North Point Douglas Women's Centre
The North Point Douglas Women's Centre has served the community since 2002 and is a vital resource to all members of the community. The Centre is working to create a safe, healthy, and vibrant community for women and their families in North Point Douglas
A safe place,
open to all
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We work
with residents and local groups to build community through partnerships,
information sharing, and advocacy. We offer services and programs that:
• help meet basic needs;
• build job, life, and social skills;
• make the community a safer place;
• give parents information and support;
• provide recreation activities for children and families; and
• encourage a healthy lifestyle.
Meeting a wide range of needs for women and men in the community ─ During our drop-in hours, residents come for a variety of reasons:
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for food;
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to use our phone, computers, fax machine;
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to use our laundry facilities;
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to relax and socialize;
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to let their children play;
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to receive help to access information, and to communicate with the often challenging bureaucracies that touch all of our lives.
Although we began as a centre for women and children, we have expanded our services to respond to the needs of men in the community:
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Our “women’s only” hours are for women and their children.
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Men are welcome for an hour in the morning and for two hours in the afternoon, Monday to Friday.
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On Saturday, everyone is welcome.
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The Centre also serves as a much-used meeting space for community groups.
Working with the community
We are part of the growing network of residents and groups in North Point Douglas who are a force for change.
We collaborate to address the common needs and issues affecting all residents: our children, young people, families, single adults, and seniors. These include safety, poverty, and access to basic resources.
We participate in neighbourhood safety walks, community beautification activities, and act as a proactive voice at community meetings with various levels of government.
Since August, the
Centre has glowed out at the corner of Euclid and Austin
with
warm thanks to partner Graffiti Art Program (GAP) which donated this mural and
organized local children, youth and adults to paint it. The Centre is thrilled
with the gift and expressed its appreciation to GAP at its Annual General
Meeting, with a certificate of thanks.
The mural was designed by GAP after a consultation with the women who use the Centre. Its sections are divided by representations of teepee poles. The sections represent a map of North Point Douglas in pink, representations of houses and buildings in the area in green around the door, the Red River, which creates the eastern boundary to North Point Douglas and a purple collage of words chosen for their importance to the women and the community.
The words include some in Aboriginal languages and Tagalog, a language from the Phillipines. The arm stretching out around the side of the building represents the openess of the Centre to the community. The model for the arm is Debi Spence, one of the women who helped start the Centre.
