buying power, Toronto Hydro would then be able to attract green manufacturers to Toronto. Furthermore, existing manufacturers would be encouraged to retool and work with local training organizations and Toronto’s Social Development Office to ensure equitable access and inclusion of workers of colour and youth from marginalized communities in new job opportunities in the sector.

 

“Creating good green jobs is the lynchpin that will turn our community around,” says Nigel Barriffe. Currently a teacher with the Toronto District School Board in Rexdale, Nigel is Co-Chair of the Green Economy Committee of the Good Jobs for All Coalition. This strategy could be a game changer for priority neighbourhoods like Rexdale and Jane and Finch that continue to struggle with issues of poverty and underemployment. On the other side of the coin is the emerging trend and related opportunities in the green economy.

 

One young man, Chris Williamson, a pre-apprentice electrician, who recently graduated from the Hammer Heads program also shared his story. Chris - who is 18 - spoke about how his placement as a pre-apprentice electrician gave him the opportunity to start saving up money so he can hopefully sponsor his mother – who currently lives in Jamaica – to Canada.  Chris said he supports the campaign because he can see how it will create stable careers for his community and friends, who, unlike him, still work part time and casual minimum wage jobs at restaurants, movie theatres and the like.

 

Other speakers at the press conference included: John Camilleri, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 1, which represents Toronto Hydro workers; and Carolyn Egan, president of the Steelworker Toronto Area Council.

 

The Green Jobs for All at Hydro campaign can be formally endorsed at www.goodjobsforall.ca.

About Rosemarie Powell

Mr. Fresh: From selling drugs to cleaning the air

Photo by: M. Ann Phillips, Ph.D.

Mr. Fresh is a local entrepreneur who says that the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre’s Green Change Project helped to validate the importance of his green business venture. Mr. Fresh participated actively in the Green Change Project in 2009, completing the 45 hour Green Change Agent Training Program and conducting more than 50 green home audits with community residents, many of whom were already his customers.

The Green Change Project was a one year collaboration of the Toronto Region and Conservation Authority and the Toronto Community Housing with the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre as the lead. The project provided basic training to Green Change Agents in different environmental themes and engaged residents in various community greening activities. Thanks to the commitment and passion of these Green Change Agents, the project received tremendous success and media attention on the front page of the Toronto Star, was identified as one of Toronto’s four environmental game changers in the NOW Magazine and is a finalist for the Green Toronto Awards. A seed was planted.

Now, thanks to the financial support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation over the next three years, an expanded collaboration with the Jane Finch Green Jobs Coalition and the partnership with other community organizations such as the Black Creek Community Health Centre, the Green Change Project is ready to take root. The collaborative partners are also actively seeking financial support to establish a Centre for Green Change. The goal of this Centre will be to identify and attract green business entrepreneurs like Mr. Fresh and other environmentally conscious residents and youth and provide training and support to them to further their career in the green economy while greening their community, protecting its natural heritage and retrofitting community assets.

This concept works from a community asset building approach and is exactly what is needed in Jane and Finch. As he explained in a recent interview with M. Ann Phillips, long before he earned the title of ‘Mr.’ Fresh, back in the days when he was just Fresh, he was already an entrepreneur, though his path was not always as socially conscious as it is now.  Mr. Fresh started doing business when he was in Grade 4.  His career began by selling chocolates and he gained a lot of hands on experience and developed his entrepreneurial spirit from his early experiences.

Like many youth growing up in poor marginalized communities with limited opportunities, his life took a detour when he was seduced by the opportunities that the business of the street can offer.  It was getting involved with his eco-friendly business that saved his life according to Mr. Fresh.  It took him away from selling drugs and being involved with guns and all the other aspects of life on the street.  “My name is Mr. Fresh. I’d like to be known as Mr. Fresh.  It tells you who I am and where I am coming from.  The community loves that.  They gave me that name.  I didn’t become Mr. Fresh just like that.  I was given that name.  When I was working and hustling I used to be Fresh, and I became Mr. Fresh over the years of doing the air freshening business.”

Mr. Fresh developed his environmentally friendly business, a line of 4 different air fresheners with 3 natural scents and an unscented one, when he realized that it was time to change his life and do something different.  Fresh attributes his success to the support of the community. He says “the whole community has bought my air fresheners.  The whole community has supported me. ”

“Our community would like to have more clean air and more places where we can buy organic food and fruit.  We don’t have those things now.  If we can have more trees and more green areas, if we keep doing this it will be good!”

The main message Mr. Fresh learned from the Green Change program is “This is our only planet and we have to take care of it!”

Written by: M. Ann Phillips, Ph.D. and Rosemarie Powell

About Rosemarie Powell

One step forward

It takes courageous actions like this for officials to earn the respect of residents. Bravo to the school board for putting a hold on school closures in Jane and Finch!

Your confidence in the democratic process and in the goodwill of residents will reap great rewards for the community.

And to all the courageous residents who have stepped out of your comfort zone and stood up for what you believed in despite the challenges to your personal and professional integrity, keep up the struggle, there is still hope.

About Rosemarie Powell

True leadership from the grassroots up

Rosemarie Powell.

Where politicians and decision makers have failed, they should look to residents for true leadership.

There are people working on the ground every day in Jane and Finch to affect changes in their community. People like Alicia, who took time in between two jobs to participate in the Green Change training sessions. Or Celia, who, exhausted from a long week of school and studying for exams still made time to participate in the ARC School Closure Public Consultations.

Talking with resident leaders and community activists of this priority neighbourhood one quickly senses a spirit of deep frustration and demoralization. To many of them, it seems like the very fabric of their community is constantly being buffeted from left, right and centre – from threats of hospital and schools closures to cuts in social services.

Except for the fact that they live in Jane-Finch, the one thing residents have in common is their willingness to get down and dirty. To them this is real; when bad policies are made, they are usually the first ones to be directly impacted. They can’t afford to sleep on the job and lately there seems to be no rest. The passion and commitment demonstrated by these grassroots leaders are embodied by a quote from Majora Carter, South Bronx environmental and social justice advocate. She says “I believe that you shouldn't have to leave your neighborhood to live in a better one.”

Instead, it is time for real social change. We need to work collectively with the aim of correcting the inequities that were exacerbated as a result of the policies of exclusion inherent in the initial design of priority communities like Jane and Finch; a design which pooled large numbers of low income and racialized people in one concentrated location with little access to necessary social support infrastructures. None of this desired change can be truly achieved without equal distribution of wealth, power and resources.

Since the problem is multi-faceted, there needs to be a comprehensive response in order to achieve systemic change. There are some glimmers of hope, with several large scale public infrastructure investment projects being planned in the Jane-Finch community such as the Light Rapid Transit on Finch Ave., the Spadina-York subway extension and the redevelopment of Shoreham. These investments are being promoted as significant gains for the community as they will mean good jobs, green spaces and business opportunities.

However, repeated experiences have shown that these positive spin-offs do not extend to people who live in the community; instead major contracts are awarded externally with little accountability. Furthermore, these infrastructure developments seem disjointed, with no evidence of an integrated, coordinated approach among the different levels of government implementing these grand schemes. For example, how can school closures be proposed while at the same time planning expansion of public transit infrastructure directly through the neighbourhood to attract new residents?

It is crucial for members of our community to be a part of the decision making process in the development of a community retrofit master plan. This plan should include binding policies and opportunities for residents who live in the community to participate fully in all aspects, socially, environmentally, economically and politically. It must be sustainable to address the needs of our current population but also include enhancements that take into consideration the needs of the future generation.

Residents should continue the pressure to hold decision-makers, politicians and corporations accountable to implementing their demands. A word to the wise, it would be a mistake to continue with the assumption that residents will keep quiet much longer; a movement from the grassroots is building.

Additional Reading:

http://ecommunityjanefinch.wordpress.com/facts/

http://www.janefinchcentre.org/community-programs/school-closures

About Rosemarie Powell