By Liora Berdugo
The city has more than doubled the funding to build a community centre for Ottawa’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.
The money, which was increased from $28,000 to $79,000 a year, will go to Pink Triangle Services. The social service agency has offered to provide organization and leadership in establishing a community centre.
Bruce Bursey, the president of Pink Triangle, says the money will help it develop new programs and maintain existing ones so it can continue providing peer support, education, research and advocacy services for gay men, lesbians and bisexuals in Ottawa.
“The money contributes to our financial stability— instead of focusing on fund-raising, we can focus on community development,” Bursey says.
Bursey says the leadership is an important step that has put the GLBT community in a position to continue with what he calls “a two-phase process.”
Before the bricks and mortar of a community centre actually go up, collaborating GLBT services and programs offered across the city must be brought under one umbrella organization.
“The community centre is a living thing, services are its heart, the building is a shell,” he says.
According to Bursey, a feasibility study conducted by the city has shown that building a sustainable community centre that will last for more than one generation depends on strengthening relationships between existing organizations and groups in Ottawa.
Local groups were asked about their interests in partnering with the Community Centre Group and what they would want and need in a community centre.
So far, more than 50 groups have signed an accord to support the project. The AIDS Committee of Ottawa, the Youth Services Bureau and the GLBT Centre at Carleton University are among them.
The AIDS Committee has already begun satellite services though Pink Triangle. Once a community center is built these services will be within its walls.
Brent Oliver, the executive director of the committee, says a community centre would advance their services such as the Gay Men Wellness Project. He says it would provide a space for events and information about HIV and AIDS.
“A community centre would create a supportive environment. We are very keenly interested in it,” Oliver says.
The Youth Services Bureau has also partnered with Pink Triangle. Together they are providing counselling and support services for GLBT or questioning youth.
Members of Carleton University’s GLBT Centre say they would be interested in creating an office within a community centre. Lili-Anne Kondo, the programming co-ordinator, clutches her sweater near her heart when she speaks about the thought of a community centre.
“The city needs it,” she says. “It would improve communication between groups and that would increase the accessibility of services to the community.”
She says during large events like Pride Week there aren’t enough venues throughout the city to accommodate the number of people who come out to support them.
Kondo believes a community centre would relieve bars and other GLBT spaces from overcrowding.
The idea for a community centre evolved from the GLBT Wellness Project. In a survey conducted by the project, 826 respondents expressed concerns about their health, safety, well-being and needs. The survey revealed 55 per cent of the respondents wanted a community centre, especially youth under 25.
The community will look to successful GLBT centres in Toronto, Montreal and the U.S. as models for Ottawa. At this stage they envision the centre will house a library, medical services, recreational activities, a café, counselling, a children’s play area and offices to hold services offered by local organizations.
The next step will be to lobby the city and provincial and federal governments for infrastructure funding. The amount needed depends on what services, programs and facilities the community decides are needed in this first phase.
Bursey says, although a community centre may not be built until about 2005 or 2006, bringing together services offered by Ottawa’s organizations, agencies and groups is turning the vision into a reality.
In the meantime, he says Pink Triangle has opened their doors and encourages the community to use it as if it was an official centre.
It can’t be forgotten that community support for a centre is fundamental, Bursey says.
Anyone interested in volunteering should attend the next annual meeting at City Hall on May 4.