The campaign to kick off the Genesis House Transitional Housing Project took place Wednesday afternoon at the Winkler Arts And Culture building where valued community members gathered to learn about the importance of the project through guest speakers Christina Maes Nino, Executive Director of Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association and Steve Neufeld, Director Of Riverwood House, a transitional house for those with addictions, spoke on the necessity of moving forward on this project to benefit the everyone.
Neufeld gave three top reasons he is advocating for the transitional housing project.
"Domestic violence and survivors of that is a real issue. It's often not talked about, it sometimes just stays in the shadows, and it needs to come out. Second, in order for people to heal, they need time and being in a short-term shelter or short-term therapy is not enough. And the third major reason would be to keep families together, to keep kids together so that the mom can support the kid, and the kid can actually support the mom. Those would be three very compelling reasons, amongst many more, that would suggest this is a very worthy project to get involved in."
He has fundraising advice for Genesis House, based on his experience working on five other community projects, which will require community members to be advocates for this project.
"They need to structure a capital campaign that invites participation from the community, from the business community, the faith community as a basis that would suggest to government that this community is all in. From there, you can leverage that investment to other grants that provincial and federal governments have but also, foundations. Foundations want to be involved in credible and worthy organizations. They have many, many applications, but to have a credible organization like Genesis House supported by their community lends credibility to those kinds of applications."
He noted, the impact of having time and a safe place to heal is key to healing and wholeness.
"The benefits are clearly to turn around the generational trauma that people have experienced. Angela shared earlier that she's talked to grandmothers, mothers, and children and that cycle can be stopped. When true healing takes place in an environment like a safe transitional housing unit where not only is it a safe shelter but also the programming to deal with the unresolved trauma, the cycle can stop, and when the cycle stops on domestic violence that builds a healthier community overall."
Nino gave a strong message regarding the need for social housing and the impact homelessness has on the nation. She stated, according to research, providing social housing reduces the use of medical emergency services, intensive care unit and overnight stays and stabilizes the overall health of an individual and their children, which affects the whole community.
Genesis House Executive Director Angela Braun remarked the barriers in the system is a reason women have no choice but to return to the abuse.
"Right now, everyone is aware that there is a housing crisis in Canada and housing has always been the biggest challenge for the women and for Genesis House actually. Where we are right now is that women are coming into shelter and are not able to find housing. So, if they're not able to find housing, a lot of times they will start to think it is true. 'I can't do this on my own.' 'I've been told I wasn't capable.' And so, it feels like it's a sign that they need to go back. After waiting three months, sometimes people do go back and think, 'This is just not my time. I wasn't able to, just like he said, I couldn't.'"
With a $14 million dollar price tag to build a 25-unit complex with a commercial kitchen, childcare spaces, counselling rooms and regular programming spaces, Braun said community support is essential.
"Yes, there will be tons of support needed from the community. I will say that as Taylor was delivering invitations and connecting with folks about the project, I cannot tell you how well she was received. Everyone was welcoming and interested to talk about the about the project, willing to come and spend some time with us today to learn a little bit more about what we're proposing and why it's important. I just took that as such a vote of confidence, as far as our agency being able to be stewards of a project like this, and our board saying, ‘Yes, we think we can tackle this.’ That's an amazing feeling to know that you have the community behind you."
Braun added, when women learn it's not their fault, they were never to blame, and don't deserve this poor treatment, there can be a lot of grief, realizing their real worth. And this is one thing the transitional housing aims to give women who need time and safe place to learn this, to go out on their own, and to break the cycle of abuse.
"What we're trying to do is build something that doesn't have the idea that everybody needs the same thing. So, we're going to have some programs that will be consistent and that we will hope that people will want to take advantage of. But then we're going to offer some other things that, you know, this might be for you, but this might not feel comfortable for you. So, really trying to build an opportunity for people to heal. For people to build a new support network or add to their support network a lot of times when women leave shelter, they lose all the supports that they have in place, so this will provide an opportunity to rebuild."
Learn how you can show your support and learn more about the Genesis House Transitional Housing Project here.