Prideline Durham,  is a toll free telephone helpline for the LGBTQ community in Durham Region and offers non-judgemental emotional support, community referral information and crisis intervention.

1-855-87-PRIDE (77433)

7 days / week

For more information, please see www.distresscentredurham.com

Calling all Youth!

The Immigrant and Newcomer Youth Advisory Committee (INYAC) wants to hear from you!

INYAC is a youth-run committee created to facilitate the integration of immigrant youth, aged 16-24, into the community by empowering them to utilize their voice. It aims to identify the needs of immigrant youth in order to influence policies, attitudes and actions which will enhance the experience of immigrant youth in the Durham Region.

This September, INYAC has released an online survey to gather the thoughts of youth who now live in Durham, but who were born outside of Canada or have parents born outside of Canada.

The survey is a quick 10 questions that asks youth to describe their experiences as newer members of the Durham community. Findings will be analyzed by the Youth Leaders of INYAC and a summary of suggested actions for the community will be presented to community leaders later this fall. INYAC members have worked incredibly hard all summer to put together this study and are looking forward to studying and sharing its results!

To see the information poster that you can send to your friends, family and colleagues,  CLICK HERE!

 To complete the survey if you are a local youth, go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/P2CLD3P

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Sarah Squire:

ssquire@cdcd.org or by phone at 905-686-2661 ext. 131.

The Community Development Council Durham (CDCD) is encouraging all community members to get involved with the 2011 Provincial Election, because your vote matters. It is important to exercise the right to civic engagement and participation to create positive change.

CDCD will be hosting an All Candidates Meeting for Ajax/Pickering on Wednesday September 21st, 2011 and would like to welcome community members to attend. This meeting will provide an opportunity for community members to develop an informed choice so that thay can feel confident with their decision on election day (October 6th 2011).

SAVE THE DATE!

All Candidates Meeting for Ajax/Pickering
Date: Wednesday September 21^st, 2011
Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Location: Devi Mandir Auditorium
(2590 Brock Rd. Pickering)

To view the event poster, click here.

SAVE THE DATE FOR THE PRIDELINE DURHAM COMMUNITY FORUM!!

The PRIDELINE DURHAM COMMUNITY FORUM will provide you with the opportunity to learn more about LGBTQ issues and steps for moving forward in the Region of Durham.

Click Here for more details! 

Algoma Orchards, The Fridge Whisperer Cookbook Series and the the Ontario Market Investment Fund (OMIF) have planned a Community Sunday Supper Event which will inform, educate and celebrate the many ways in which Durham residents can support its growers, ranchers, farmers and artisanal foods purveyors via a Community Sunday Supper  event.

This event, set for Sunday, September 11, 2011 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at Pingle’s Farm Market in Hampton, Ontario, will see Durham residents breaking bread with one another in a three-course locally sourced family-style pass-the-potatoes-please dinner. The Pingle family has generously donated their orchard in which to hold this Sunday Supper event (and its huge greenhouse in case of in climate weather). The ultimate goals of this grassroots event is to get people talking about local food procurement and introduce them to the many ways in which one can feed their family closer to home. 

This event will feature spokespersons from OMIF, Durham Farm Fresh, Durham Economic Development and Tourism, Algoma/The Fridge Whisperer Cookbook Series, and will include complimentary vendors’ tables set up around the periphery of the dining area so that our various CSA’s; farmers’ markets; community gardens; food banks; and farmers/ranchers/growers/artisanal purveyors and other like-minded associations can champion their collective good food works.

Event participants reserve and pay for their supper — $15pp — online via a special PayPal button on TheFridgeWhisperer.com website or by purchasing tickets at various kiosks throughout the region.

The evening will culminate with each family receiving a complimentary copy of The Fridge Whisperer: Lusciously Local cookbook which contains seasonal fast ’n frugal, delicious and nutritious recipes and timely news-you-can-use stakeholder overviews and website links.

The net proceeds from this pay-it-forward event will benefit Feed the Need in Durham food bank. 

For more information contact...

Deb Rankine, author of The Fridge Whisperer Cookbook Series Inc.
www.thefridgewhisperer.com
info@thefridgewhisperer.com
www.culinarycaravan.com
chefdeb@culinarycaravan.com
h: 647.933.2199

In honour of World Refugee Day ( June 20^th 2011), the Community Development Council Durham encourages you to inform yourself about the accomplishments and resiliency of refugees in Durham and to research the current situation of the many refugees around the world, and in Canada.

Below are some suggested links for your viewing purposes:

For resources and tips from the Canadian Council for Refugee's on how you can make a difference, click here.

For information on Bill C-49, which seeks to 'prevent human smuggling' by detaining asylum seekers upon arrival, click here.

To view the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees website for more information, click here.

The World Refugee Day event, held at the Whitby Public Library, was a success. We would like to thank the keynote speaker, Francisco Rico-Martinex, founder of the FCJ Refugee Centre and the two guest speakers who told their inspiring and insightful stories. We would also like to thank everyone who came to the event and supported World Refugee Day in the Region of Durham.

To view the event poster, click here. 

NEWCOMERS TO CANANDA WALKING TOGETHER!

This walking program is for people of all abilities and everyone is welcome!!!

The Newcomer Walking Group is designed for newcomers to Canada living in and around Ajax who are interested in walking, being more active, creating new friendships and connecting with other people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. Non-immigrants are welcome to take part in the newcomer walking group in order to meet people from different cultures, share their Canadian experiences and get involved with their community.

The Newcomer Walking Group schedule is:

Mondays from 9:00am to 10:00am
at the Carruthers Marsh Pavilion (5km)
~ Ashbury Blvd. & Audley Blvd.

Thursdays from 9:00am to 10:00am
at the Carruthers Marsh Pavilion (5km)
~ Ashbury Blvd. & Audley Blvd.

For more information please contact:
Bozena Stobinska, Community Connections
905-686-2661 ext. 103
bstobinska@cdcd.org 
of visit the Town of Ajax website
www.townofajax.com

On behalf of the collaborative partnership between the North Durham Social Development Council (NDSDC), the Community Development Council Durham (CDCD) and the Enhancing Social Planning in Durham Region Collaborative, we would like to take this opportunity to thank anyone who participated in our research to establish the Enhancing Social Planning and Research Capacity in North Durham and Clarington: a community social profile and needs assessment. The Social Planning Enhancement project in North Durham and Clarington is now complete and could not have been such a success without your input and dedication to the communities in which you live, work, and play.  

 In April 2009, the collaborative established an overall goal to increase the social planning and community development capacity of the volunteer sector in Durham Region’s rural and underserved communities, such as Uxbridge, Brock, Scugog, and Clarington. The collaborative envisioned enhancing the research and social planning activities in these communities in order to more effectively respond to changing socioeconomic conditions and ultimately develop more inclusive and engaged communities. 

 As a collaborative we have achieved these goals through creating the community social profile and needs assessment, facilitating civic engagement at Fall Fairs and distributing information in regards to the strengths and challenges identified by representaives of these communites, in the final report, and finally through partnership development in Clarington by holding a networking meeting for organizations who serve Clarington and its surrounding communities.  

 We will continue to move forward with recommendations from the final report and will keep you engaged in our future endeavors. Please comtinue to visit the CDCD website  or the NDSDC website at www.northdurhamsdc.com for updates and upcoming events. 

 Once again, thank you to those who participated in the research process and for being committed to your community and volunteering your time to contribute to our community social profile and needs assessment. Without your insight and experiences the report and community engagement initiatives we have organized as a result of your recommendations would not have been such a great success.

On Thursday March 17th, 2011, Campaign 2000, Community Development Council Durham, Make Poverty History and Family Service Toronto co-hosted a communty forum on poverty. The forum was held in the Council Chambers at the Town of Ajax. Carol Goar, a journalist from the Toronto Star moderated the two hour event, which was also broadcast across Canada, thanks to the Leadwell Foundation. 

The forum was a community discussion on how to work in partnership towards reducing poverty in Canada, as recommended in a recent parliamentary committee, report & Bill C-545, an Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada.

Speakers included:
Mike Creek, Voices from the Street
Mark Holland, M. P. (Ajax-Pickering)
Chris Alexander, (Conservative Candidate, Ajax-Pickering)
Trish McAuliffe, (NDP Candidate, Whitby-Oshawa)
Rebecca Harrison, (Green Party Candidate, Whitby-Oshawa)

To view the video footage from this event follow the link below;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHcVoMrxCB4