Carolyn's blog

What can you do on a Sunday afternoon with 7 Hotties in cool t-shirts, pajama bottoms, and a shining silver wig at the Aurora Sports Dome?  Tackle exciting challenges that both raise awareness and raise money to tackle homelessness in York Region, of course!

It's a great practice to celebrate successes.  In working with many members of YRAEH, it's easy for workers in this field to get burdened and feel the strain of difficult circumstances or a lack of resources or challenging obstacles to effective change and improvements.  However, I truly believe that there is power in the practice of celebrating moments of success and accomplishment.

A provincial campaign called Put Food in the Budget is challenging individuals through a survey tool - Do the Math - to count the cost of typical daily living and weigh it against standard amounts that people may receive through government social assistance.  The survey challenges people to imagine themselves in the position of needing to make ends meet on a social assistance budget.  In many cases, that may involve difficult decisions such as whether or not to m

Good news or bad news first?  This is probably one of my least favourite questions...but it seems appropriate today since I have a couple of extremely good news items, but also a not-so-good update today.

I came across a Toronto Star article this weekend about how "Losties" may have altered the plans of the White House.  In short, a proposed change of schedule to the State of the Union address threatened the final season premiere of the TV series Lost.  This led to a massive outcry from avid Lost viewers ("Losties") through multiple web-based social media like Facebook and Twitter.  The result?  The conf

We launched the first of seven HPI-2 funded HOTS (Housing, Outreach, and Transitional Support) capacity building events yesterday - Feeding Your Soul.  Thank you all for coming out and making this event a success! 

Have you noticed how much time can get hijacked by meetings?  And they're all important meetings for a good reason that should probably be attended.  But unfortunately it takes time.  And eventually...we have to say no.  The Alliance recognizes and values the incredible contributions made by senior management staff of our member agencies. 

I spent the first three days this week at the Ontario Public Health Association 2009 Annual Conference and wow, am I glad that I went.  I was especially happy to see that the OPHA and public health in general is shifting to place a greater emphasis on health equity.  The conference, which had a theme of Building for the Future, was filled with presentations and discussions about plans to address social determinants of health to improve health outcomes among marginalized individuals. 

Have you ever noticed how social service agency staff sometimes enter the holiday season feeling stressed and overwhelmed about the needs of their clients?  Feeding Souls...this may be the title of our first Capacity Building training/networking event under our HPI(2) funding.  We are hoping that this workshop will be a great chance for Housing, Outreach, and Transitional Support workers to learn about extra seasonal resources to refer clients to, as well as gain some insight about how to set healthy boundaries, manage stress, and prepare for the upcoming holiday season.