SUPPORTS ITEM NO. 1
CS&B COMMITTEE AGENDA
APRIL 18, 1996
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: March 25, 1996
TO: Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets
FROM: Director of the Gathering Place, Social Planning,
Community Services Group
SUBJECT: Report Back to Council -
Operations of the Gathering Place
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council approve, without offsets, the following at an annual
cost of $119,300. The 1996 cost of $92,500 is to be provided
from the 1996 operating budget.
i) In order to improve the security function of the Gathering
Place, a regular full-time position to supervise security at
an estimated annual cost of $40,667 plus a one time
furnishings cost of $1,500 plus funding for 18 additional
weekly auxiliary security staff hours at an estimated annual
cost of $16,140.
ii) In order to strengthen the Gathering Place food services, 24
additional weekly auxiliary kitchen staff hours at an
estimated annual cost of $20,671.
iii) In order to open the Gathering Place Reading Room one
additional day per week, funding for 8 weekly auxiliary
library staff hours at an estimated annual cost of $7,755.
iv) In order to strengthen the Gathering Place volunteer
program, the creation of a position to assist volunteer
programming at an estimated annual cost of $34,123 plus a
one time furnishing cost of $1,500.
v) The creation of a regular full-time position in the
Gathering Place Health Centre, to be funded 100% by the
Provincial Government at no additional cost to the City.
All the above subject to review by the General Manager of Human
Resource Services.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The Gathering Place is one of two new City facilities to open in
downtown Vancouver during 1995. The other is the Central Library
at Library Square. Predicting the staff resources required to
operate a new public facility is a very imprecise undertaking.
Council will soon be receiving a report on the Library which
illustrates this in spades.
The Director of the Gathering Place persuasively argues that the
staff increases identified in this report do not represent an
increase in service level, but are required to achieve the
service level planned for the Gathering Place when it opened. I
have no reason to doubt this, and I believe the requests are
modest relative to the public service which the Gathering Place
provides to a very fragile community.
In principle, I support the requests as highly desirable and
perhaps even essential. However, I also know that if Council
were not to approve the increase, the staff at the Gathering
Place would continue to cope and continue to provide a high level
of service, albeit with considerable stresses and strains.
Neither the Director of the Gathering Place nor I have any
offsets to offer to compensate for the proposed increases in the
Gathering Place's operating budget. As I believe this is
contrary to Council policy, I submit the recommendation of the
Director of the Gathering Place for CONSIDERATION.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council, on February 3, 1994, resolved that during the term of the
1994-1996 Budget Management Program, any proposed increases in program
and/or service levels be offset by corresponding spending reductions
elsewhere in the City's operating budget or by increases in non-
taxation revenues, subject to Council discretion.
SUMMARY
After one full year of operation, the Director of the Gathering Place
is reporting back to Council on the Centre's strengths and weaknesses.
Herein she asks Council's support to continue the existing sixty hours
per week of service (Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.) but points
out the need to shore up some weaknesses in the system in order to
better provide those sixty hours. She expresses particular concern
about safety issues, and requests Council support for a Security
Supervisor plus eighteen additional weekly auxiliary security staff
hours. She also asks for twenty-four additional weekly auxiliary
kitchen staff hours, and eight weekly auxiliary library staff hours.
She explains the importance of the volunteer program to the Gathering
Place and asks Council to approve the creation of a position to
further assist volunteer programming. These requests propose to add
$119,300. to the annual operating budget of the City of Vancouver,
with no offsets. The 1996 budget cost is $92,500.
The Director of the Gathering Place also asks Council to regularize
one full time position in the Gathering Place s Health Centre, at no
cost to the City of Vancouver, all expenses to be borne by the
Province s Ministry of Social Services.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to provide Council with information
about the Downtown South Gathering Place following its first year of
operation and to request from Council the supports required to ensure
that the Centre operates at its planned service level.
In July of 1994, Council instructed the Director of the Gathering
Place to review and report back on the operating needs of the
Gathering Place after one full year of operation, early in 1996.
BACKGROUND
The Butt Report of 1991 brought to Council's attention the dearth of
services in Downtown South and the bleak social and recreational lives
of Granville Street hotel dwellers. Committed to retaining a lowcost
housing stock in the face of massive neighbourhood redevelopment,
Council instructed a multi-department committee to review Downtown
South services, including a Carnegie type community centre. The
Director of the Carnegie Centre was seconded to the project, working
with the community to help them design their own facility. Council in
1993 committed $3.38 million to the purchase and renovation of the 609
Helmcken site and in July of 1994 authorized the Centre's first annual
budget, creating a number of regular full-time positions and
auxiliary hours. The Director was instructed to report back to
Council early in 1996. Renova-tions began in August of 1994 and,
though the facility was not complete, the Centre quietly opened to the
public on March 20th of 1995. The official opening took place on
December 6, 1995.
In this report, I intend to give an overview of the year's activities,
to report on weaknesses and strengths, and to make certain requests
for improving the delivery of services. I do not intend to ask for
funds to increase the hours of operation from the current 60 hours per
week (6 days at 10 hours per day) because there is so much work still
required to do the job properly at this beginning level, to shore up
the shakey foundations.
The funds requested DO NOT represent an expansion of service level;
the funds requested are necessary to maintain the intended level of
service.
DISCUSSION
The past twelve months of operation have been a time of experiment,
figuring out what does and does not work. Carnegie was the model, but
the communities are quite different.
1. Security
One issue, however, has turned out to be more similar than
anticipated. For the two centres, security is the number one issue.
In the beginning it was not so, and one security staff member borrowed
from Carnegie, begged after two months to go back to 401 Main,
pleading boredom.
Now the Centre has been "discovered" and 900 people per day are in
attendance. The role of staff, particularly Activity Attendants
(reclassified to Security Attendants), has changed considerably.
Officially responsible for front line duties of information sharing
(about services within the centre and within the community), security,
first aid, and assistance to programs, these Attendants have seen
their roles change from genial hosts to quasi policemen.
Eleven months ago the patrons were a mass of smiling grateful
consumers, delighted to share ownership of a brand new facility in a
community so long underserviced. A year later the tension mounts in a
centre in the midst of a neighbourhood that is not really a community.
The ugliness of the street comes inside, along with concerns about
atmosphere and safety.
No one staff person has full-time responsibility for security, though
the Recreation Programmer hires and schedules Security Attendants, and
the Program Coordinator deals with daily crises. There is no one with
the focus and the expertise and the time to develop and enforce
building rules and barring guidelines. Carnegie is the model but the
communities and the needs are quite different. Things fall apart, and
some days there is a feeling that the bad guys might be winning.In
1990, the situation at Carnegie reached the same unsettled state, and
Council approved a regular full-time Security Supervisor position.
Though Carnegie is and ever will be a powder keg, that staff person in
the past several years has developed a level of expertise in
identifying drug dealers and keeping them out of the building,
training staff to de-escalate difficult situations, securing
properties, and increasing the feeling of safety within the building.
Just now the Gathering Place teeters on the edge of nastiness. At
least one staff member, in the Health Centre, a hot spot, sometimes
feels unsafe in the workplace. (The Saller Centre runs a laundry with
staff alone doing the wash. The Gathering Place tries it differently,
as a supervised self-serve Laundromat. Though there are indeed many
grateful and careful consumers there are also some angry and hungry
young men, carrying everything they own in a backpack or a garbage
bag, evicted at 7:30 a.m. from the hostel where they spent the night,
waiting until 10 a.m. for the Gathering Place to open, and then
hurling frustrations towards the washing machine - one load per person
per day - or the stern young woman and the volunteer who tell them the
house rules.)
Thefts are ongoing. Staff try to console themselves with news that
the downtown SFU campus with uniformed security staff, video monitors,
and a complicated series of locking doors also loses wallets and
computers. At the Gathering Place someone(s) steals from the City's
poorest. Prior to opening, a fax and a computer went walking. Since
then 2 mandolins and 2 micro-phones (gifts from the Downtown Vancouver
Business Improvement Association) have disappeared, along with 50
library audio-tapes, wallets, keys, patrons' belongings from secure
storage space and lockers, backpacks, jackets, purses and a VCR. Due
to theft of keys, the building has been re-keyed three times.
A good corporate neighbour, the Manager of the Chateau Granville is
convinced car thefts from the hotel parking lot are increasing and on
one occasion his staff chased an alleged thief right into the
Gathering Place theatre. Another time a man who was wielding a knife
in their lobby ran into the Gathering Place where police came and
arrested him.
Even as this report was being written, a 22 year old male with mental
health problems was escorted from the building for fighting. Within
the hour he returned to toss rocks through three of the building's
plate glass windows.
Volunteers want to be safe. They come in off the streets to make
their contributions and want to do so in a secure environment. They
are approached, asked to purchase pot and cocaine. Some of them
recognize street dealers and pimps and report this to staff. At least
three times a week the youth worker helps hide young women from their
former pimps and helps get them to a safe house.
The Carnegie Security Supervisor comes to help out for two weeks. He
is astounded by the level of anger and the potential for violence,
much more than at Carnegie says he. How is that possible? we wonder.
Is it because there are so many drop-ins, so many services in the
Downtown Eastside? The anger is spread about down there, while in
Downtown South the Gathering Place is the only game in town, this part
of town.
Carnegie has spent 16 years establishing its house rules and some of
the street folks have been identified as pimps, dealers, and
troublemakers. They simply are not allowed inside. At 609 Helmcken,
everyone has been treated "fairly", and given a chance. Now it is
time to prohibit entry, not just to the obvious folks who are drunk
and stoned. This kind of tough action is necessary to make the Centre
safe for all. This kind of action requires consistent, strong
leadership, and a level-headed experienced employee to supervise
security.
Crisis is part of the Gathering Place scene, and many of the clientele
are challenging and difficult. There are demands on staff to react in
a calm and assured manner in order to keep the place safe, to debrief
from tough situations. People cannot do this without training and
appropriate supervision.
On the second floor on any given day (except just after cheque day)
there are 60 to 70 "guys", 23 to 35 years old, strong, fit, under or
unemployed, dealing with anger. The potential for things blowing up
is high. In the face of this, staff work to maintain a calm and
friendly background, a safe atmosphere. They need training,
recharging, debriefing, meetings, strong and consistent leadership.
Currently, with the recent escalation of tension, staff response in
many cases has been inappropriate and inadequate.
In the evening (6 p.m. to 8 p.m.), only three staff are in the
building - inadequate in case of an emergency or serious incident.
I request Council's assistance in the immediate beefing up of the
security function of the Gathering Place. All staff require training
in anger management, de-escalating of crisis situations, dealing with
difficult clients, and I have set up an appropriate in-house training
programme, beginning March 6th. Additional staffing is required - a
supervisor similar to that at the Carnegie Centre at an estimated
annual cost of $40,649. Furthermore, 18 additional hours per week of
auxiliary security staff time are required at an estimated annual cost
of $16,140.
It is possible to continue on with the saga of the Gathering Place,
and the difficult time just now. I do not want to be accused of
overkill. I have suggested a course of action for improving security;
the Centre has strengthened its relationship with the Downtown
Granville Community Police; and we carry on. Council should not be
discouraged about the City s newest community centre. In spite of the
difficulties outlined here, the Gathering Place has been able to offer
a varied and exciting program to a disadvantaged community, and some
of the highlights of the past year will now be outlined.
2. Services
During the lengthy community consultation process in Downtown South
the following items were identified as neighbourhood priorities.
1) Recreational and social space (including weight room,
activity/aerobics room, auditorium, TV lounge, space for active
and passive games playing, arts and crafts space, etc.)
2) Low-cost healthy dining (kitchen and coffee shop/serving area)
plus an opportunity to participate in food preparation and sale.
3) A learning centre (classrooms, computer room, common space)
4) Health services similar to those at the Evelyne Saller Centre
(Laundromat, delousing, showers, storage)
5) Library/reading room
Council committed to funding these items except for the learning
centre and the health centre and I was directed to approach the
Vancouver School Board and the Province for those funds. In addition,
the Vancouver Public Library declined to take on the Reading Room as
one of its branches and that service became instead the creation of
the Gathering Place.
All of the above services are now in place and fully operational.
The Learning Centre is funded fully by the School Board for up to
$300,000 annually and the Health Centre is funded by the Ministry of
Social Services for $77,000 annually.
3. The Association
More than 2,000 patrons belong to the Downtown South Gathering Place
Association. As of December 31, 1995, its bank account contained a
modest $1,800. Not yet granted an income tax charitable donation
number, the Association has undertaken no fundraising, though there
are plans to seek support for newsletter and educational projects in
the future.
The Board, consisting of the signatories to the first constitution,
suffered growing pains in its inaugural year. Membership dropped from
the official fifteen to twelve to ten and by year's end was down to
half a dozen. People moved away, some lost interest, and some faced
overwhelming difficulties in their personal lives.
Despite its developmental problems, the Board has always met its
priority objective of advising the Director. Through a committee
structure - program, education, reading room, volunteer - Association
members are encouraged to speak, and recommendations go forward to the
Board. Not surprisingly, the Volunteer Committee speaks with great
conviction from the heart of the Centre. At the helm of the Board is
a level-headed and courageous Chair, active in the community, ever
available, speaking and writing frankly of living with +HIV.
With a few months lead time, the Board is now planning for its first
Annual General Meeting and Board elections. The selected date is May
4th, and already effort is going into finding candidates to represent
the various constituencies of youth, seniors, women, etc.
4. Recreation
A quick glance at any of the Centre's bulletin boards indicates a
sophisticated smorgasbord of programs for folks in Downtown South.
For example:
kundalini yoga
vocal dose cafe (cabaret)
bio-kinesiology
narcotics anonymous
forum for youth on social assistance
low impact fitness
reiki
literary reading series - poet s presentation
hair clinic
newsletter committee meeting
drawing
photography
tae kwon do
self discovery through music
legal aid program
ice skating
waking up the right brain
healing through laughter
tournaments: euchre, bridge, ping pong, hearts,
scrabble, cribbage
drum making
tai chi
conversational French
piano lessons
sewing
pottery
Nearly half of these recreational programs are offered by volunteers.
In addition to all of these winter season possibilities, there are the
weight room and pool room activities, the soon to take place
arthritis/therapeutic bath soakings, and countless outtrips. These
have been organized with other community agencies with the express
purpose of getting folks out of the hardcore downtown for a few days
or a few hours. Seniors, youth, and some combined groups have hiked,
swum, camped, taken the bus to Victoria and Chilliwack, visited
gardens and basketball games, traveled to model railroad conventions,
and to berry picking sites. Following a very successful trip to Camp
Jubilee, arrangements have been made to exchange volunteer work
parties at the camp with access to the camp,s recreation activities.
Every program has its fans, some small groups, some large. One
enthusiastic young market renter heard a rumor - false - that tae kwon
do was to be cancelled and collected 160 names on a petition of
protest. At one judo class, a grandfather from a neighbourhood hotel
watches proudly through the windows as his granddaughter practices
judo under the tutelage of a blackbelt instructor, just like at a real
community centre he says. Should the recreation programmer be
relieved of security responsibilities, the recreation offerings will
be strengthened considerably.
5. Food
Food is a big issue in Downtown South and the kitchen has worked hard
to implement a healthy food policy - nothing processed, elimination of
fried foods - while building a menu that folks will actually eat.
Breakfast and supper are still pretty traditional, bacon and eggs/meat
and potatoes, while lunch has become the experimental meal, the
healthy meal. Noon time finds folks chomping on hefty servings (no
one complains about the size of the portions, though everybody and his
brother has menu suggestions) of cheese and broccoli quiche or
vegetable stew or pasta pie.
Three hundred people per day are eating full meals at the Gathering
Place; that is breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Another couple
hundred buy sandwiches, muffins, soup, porridge, or coffee. Vouchers
are accepted from Social Services, Catholic Charities, the Salvation
Army, YMCA, Family Services, and AIDS Vancouver. Prices are low -
breakfast is $1.75, lunch $2.50, dinner $3.50, a sandwich 75 cents.
Inheriting a menu from its predecessor Second Mile Society, the
kitchen honestly struggled to make the old-timers, the residents of
the New Continental, happy. These folks were served their meals in a
seniors club type atmosphere on the third floor, while the public at
large used the second floor cafeteria. Operating one kitchen with two
concessions and two cash registers has been challenging, stretching
staff and volunteers. Initially every change in menu brought a flurry
of complaints, and charges of imposed vegetarianism. On the other
hand, the vegetarian crowd hurled accusations that their menu
interests were never taken into account. The Kitchen Managers tiptoed
carefully down the middle.
Operating as a non-profit kitchen, the kitchen did close to a quarter
million dollars of business in its first year, handily supporting the
volunteer tickets and many centre activities, in addition to
purchasing a goodly number of startup furnishings and equipment.
In order to meet the growing clientele of hungry people and to operate
two concessions adequately, more hours of auxiliary staff time in the
kitchen are required, calculated at one four hour shift per day at an
annual cost of $20,671. Council is reminded that the New Continental
kitchen, a magnificent state of the art facility, is made available to
the City and the Gathering Place at no cost other than the ongoing
provision of the separate service to seniors in the third floor
cafeteria.
6. Volunteer Program
This is the most valuable asset the Gathering Place owns, actually
measurable in dollars and cents terms. For every four hour shift that
a volunteer works, he or she receives meal tickets redeemable in the
Gathering Place cafeteria. With the tickets valued at $4 per shift,
and if the work were calculated in the market place at minimum wage,
the Gathering Place would clearly come out the winner, adding more
than $100,000 to its budget for the nine months of volunteer labour in
1995. (Please refer to Appendix B for a display of volunteer hours.)
Five hundred patrons have applied to volunteer at the Gathering Place.
One hundred and five have been processed (including undergoing a
police department criminal check intended to protect youth and
children coming into the centre). Those working in the kitchen
require TB testing. All require job training and supervision and
orientation to the Centre.
Why do people volunteer? The food tickets help, but it is more than
just that.
People say volunteering makes a difference to their lives. They feel
part of something; they are of value to the community; they make
friends. The volunteers at the Gathering Place have developed a sense
of ownership. They raise concerns and see themselves taken seriously.
They attend meetings. They ask for training - first aid, the food
safe course, anger management, dealing with confrontational
situations. The volunteers want to feel safe. They do not want drug
talk and street attitudes in the Centre. They report drug dealers and
pimps in the building.
The volunteer program is one area where the Centre really can help
people develop. Everyone learns job skills and a happy day it is when
a volunteer graduates to the work world. Some volunteers do not
leave; the Centre becomes their job, the place where they report
faithfully for their shifts and make their ongoing contribution.
Volunteer jobs are not especially glamorous. They include baking,
food preparation, vegetable peeling, washing dishes, putting away
groceries, sandwich making, cashiering, serving meals, gathering up
the dirty dishes and washing tables, helping with the laundry and
monitoring shower times. One volunteer looks after all the plants,
several monitor activities in the pool room and the weight room, some
are meeters and greeters - showing folks around, making them feel
welcome. Some tutor, some put library books back on the shelves, some
share their special skills - reiki or chi gong. The pay is not much -
$1 an hour in meal tickets and one fancy dinner each month where the
staff put on aprons and serve a special meal to the volunteers. That
is it!
The volunteer program would be strengthened with the addition of one
staff member, at an estimated annual cost of $34,123.
The new staff person would assist in the processing, training, and
supervision of volunteers. Though the volunteer program is the heart
of the centre and the Gathering Place could not be what it is without
the volunteers, many individuals require much attention and maximum
maintenance. Many volunteers struggle daily with issues of life
style, poverty, and addiction, and one staff person is stretched thin
trying to meet both the needs of the centre and the needs of the
volunteers. An additional staff person would be invaluable in
stabilizing the current volunteer cadre and in assisting the other
interested folks to sign on. Strengthening the volunteer program
strengthens the entire centre.
7. Learning Centre
The Vancouver School Board supports the Learning Centre, at an annual
cost of $250 to $300 thousand dollars. With 300 students registered,
there are 30 to 40 learners in attendance each day, most doing general
upgrading to prepare for high school. Different from the other so-
called adult learning centres in the city, the students here are truly
unique. Those who write, write exceptionally well and are big
readers, but these young people, aged 15 to 23, have been unable to
function in the traditional system. Their problems are socialization
problems, not a lack of ability. The "kids" are not good at group
dynamics, status quo socializing, or conflict resolving in a group.
These learners want to work one to one, not in a group, not with
others. The teachers try to work at group issues, to get the learners
more interactive. The youth have no idea how to solve a problem -
they yell, scream, condemn, slap, all anger driven behavior. No
surprise, the youth agencies in the neighbourhood confirm that the
number one issue on the street is conflict resolution. The staff
report that the street youth measure very high on the creative side,
and low on the practical side. A prime example of this shows up in
the computer room. The students are not docile - they push the
computer system, trying to rewrite the programs in innovative and
creative ways. The School Board staff and computer technicians then
have to figure out how to put the programmes back together and keep
the kids on the outside where they belong, just using the programmes,
not rewriting them.
In spite of all the antisocial skills, there have been few security
problems in the Learning Centre and the environment has been
comfortable and respectful. Staff have needed to tend to some suicide
and emergency drug treatments and some violence in relationships.
Open five days and four nights, the Learning Centre is staffed with
two teachers, two teaching assistants, a couple of instructors and a
handful of volunteers. When the VSB has put together its orientation
package for tutors, there will be more volunteer opportunities
available.
8. Reading Room
One year ago at this time the Director of the Gathering Place simply
could not see how a satisfactory library service could be established
with funding provided for only one staff member.
Not part of the regular VPL system like the Carnegie library, there
was not even enough funding for a real librarian.
Surprise, surprise. The Gathering Place Reading Room is a vibrant old
fashioned kind of library where everyone knows the patrons and their
reading interests and books are recommended to the readers.
The sole staff member, a library technician, trained as a generalist
not a specialist, plus a cadre of literate and loyal volunteers, offer
a hands on kind of public service that a large branch does not have
the time or the staff to provide. And in addition to the friendly
personalized service, the little Reading Room has also presented
sophisticated readers' services such as poets' readings and customized
book marks bearing recommended titles.
The library volunteers are all book lovers, all highly literate. They
enjoy talking to people, getting to know their interests, and making
referrals. The volunteers care about the library; they are proud of
it. They are skilled and they follow through. One even writes book
reviews.
The eleven-thousand book collection is basically a paperback library
of popular fiction and best sellers, plus a healthy dose of self-help
books. The vibrant little library will run out of space before it
runs out of enthusiasm.
The VPL may not be the official parent of the little Gathering Place
Reading Room but it certainly is the loving and not so distant auntie.
A mentor relationship has been established, with one librarian in
particular, and the blessings and assistance of the VPL management
have enriched this little Helmcken Street upstart.
The Reading Room is an unqualified success in the eyes of its user
groups - seniors, women, youth, students - and in its partnership with
the Learning Centre. At relatively small cost, approximately $7,750
per year, this service could be provided an additional day per week,
putting it in sync with the Learning Centre s days of operation.
9. The Health Centre
Funded totally by the Province (Ministry of Social Services) the
Health Centre operates differently from the Saller Centre where staff
do all the wash. Because of less funding, the Gathering Place Health
Centre operates as a staff supervised do-it-yourself laundromat and
hygiene centre. So far this works well, though the wear and tear on
machines and staff is considerable. As per the July 11, 1995 report
to Council, Gathering Place staff continue to experiment with the best
use of staff and dollars and hours of operation. With the help of
volunteers, the Health Centre is now able to be open six days per week
and one night. Staff and volunteers both are learning how to defuse
the angry confrontations which threatened at earlier stages to tear
the Health Centre apart.
For the homeless and the poor living in SRO hotels, the Health Centre
offers the opportunity for a load of laundry per day, showers,
delousing, haircuts, sewing courses and mending, and a selection of
free donated clothing. In addition, there is a loaner service,
clothing to borrow for formal events such as court appearances,
funerals, weddings, and job interviews.
The City has signed a contract with the Province, similar to that
signed on behalf of the Saller Centre several years ago. The Saller
Centre has regularized its Health Centre positions and the Director of
the Gathering Place now asks Council to do the same for the one full-
time position in the Gathering Place Health Centre. The cost of all
salary, benefits, and relief is covered by the Province, with no cost
whatsoever to the City. The position would need to be reviewed by the
General Manager, Human Resource Services.
It is recommended that the position be regularized, as at the Saller
Centre, at no cost to the City.
10. Working at the Gathering Place
It is a beautiful facility in an interesting community. We are
blessed to work here and we are troubled to work here. Much as we try
to distance ourselves, to act professionally, to erect boundaries, we
are touched by the pain of the people who are our patrons.
For us $2 represents a couple of lottery tickets or a fancy coffee on
Robson Street. For them it is a meal, maybe the only one they will
eat today. For us the cold snap is an inconvenience and maybe the car
will not start or the buses run late. For them the chance to sleep
fifty abreast on mats in our theatre represents the only warm safe
rest they ll have, away from Granville Street for a few nights.
For us being broke just means waiting for the next paycheque. For
them it means putting aside all pride, and begging. Or doing without.
To us, some seem angry and cranky and unreasonable. To them life
seems unfair and hurtful and dangerous.
In the midst of these different perspectives we try to make the
Gathering Place work. Life is not pretty. Life is raw. From the
cranky old wheelchair-bound, faeces-eating man, to the 12 year old
girls who run to the streets because the streets are safer than home,
to our neighbours who sicken and die from AIDS, to the discouraged
university graduates who cannot find a place in the current job
market, to the young man who eyes the leftovers on your plate and asks
if he can eat them - we meet them all.
The Gathering Place makes a difference. All the things the community
asked for have come to be - cheap nourishing food, a space to relax
and make friends, social and recreational programs, a library, a
learning centre, a health centre to clean clothes and oneself, and
most of all a place to volunteer, to give of yourself and be someone.
It is not all fresh and shiny and Mum and apple pie. There are
thieves, and some of the City's poorest people are robbed of the
little they possess. There is anger, and a few toughs just looking
for a fight. There is contempt for the rules, as pimps and drug
dealers enter our doors. There are poverty and unemployment and
mental illness and broken bodies. We see them all, and we do our
best.
11. Highlights
In May, the Mayor let us show off to the collective power of the
Vancouver Caucus. In November, we hosted one day of the City's 1995
Family Court and Youth Justice Committee Conference. In August, our
theatre filled with grieving patrons, 5 weeks in a row, with 5
memorial services typifying the downtown south community - 2 seniors
dead with cancer, two youth dead from AIDS, and a transsexual sex
trade worker murdered on the streets. In September, the Province
kicked off its street kids poster campaign from the Gathering Place
theatre.
December 6th was the high point as twenty-four people representing
twenty-four interests cut the ribbons and declared the centre
officially opened. Staff at the door kept count and tallied 2,294
people in attendance during the course of the event.
On Boxing Day, 650 patrons came for sit-down dinner, turkey and all
the trimmings, harp music, gifts for everyone. The crowd, 200 bigger
than Carnegie on the same day, is likely due to the fact that the
Downtown Eastside has many centres and services; in Downtown South the
Gathering Place is one of the only games in this part of town.
12. The Facts, just the Facts
The Centre is open six days per week, every day but Sunday, including
statutory holidays, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. There are more than 2,000
card carrying members and on busy days (Tuesday to Friday) 900 people
pass through the building, using one service or another.
Concern about youth and seniors not getting along was unjustified.
Worries about maintaining a smoke-free building have evaporated in
light of the respect all smokers, young and old, have shown to the
clear air policy.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
This report proposes to add $119,300 to the annual operating budget of
the city of Vancouver with no offsets. It also adds $3,000 in one
time only furnishing costs. The 1996 cost is $92,500.
It is difficult for this writer to suggest offsets for the requested
new staffing. The Gathering Place makes no money and charges no fees.
Unlike "regular" Community Centres there is no fee for service
recovery here amongst the city s poorest people. The non-profit
kitchen pours any money it makes back into the volunteer program
(volunteer meal tickets and training), special events such as
Christmas, and new kitchen equipment.
The attached organizational chart (Appendix B) indicates that existing
staff is not top heavy on administration. In fact, the clerical
support position (facility clerk) is so immersed in front line people
information needs that even the typing of this report became a
challenge to complete... Consideration has been given to amalgamating
Director responsibilities between Carnegie and the Gathering Place in
order to free up funds, for reallocation, and it is just not possible.
In addition to front line work, both positions are involved in the re-
engineering going on at City Hall and both positions are expected to
be immersed in the activities of two different and difficult
developing communities. Both the Carnegie Director and the Gathering
Place Director, officially on the four day week, are working five days
just to meet the current demands of their jobs... A decade ago the
Carnegie Centre was almost at riot status with the relationship broken
off between the City s Social Planning Department and the Centre s
elected Board. The Mayor called for public hearings into the problems
at the Centre. One decision made by the City was to strengthen the
administrative functions of the Centre so that worrisome financial
management and reporting matters would be cleared up.
That move has proved worthwhile at Carnegie and has been followed at
the Gathering Place where administrative support is made up of an
administrative assistant, a clerk, and the earlier mentioned facility
clerk. Some of these positions in addition to the expected regular
clerical/administrative tasks also have extensive front line
responsibilities in the Centre and two share in the staff-in-charge
roster.
The remaining consideration is to cut back on hours, an action this
writer does not recommend because of the underservicing of Downtown
South and its growing population of disadvantaged in the midst of
neighbourhood redevelopment. Since March 20, 1995, the Gathering
Place has been open 60 hours per week - Monday to Saturday from 10
a.m. to 8 p.m. This schedule, developed in consultation with the
community, has worked well because:
- three meals per day can be served within that daily time frame.
- all the agencies - MSS, Catholic Charities, Salvation Army,
Family Services, and AIDS Vancouver - providing their homeless
clients with vouchers know that healthy substantial meals are
available for patrons six days per week at the Gathering Place
(150 to 225 vouchered people per day).
- early birds such as seniors and the homeless would have preferred
an earlier start to the community centre s day but they say "this
isn't too bad".
- classroom hours fit within the daily schedule.
- the working poor who wanted weekend hours have Saturdays to
participate in programs.
- those wanting evening programs, women especially, have some early
evening opportunities for such.
SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The upgrading of staffing as outlined in this report will provide a
safer community centre for staff, patrons, and volunteers. In
addition, each addition allows for improved services throughout the
Centre as current staff are able to expand their job functions.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
Implementation of this report adds two regular full-time positions to
the Centre's roster - to supervise security and to assist the
volunteer program. In addition, a number of auxiliary hours are added
to the workforce - 18 hours per week of auxiliary staff in security,
24 hours per week of auxiliary staff in the kitchen, and 8 hours per
week of auxiliary staff in the library. In addition one regular full-
time position in the Health Centre would be regularized, as at the
Saller Centre, at no cost to the City, all costs borne by the Ministry
of Social Services.
All positions would be subject to job evaluation by the General
Manager, Human Resource Services.
CONCLUSION
The Director of the Gathering Place is pleased to present this report
for Council's consideration. It is the culmination of the first
eleven months of operations of the Gathering Place and represents the
writer's appraisal of the needs of the new community centre. The
Director of the Gathering Place does not recommend any extension of
hours or services at this time, believing instead that current
services and securities must be shored up in order to provide a more
professional and safer delivery.
The timing of this report is unfortunate in the context of the City's
overall financial constraints. However, economic decisions made at
the federal and provincial levels are now impacting on downtown
communities and services such as the Gathering Place.
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