In the fall of 2006, Sunshine Centres for Seniors had the opportunity to apply for a New Horizons grant from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada for a one-time special project. We approached a senior manager at Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) to ask if they would like to enter a partnership with us to offer social/recreational programs for seniors. The TCHC management and staff were very positive and enthusiastic. We met with TCHC management to decide on a good location for the programs.
St. Jamestown was identified as the area of most need in closest vicinity to our Yonge/Bloor Centre. St. Jamestown, located at Sherbourne and Wellesley Streets, is an area of Toronto with one of the highest population density in all of Canada. It is home to 19,000 people living in a 4 block radius. TCHC has four neighbouring apartment buildings: 325 Bleecker Street, 375 Bleecker Street, 275 Bleecker Street, and 200 Wellesley Street. The residents in this community are at high levels of risk for poverty, have almost no green space and few amenities in the area. As we became aware of the extreme isolation that many seniors in the neighbourhood faced, it became clear the tremendous need there is for more services for seniors in St. Jamestown.
We toured the four adjacent buildings and decided that 325 Bleecker Street was an ideal building for the program because the building had almost no recreational activities. We then surveyed the seniors about their program interests and did outreach to promote the new program. Programs are now run out of both 325 and 375 Bleecker Street to better reach residents in both buildings and to build more community between the buildings.
