Hi Everyone,
It’s Andrew here!
Starting this week, and moving forward, I want to try something new! I want to write the blog from a more personal perspective so that you can get to know me better, and so that you can be more familiar with the work I am doing as Executive Director for Mannkind.
I’m developing an ambitious work-plan for the next year to raise Mannkind’s profile in the community. I want to increase membership, build a new Mannkind brand, construct a more informative and interactive website, and expand our programs and community partnerships so that we can make a bigger impact, both here in Canada and abroad.
This past week provided some fantastic learning and community engagement opportunities for me and I want to share them with you so that you can benefit from them too!
On Friday, we delivered another truck load of food to our friends at Urban Mission, Positive Haven and It’s Up to You recovery House.
While I was at Positive Haven I had a chance to chat with their Health Programs Director, Monika, and she invited me out to their upcoming Aids Day candle light vigil on Thursday, December 1st.
This event is also open to all Mannkind members and volunteers!
Feel free to send me an email if you want more details (andrew@mannkindcharity.com)
I also had a chance this week to attend the Surrey All Candidates meeting. The topic for the night: Homelessness and Affordable Housing in Surrey.
It was an open-house, round-table event held at the new City Centre Library which just celebrated its grand opening this past September.
WOW, I have to say, what a wonderful centerpiece to have in the new downtown core!
The new library is a futuristic, $36million dollar, 75,000 square-feet state-of-the-art facility with a tone of training classrooms, meeting spaces and free Wi-Fi.
You can learn more about the City Centre library here and I highly recommend that you visit & explore soon!
The All Candidates meeting provided a great opportunity for me to develop a better lay-of-the-land with key issues of public-concern in Surrey.
Affordable housing and homelessness are becoming particularly pressing issues because there are now nearly 2000 people in Surrey without homes and many more struggling to pay even subsidized rent (an increase of 135% between 2002-2008).
I was also surprised to learn that night how fast demographics are moving.
The face of homelessness in Surrey is changing. Over the years there has been a significant statistical shift towards a more vulnerable age group, and sadly, youth are becoming increasingly at-risk.
At its core, the issue for housing young people boils down to availability & affordability. There are simply not enough safe and supportive living environments for at-risk youth in Surrey, particularly those aged 16-19yrs and 19+. Many of the youths in these age brackets find government services and social support difficult to sustain through these years because of a lack of continuity between various social service providers and government departments.
Compounding these issue further are the host of complexities surrounding why these youths are homeless in the first place: mental illness, addiction, abusive backgrounds and low vocational skill-sets. There’s no easy solution here but I believe something can be done.
That’s why I want to work to expand our programs in Surrey to create land protection and housing construction projects so that young people have safe, stable and supportive living environments.
I also want to establish innovative music and arts programs within these facilities so that at-risk youth can explore their passions, live their dreams and become inspirational agents of change for the community.
I’m eager to get going right away and start banging on doors, but I know that I still have a lot to learn. I have to listen first, so that I can appreciate the real issues, and meet the real people, behind this housing and affordability crisis in Surrey.
I definitely know that I can’t do it alone. I will need to work with all of you, the Mannkind members and volunteers, to help spread awareness about the issue so that we can generate support for positive change in the community.
But again, it all begins with listening, and last week I had a great opportunity to learn about the problems at-risk youth are facing, and what some of the Surrey city councillors (and aspiring candidates) thought about the issues around affordable housing and homelessness.
The format for the meeting called for political candidates and community participants to rotate between 10 tables for 15 minutes, with each table offering a different topic of discussion (eg. transportation, food security, youth, etc.).
Every topic had a facilitator, who asked the candidates a series of questions, with some open discussion for everyone at the end. For me, it was great to get out and participate in this event because I met so many community members and groups working towards making positive change possible in Surrey. And the exciting part is that now I have an opportunity to follow-up with the councillors and candidates over the next few weeks to explore ideas!
Big changes are happening in Surrey, and there is no doubt that Mannkind is in a unique position to make a significant impact for the long-term to reduce poverty and increase opportunities for at-risk youth. Right now it feels like many of the connections between the non-profit sector, City Hall and the business community are still in the midst of forming, and that means Mannkind can play an pioneering role in the new, and improving, City of Surrey!
I am looking forward to being busy over the next few months researching, exploring and building bridges of understanding with key community leaders.
One of the key community leaders I hope to be working with soon is City Councilor Judy Villenuve. I had an opportunity to meet Councillor Villenuve that evening and I can say without a doubt that she is a warm, and thoughtful public servant, that has a very solid understanding of the issues homeless youth are facing in Surrey.
Currently, Councilor Villenueve serves as Chair for the Social Planning Committee and as President for the Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society. The Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society (SHHS) was started by Surrey City Council in 2007, and is made up a bunch of different community stakeholders and faith-based groups. It manages a $9million dollar fund to provide grants for community groups (like our Friends at Surrey Urban Mission!) serving the needs of the homeless or those at risk of homelessness in Surrey.
I’m confident that if I can bring together the experience and resources of Mannkind, with a community partner like SHHS, and a community leader like Councillor Villenuve, we can begin to put the pieces in place to build a sustainable solution for youth homelessness in Surrey.
And that means a lot more than just simply giving them a place to eat and crash for the night. I want to build loving, supportive environments for these youth, so that they can pursue their passions and strengthen their skill-sets to live more productive and fulfilling lives!
I will be meeting with Coucillor Villenuve later this month to establish how Mannkind can work with SHHS and the City of Surrey to make our community a better place for youth, and I look forward to sharing the details of those discussions soon!
Well, that’s all for now, thanks for joining me here today.
Please visit our Facebook page and Twitter feed for more updates and events news!
I am thrilled to read articles dealing with the topics
of helping others in need, learning just what the needs are and what solutions
are out there for the homeless.
Years ago I remember reading in the Province news paper
about a certain politician sleeping out in the street just like what hundreds do as a rule EVERY night.
I recall thinking what a brilliant idea that was to really know and be able to
have a bigger perspective and insight into this huge problem, first hand as a public figure.
I believe the man lasted a few hours and not the entire night.
Nonetheless, what a great idea it would be to have a few of these
candidates that speak on the matters of the poor, to join together with your
charity and have a” pajama party ” of sorts and really get down and dirty
with this situation and in turn it might very well generate more votes for them as well,why not?
Win win alway round.
I am encouraged when I see sites like this.
Way to go Mannkindcharity!!!