Over the past two years, the Jane and Finch community has been busy creating change and local residents have been learning to be agents of green change. The project began in 2009 and was initiated when the centre’s staff began their own greening efforts in the Toronto Community Housing building where the main office is located. Over the years, staff members had heard complaints about waste management and energy conservation; about residents having no control over heating and not having a place to recycle or compost and of tenants not being able to see any benefit to switching to more expensive compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Staff saw the desire of residents to be more eco-friendly, and wanting to expand the greening efforts beyond their own offices, they partnered with the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and Zerofootprint to make Green Change happen in the community. Together they developed a 45 hour training program for Green Change Agents and put out a call for community volunteers. The training program introduced residents to five key areas: energy conservation, waste management and recycling, green active living, social justice and the green economy. Many residents signed up and participated in different aspects of the training and 60 residents completed the entire program earning the right to call themselves Green Change Agents.
After finishing their training the Green Change Agents shared their knowledge with the community by using the Zerofootprint.net calculator tool to document the carbon footprint of more than 900 households from the Jane-Finch area. The zerofootprint calculator measured and analyzed the carbon footprints of individuals in the Jane and Finch community and also provided tips for Green Change Agents to use to help community members save energy, save money and to be able to reduce their carbon footprints. In a one year period, Green Change Agents assisted residents to reduce their carbon footprint by 2000 tonnes!
Many green changes have been made in the community, including the planting of a community garden at 4400 Jane Street, an eco-friendly Earth Hour event at a local school; tree planting for Earth Day and a celebration of Earth Day at 2999 Jane Street, the space that has been secured as a Centre for Green Change! What an accomplishment for a community that is mostly portrayed as one of crime, violence and poverty! As a result of this achievement, the Green Change Project took the 2010 Toronto Green Award in the Community category. This project and the award demonstrate that it's not true that communities like Jane-Finch do not care about the environment.
The first Green Change Gala a year ago today celebrated the successes of the Green Change Agents and this Gala, like the last one, is part of Twelve Days of Green Change, but this year designed at raising funds for the next phase of community transformation, the Centre for Green Change, move from dream to a reality. The vision of Green Change for the Jane/Finch community includes a Centre for Green Change, where residents and youth concerned about the protection of the environment can become engaged in the process of green change and mobilize others while they increase their own knowledge and skills. The Centre for Green Change, which will be housed at 2999 Jane Street, will initiate individual and collective actions toward building a healthy, safe, prosperous and environmentally friendly neighbourhood.
The vision for the Centre includes a Pathways to Green Jobs Program, which will help to create hundreds of green jobs for residents and youth in this priority neighbourhood and help to transform thousands of lives. The Centre will mobilize local resources to achieve this vision, and explicitly work to expand the number of long-term, high-quality green jobs for local residents, especially for youth.
The Centre for Green Change is a ray of hope for Jane/Finch and promises to change in the community spirit as members work together to make the community greener and to make change happen! There is a great opportunity to paint a different picture of the daily reality of Jane/Finch rather than one of crime, violence and poverty. The Green Change project has given Jane/Finch a sense of hope. The Centre for Green Change promises to work with residents to create and to innovate, to use their hands and creative minds while protecting the community’s natural resources. Martin Luther king had a dream! This community has a dream. This dream of Green Change is a dream worth supporting.
CentreforGreenChange_Concept.pdf[Centre for Green Change Feasibility Report]
