Now
fi Recipe for Community
This Toronto Community Foundation-led initiative is engaging neighbourhood residents young and old to improve the sense of belonging and safety in their communities. It's one way we're improving our city from the ground up, one neighbourhood at a time.
Recipe for Community is a collaborative model led by Toronto Community Foundation and the City of Toronto Office of Partnerships.
Recipe for Community is now cooking for St. James Town residents who will benefit from about $555,000 in capital and programming investments over the next 12 months. Toronto Community Foundation and the City of Toronto selected St. James Town to support the City's Tower Renewal objectives and respond to the community’s needs. St. James Town is one of the four Tower Renewal pilot sites.
St James Town
St James Town is the community south of Bloor, north of Wellesley, east of Parliament, and west of Sherbourne. Home to more than 17,000 people, St James Town is not only Canada’s largest high-rise community, but also the country’s most densely populated.
The neighbourhood is very culturally diverse. More than 2/3 of residents are newcomers to Canada and the neighbourhood is home to people representing over 25 different backgrounds.
While vibrant, neighbourhoods like St James Town often face a poor sense of belonging and safety.Ingredients
Highlights of activities in Recipe for Community: St James Town
- Four park spaces have been selected for beautification: St. James Town West Park, Wellesley Community Centre, 200 Wellesley/275 Bleecker Street, and the basketball court between 325 and 375 Bleecker Street.
- A parks mural project is planned as an outdoor art gallery in the St. James Town West Park. A building at the south end of the park acts as a natural canvas for the mural project, which will express the lives and experiences of St. James Town residents.
Community Gathering
- The only outdoor basketball court area for the St. James Town neighbourhood, which is used by residents throughout the year, will be refurbished. The court is situated within a larger community gathering space including two playground structures for children, a general seating area, and open green space with trees. The site is used to host youth gathering events and serves as a location for general outreach activities for youth aged 13 to 25 years.
- Shared programming for an outdoor basketball league will be coordinated between the Wellesley Community Centre and the St. James Town Youth Centre.
Food and Nutrition
- Food handling certification training workshops are being offered from June 21 to September 24 for up to 25 people per session.
- Four residents will be hired into the Community Food Advisor Training Program.
- Four residents will be hired to operate community kitchens, cooking classes and other culinary programs such as the "Colour It Up" Nutrition Program.
- Special events will be held such as community cooking days/celebrations where participants from the various cooking classes can share their foods/recipes.
- Residents from St. James Town will work both together and inter-generationally to collect recipes, photos and stories that reflect the community’s diversity and strengths, publishing them in a neighbourhood recipe book. The book will be the second in the Recipe for Community series.
Youth Engagement
- Youth outreach workers are dedicated full-time to coordinate activities for the Recipe for Community Program in St. James Town, as part of a summer employment program.
Skills Building: Cycling
- Youth will participate in bicycle repair/restoration activities.
- Two week-long bike safety weeks will be held during which youth will be trained in bicycle safety and be given a new bicycle and new helmet.
- Residents will be trained to upgrade or revamp bicycles.
- Bi-weekly neighbourhood rides will be organized for children and youth in St. James Town, Cabbagetown, Regent Park and other nearby neighbourhoods, during the summer.
Skills Building: Carpentry
- The project will train and support residents to create tables, benches, shade structures and flower boxes. Residents will have the opportunity to meet with trades specialists and explore apprenticeship opportunities at local colleges and/or trade/unions.
- A special focus on engaging women and girls from the neighbourhood will positively reinforce the opportunities for women in the trades.
Skills Building: Small Business Development
- Training on how to start a small business will be provided for youth and adults. Mentorship and support will be provided for participants who complete the training to find financial opportunities such as micro-lending programs at financial institutions.
200 Wellesley Street East Fire
On September 24, 2010, a six-alarm fire started in 200 Wellesley Street East, one of the buildings engaged in the Recipe for Community: St James Town initiative. More than 1,200 residents were displaced. In response, the Toronto Community Foundation established the 200 Wellesley Street East Relief Fund to assist the City of Toronto's coordinated relief efforts with Toronto Community Housing.
Learn more or make a donation ››
Funding Partners
Recipe for Community: St James Town is only made possible with the generous support of the following funding partners:
- Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd.
- City of Toronto
- Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment's Team Up Foundation
- Toronto Commercial Real Estate Women Foundation
- Toronto Community Foundation:
- CFNY Youth Fund at the Toronto Community Foundation
- J Douglas Crashley Fund at the Toronto Community Foundation
- Griggs Family Foundation at the Toronto Community Foundation
- Peter & Elizabeth Morgan Fund at the Toronto Community Foundation
- Ouellette Family Foundation at the Toronto Community Foundation
- Schachter Family Fund at the Toronto Community Foundation
- Ada W Slaight Fund at the Toronto Community Foundation
- Michelle Tanenbaum Fund at the Toronto Community Foundation
- Toronto Community Housing
Supporting Partners
Recipe for Community: St James Town is a collaboration between the residents of St James Town and a wide range of supporting community partners:
- ACORN
- ART City
- Bike Sauce
- Cabbagetown Youth Centre
- City of Toronto:
- Children's Services
- City Planning
- Economic Development, Culture & Tourism
- Parks, Forestry & Recreation
- Social Development, Finance & Administration
- Toronto Community Housing
- Toronto Employment and Social Services
- Toronto Environment Office
- Toronto Police Service
- Toronto Public Health
- Toronto Public Library
- Transporation
- Wellesley Community Centre
- Cobs Bread
- Community Matters Toronto
- Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Toronto
- Evergreen Brickworks
- Green Thumbs, Growing Kids
- ING Direct
- METRAC
- Mountain Equipment Co-Op
- Regent Park Focus
- Rose Avenue Public School (Toronto District School Board)
- Simplicity Events and Catering
- St James Town Community Corner
- St James Town Safety Committee
- St James Town Service Providers Network
- St James Town Youth Centre
- St James Town Youth Council
- ThinkFirst Foundation
- Toronto Parks and Trees Foundation
- UforChange
- Wellesley Institute
- Yonge Street Mission
Alexandra Park
The neighbourhood of Alexandra Park, found south of Dundas St W, north of Queen St W, east of Spadina, and west of Bathurst is the first neighbourhood participating in the Recipe for Community initiative. Recipe for Community is a collaborative project, with Alexandra Park residents working alongside the Toronto Community Foundation, the City of Toronto, and Toronto Community Housing.
Piloting for Success
Toronto Community Foundation's 2008 Toronto's Vital Signs® Report highlighted a low sense of belonging and safety as key issues for our city. This concerned a Fundholder at the Community Foundation who had deep connections to the Alexandra Park neighbourhood and wished to work with residents to find a solution to help make it a healthier and safer community. In response, Toronto Community Foundation and the Toronto Office of Partnerships brought together Toronto Community Housing and the residents of Alexandra Park in grassroots discussions to imagine neighbourhood improvements. From this, the pilot of Recipe for Community was born.
Ingredients
Recipe for Community brings together four key "ingredients": food, convening, youth engagement, and neighbourhood beautification.
- An organic vegetable garden has been created in a central courtyard. The garden features a number of spacious plots, two of which are raised to provide access for those with mobility constraints. The garden is watered in an economical and environmentally-friendly way by using run-off rainwater from the nearby apartment buildings.
- An outdoor kitchen, complete with barbeques and portable sinks, provides an easily-accessible, sanitary space for preparing meals and swapping recipes.
Convening
- An outdoor commons area features benches, picnic tables, and bleacher seating, where the community can come together to enjoy a meal, watch a basketball game, or catch up with friends and family.
- A community harvest festival celebrating this neighbourhood investment. Residents from all corners came together to share the garden's harvest and swap delicious recipes.
- A recipe book, created by residents from Alexandra Park, will be a collection of local stories, photos, and recipes that reflect its diversity and its strengths. Residents are working with renowned food writer Marion Kane to collect and test recipes and publish the book.
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The recipe book, entitled A Pinch of This: Recipes from Alexandra Park, is available now and makes a great addition to your collection or that of a friend. |
- Cameras and notebooks in hand, local youth have been documenting the progress of Recipe for Community and are overseeing the development and delivery of the initiative's neighbourhood beautification elements.
Neighbourhood Beautification
- Youth from the neighbourhood were hired to create custom-made flowerboxes for over 300 housing units in Alexandra Park. They worked with a local contractor to learn the carpentry and safety skills required to make the boxes.
- Local arts not-for-profits worked with the youth to create a number of public art installations to further beautify their neighbourhood, including some remarkable mosaics.
Program Partners
Recipe for Community: Alexandra Park is a true partnership, and at its heart, are the residents of Alexandra Park. It would also not have been possible without the generous support provided by many local individuals, organizations, and businesses:
- Schachter Family Fund at the Toronto Community Foundation
- Griggs Family Foundation at the Toronto Community Foundation
- City of Toronto Office of Partnerships
- Toronto Community Housing
- Atkinson Co-Op Board
- Alexandra Park Community Centre
- Arts for Children & Youth
- Red Pepper Spectacle
- Toronto Mosaic
What Toronto is Saying
The Toronto Star:
"Preparing [a dish] with a lively group of residents one recent afternoon in this small sunny room, there's a vibrant enthusiasm and kindred communal spirit that increasingly pervades this tight-knit neighbourhood. We're working on a recipe booklet that's a key component of an exciting new initiative called Recipe for Community. "
Marion Kane, Community recipe project stirs enthusiasm, September 19, 2009 ››
Global News Toronto:
"A community cooking program that makes Toronto the best place to live, work, learn and grow."
Susan Hay, Making a Difference, September 14, 2009 (Video) ››
More Information
Learn more about how you can buy a Recipe for Community Recipe Book ››
Learn more about how you can support Recipe for Community ››
