Media
2012
West End rec centre’s revamped basketball court unveiled
CBC Manitoba
Oct. 23, 2012
Some big names from the basketball world were in Winnipeg on Tuesday evening for the unveiling of a new court in a West End recreation centre.
NBA Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler, who was part of the U.S. “Dream Team” at the 1992 Olympics, and Chris “Handles” Franklin of the Harlem Globetrotters joined dignitaries from the City of Winnipeg and the Manitoba government for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre.
Players with the Minnesota Timberwolves and members of the team’s dance pack were also on hand, as were dozens of children from the community.
The renovated gymnasium at the Langside Street recreation centre boasts a new basketball court, with backboards, wall pads, a table-top scoreboard and timer, a shot clock, and some new basketballs.
Manitoba Lotteries and NBA Cares, the league’s charity, paid for the court upgrades, which cost about $15,000. Read more…
Newspaper aiming to fill some big footsteps
Metro (Canstar)
Aug. 15, 2012 by Rebeca Kuropatwa
For 15 years, West Central Streets shared stories of its community’s faces and places until it closed up shop in January 2011 due to funding and employment issues.
The newspaper was one of Local Investment Toward Employment’s, or LITE’s, longest running community grant partners. It was known for bringing community members together and for shedding light on positive West Central neighbourhood stories.
Since the paper’s departure many folks in the community had been mulling around the idea of bringing a new paper onto the scene. That is precisely what the Daniel McIntyre/St. Matthews Community Association and Spence Neighbourhood Association have done with Our West Central Times.
Last August, the SNA and DMSMCA put out the first issue of the paper with the intent of filling the void left behind with the departure of West Central Streets.
Our West Central Times publishes about 7,500 copies of each issue which are distributed to some 500 homes and 400 businesses in three West Central communities — Spence, Daniel McInyre, and St. Matthews. Read more.
Groups hope to access new U of W facility
Metro (Canstar)
Mar. 21, 2012 by Matt Preprost
The University of Winnipeg’s proposed new $40-million athletic field house could be a boon for inner-city organizations that run sports programming for youth, according to some neighbourhood groups.
At the beginning of March, the university approved construction of the field house. Shovels are expected to hit the ground by spring 2012, with the facility open in fall 2013.
The three-story complex, to be built on Spence Street, will have a large multi-use artificial turf field that can be broken down into three smaller pitches, a sprint track, practice gymnasium, and dance and yoga studios. Inner-city youth will have regular access to organized leagues, sports camps, dance and cultural activities and collaborative programs with university athletes.
“I think we can see an expansion of our sports program,” said Jamil Mahmood, executive director of the Spence Neighbourhood Association.
Last year, through a pilot soccer program, along with a basketball program, the SNA provided access to sports for 570 kids, Mahmood said.
The SNA received a letter from the university guaranteeing that one-third of the field time between 3:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. will be open to the community, Mahmood said. However, he noted there is some skepticism about the project, pointing to the university’s Duckworth Centre as an example. Read more…
Spence Neighbourhood Association reaches out
New cultural outreach program launches next month
The Uniter,
Mar. 14, 2012 by Jamil Mahmood
For many youth who grow up in the Spence Neighbourhood, poverty is more than a social construct – it is their reality.
Growing up with no food in the fridge, parents struggling to pay bills, managing multiple jobs, growing up around addictions and the devastation that resulted from the residential school system is what some youth deal with on a daily basis.
Although this is pretty grim, what many do not see is the resiliency young people in our community develop – what they deal with on a daily basis would be too much for a strong stable adult to deal with, yet they continue to want to grow and learn and make change.
For the past four years, Spence Neighbourhood Association (SNA) has been running a youth outreach program. The program connects with 50 of the most at risk youth in our community and provides them with a positive adult mentor and outreach worker.
The youth outreach program uses an approach called the wraparound approach. It is a holistic approach to supporting at-risk youth; instead of addressing one problem or issue in a young person’s life, you look at all of the positives and negatives in their life. Read more…
Gang prevention funding controversy
The Uniter
Mar. 7, 2012 by Carson Hammond
Funding for youth gang prevention is in dire need of an increase, the director of a leading inner-city organization says.
Jamil Mahmood, executive director of the Spence Neighbourhood Association (SNA), made his comments during a recent news conference where Conservative MP Shelly Glover announced applications were being accepted to fund community-based youth gang prevention programs.
“It’s just not enough money,” said SNA executive director Jamil Mahmood “(Seven and a half) million dollars (per year) across Canada to do gang prevention work is a joke.
“Our youth centres are full, our jails are full, and gang activity is not stopping anytime soon,” he said. “To only invest this much (in youth gang prevention programs), when you look at how much they’re spending on locking up kids – it’s absurd.”
According to Mahmood, the SNA, which has been involved in the Spence neighbourhood for 12 years, aims to revitalize and renew in the areas of health, safety, youth well-being, housing and community and economic development.
“We work for the community,” he explained. “The community sets our plans and gives us guidance. We follow the lead of the community and work to make it a better place.”
While youth street gang prevention is only one of many of the organization’s objectives, working with at-risk children is a cause that its members are especially passionate about. Read more…
Gang-prevention funding not enough: Group
Metro
Feb. 22, 2012 by Shane Gibson
While the Federal Government announced Tuesday it’ll begin taking applications for the next phase of Public Safety Canada’s Youth Gang Prevention Program, the head of one local community-based project said it’s not enough to keep kids away from gangs.
“We’re just scratching the surface with what we’re getting,” said Jamil Mahmood, head of the Spence Neighbourhood Association following the announcement. “We’re stretching every penny we have, but it’s not enough.”
The government has budgeted $7.5 million for the fund this year across Canada and will take applications until April 9.
Saint-Boniface MP Shelly Glover made the announcement on behalf of Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews, and she asked Mahmood to tell gathered journalists about the benefits of the fund, which his organization had used over the last four years.
He surprised Glover by asking his own questions of her during the planned event.
“(This time) it’s Canada-wide, and last time it was targeted to specific regional areas where there’s higher gang activities, and I was curious as to why that happened?” he asked.
Glover said the fate of potential projects would be decided by the quality of their application and not by their geographic region, but noted Aboriginal communities are their focus. Read more…
Tory crime-prevention just ‘scratching the surface’: community leader
Winnipeg Free Press
Feb. 21, 2012 by Aldo Santin
A Winnipeg neighbourhood group questions the Harper government’s commitment to crime prevention.
At a news conference Tuesday afternoon where Conservative MP Shelly Glover announced applications will be accepted to fund community-based youth gang prevention programs on a nationwide basis, Jamil Mahmood said the available funding is so low it raises the question of how serious the federal government is committed to combat youth gangs.
“I didn’t mean to rain on (Glover’s) parade,” Mahmood said to reporters following the news conference. “The last funding was pretty high, like $40 million across Canada, and it was targeted for urban areas only.
“For it to turn out to be $7.5 million a year across the whole of Canada, it’s not going to mean very much,” Mahmood said. “This ($7.5 million) is just scratching the surface.”
Mahmood, executive director of the Spence Neighbourhood Association, said the $7.5 million that Glover said will be available represents a drastic reduction from previous years.
When Glover invited community representatives to speak about the work the national crime prevention strategy has done in helping their organizations, Mahmood stepped forward and questioned why the funding had been reduced.
Mahmood said federal funding in the past has made it possible for the Spence group to run a mentoring program with young people and help steer them away from crime and gangs. He speculated that with the new, lower level of funding, only one program will be funded in Manitoba in the future when five programs received funding in the past. Read more…
Network suggests 24-hour drop-ins to reduce gang problem
Winnipeg Free Press
Feb. 10, 2012 by Gabrielle Giroday
The head of a West End community group says youth need a safe place to go — around the clock — to escape the lure of gangs.
Jamil Mahmood, executive director of the Spence Neighbourhood Association, was one of about 125 people at the Aboriginal Centre on Wednesday for a meeting of members of the Gang Action Interagency Network (GAIN).
The meeting was scheduled to discuss specific ways of dealing with the complex social issue of why kids join gangs.
Mahmood said kids his organization works with are susceptible to joining gangs, so having resources available 24 hours a day would help keep them from making those bad choices.
“Gangs operate from like 9 p.m. until 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. …prostitution, drug trade, partying, whatever other illegal activity, it’s happening (during) those hours,” said Mahmood.
“Not a ton of it is happening during the day time.” Read more…
Spence Neighborhood Association rallies community to help West End fire victims
The Uniter
Feb. 8, 2012 by Jenna Friesen
The Spence Neighbourhood Association (SNA) has launched an appeal for donations for some 50 West End residents left with nothing following a $1-million fire that broke out in a Sherbrook Street apartment block last month.
“We just decided to meet with other staff and collect donations for people,” said Cortney Sinclair, a staff member at the SNA. “They were in our community and there wasn’t really anything happening with organizations that exist.”
The fire broke Jan. 16 at 577 Sherbrook St. Police have since charged two men and one male youth with arson.
Still, many of the former tenants were without fire insurance, and some have struggled to find temporary housing since, the SNA said.
The SNA is collecting everything from clean clothing to bedding, food, household items and financial support. Read more…
Winnipeg group aims to gang up on gangs
Metro Winnipeg
Feb. 8, 2012 by Sean Ledwich
An anti-gang initiative involving more than two dozen Winnipeg agencies got underway Wednesday with workshops at the Aboriginal Centre.
The Gang Action Interagency Network (GAIN), two years in the making, is a new non-governmental umbrella group for agencies focused on combating youth involvement in street gangs.
GAIN co-chair Jamil Mahmood said the network will “bring groups together, link frameworks and identify key areas we can work in to prevent gangs.”
About 125 people spent Wednesday in workshops related to each of the anti-gang cogwheel groups.
The three agency groupings will meet separately each month, and as a whole every three months. Representatives from all three levels of government and the Winnipeg Police Service also attended the workshops. Read more…
Gang Action Interagency Network
CBC Information Radio
February 8, 2012 by Terry MacLeod
SNA executive director Jamil Mahmood went on CBC’s Information Radio to talk about a new coalition working to create a city-wide, made-in-Manitoba anti-gang strategy. Listen to the whole interview here.
2011
Watching each other’s backs
West End residents march against violence
Metro (Canstar)
June 29th, 2011 by Matt Preprost
Fay Harper (not her real name) was only steps away from her West End home last winter when an unknown man grabbed her from behind and sexually assaulted her in an empty parking lot.
The event shattered her thoughts about what she thought was her neighbourhood and has left her reconsidering her family’s future in the West End.
“I’m terrified,” she said. “I still have to look over my shoulder every time I go somewhere. I always have somebody walking beside me now.”
Harper was an unofficial, silent face of violence last week as she joined more than 100 West End residents who marched once again to reclaim their neighbourhood. Read more
The fatherless boy and the gift of five fathers
Winnipeg Free Press
June 18, 2011 by Gordon Sinclair Jr.
It is one thing to have others tell you the story of the most accomplished 15-year-old basketball player in the province.
As they have.
It’s another to hear it from him, in his own soft, shy way. And to sense how grateful he is to the five “fathers,” as I call them. The five men who have helped this fatherless boy feel as if he has more than one.
His name is Mahmoud Sesay.
But everyone calls him Junior.
“My dad’s name was Junior.”
That’s the father who didn’t come to Winnipeg with his mother when she, Junior and her younger son William left the blood-diamond-rich, wartorn West African nation of Sierra Leone when Junior was seven. Read more
Anti-gang programs to close
65 kids to lose services in March after federal funding runs out
Winnipeg Free Press
January 26th, 2011 by Mary Agnes Welch
Four successful anti-gang programs will shut their doors in March when federal funding runs out, leaving at least 65 kids at the mercy of the streets again.
One program that helps refugees steer clear of gangs like the Mad Cowz is the only one of its kind in Canada. Another program helped teens with gang connections get jobs at grocery stores and gas stations.
Staff from the four mentor-ship and outreach programs that are destined to close say they’ve dramatically reduced the number of new criminal offenses.
read more…
West Central Streets stops the presses due to funding and staff shortages
The Uniter
January 13th 2011 by Sonya Howard
After 15 years of telling the stories and histories of Winnipeg’s West End, the West Central Streets newspaper is closing.
Erika Wiebe, a community development worker, is the editor of the paper. She has faithfully compiled five issues per year since the beginning. Wiebe notes that the Jan. 26 issue will be its last for two reasons.
read more…
2010
Jewelry promotion helps West End to shine
The Metro (Canstar)
August 13, 2010 by Trevor Suffield
Ace Burpee spends his mornings on Hot 103 giving people a reason to smile on one of the top-rated radio shows in the city. Recently, Burpee has been making even more people smile in the West End of the city with a promotion that benefits two local non-profit organizations.
In response to a series of shootings, and one death, that rocked the area in May, Burpee was moved to help create the Wear the West End necklace in collaboration with jewelry designer Hilary Druxman.
read more…
Wear The West End
-VIDEO
July 14, 2010
Ace Burpee and jewellery designer Hilary Druxman have collaborated on a stunning necklace in support of Winnipeg’s West End. 100% of net proceeds from the sale of each piece will support organizations committed to making a difference the community.
The “Wear the West End” necklace is $36 and will be on sale to the public beginning July 14 at Hilary Druxman (258 McDermot Avenue) and at both Moksha Yoga locations (2 Donald Street & 1090 Waverley Street).
Proceeds will be divided between the West Central Women’s Resource Centre & the Spence Neighbourhood Association.
2009
After-School programs lauded
Winnipeg Free Press
November 18, 2009 by Staff
WINNIPEG — The Royal Bank of Canada has singled out two Winnipeg after-school programs as among the best in the country. The Immigrant Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba and the Spence Neighbourhood Association will be recognized by the RBC for their after-school programs at a ceremony at the Magnus Eliason Recreation Centre, 430 Langside St., at 4:30 p.m.
The RBC has recognized 90 after-school programs across the country this year by awarding them the bank’s RBC After-School Grant.
read more…
2008
Doomed homes live again
Winnipeg Free Press
February 2, 2008 by Staff
FOUR homes in Winnipeg’s West End doomed to demolition are instead today filling out change-of-address cards.
read more…
Community fund grant fuels basketball program
Winnipeg Free Press
September 24, 2008 by Allan Besson
Thanks to a $25,000 grant, 150 inner-city and at-risk youths will be able to play in the Winnipeg Minor Basketball Association this year.
read more…
Spence-area restaurants compost waste
Winnipeg Free Press
August 26, 2008 by Lindsey Wiebe
A group of Spence-area restaurants is taking part in a project aimed at keeping kitchen waste out of… read more…
Young people making a difference for others
Winnipeg Free Press
August 11, 2008 by Erin Madden
They’re a true testament to the difference young people can make in a community. By volunteering with the Spence… read more…
‘Green Map’ developed for Spence
Winnipeg Free Press
February 07, 2008 by Lindsey Wiebe
How many city maps point out the nearest community garden, farmers’ market, or public compost bin? read more…
U of W cafe offers ‘ethical options’
Winnipeg Free Press
February 07, 2008 by Staff
UNIVERSITY of Winnipeg students have a new place to fill up on fair trade coffee and tea with the opening of the Soma Cafe, an eatery run by the University of… read more…
2007
New housing in inner city
October 26, 2007 by Staff
Federal and provincial politicians joined a city councillor at the grand opening of new housing for people in Winnipeg’s inner city area at a housing project called Spence Cozy Rooms… read more…
Census: Spence neighbourhood a census success story
Winnipeg Free Press
March 14, 2007 by Mary Agnes Welch
The Spence neighbourhood, once the symbol of Winnipeg’s urban decay, is a census success story…. read more…
