Self-reliance makes Fernwood better
›› Fernwood NRG
The opening of the new building at 1310 Gladstone completes a project that has been over five years in the making.
And with the sale of the Cornerstone Café to our neighbourhood’s very own Fernwood Coffee Company, plus the recent adoption of the Yoga Den into the Fernwood NRG family, it seems like a good time to reflect and take stock of what we have done and become.
There is no big charity and no level of government that cares about our neighbourhood like the people who live and work right here. As the Neighbourhood Resource Group, we work for Fernwood in any way we can—in some cases that means we deliver government programs; we operate the Fernwood Community Centre where we deliver childcare, and family and community programming. In other cases we support work that other people, organizations, and businesses are doing in our neighbourhood.
But many of the things Fernwood needs are still not covered.
In 2004, the heart of our neighbourhood, the Cornerstone Building, was boarded up, filthy, and covered in graffiti. Fernwood had a reputation as a rough neighbourhood.
We held a Neighbourhood Visioning Forum—our neighbours said the community needed that building back…and needed affordable housing, jobs, more commercial space, and improvements in food security.
So we made a big leap, from community program provider to a social enterprise. We networked and fundraised and organized volunteers.
And then we bought the building.
First we opened the Cornerstone Café, Fernwood’s living room, where income was reinvested in the neighbourhood.
We also developed our first affordable housing, four three-bedroom suites upstairs. Our housing portfolio has grown to include all or part of four different buildings—shockingly, our little organization owns over 5% of the family-sized, three-bedroom units in Victoria.
But in order to reinvest in our neighbourhood, first we have to make money.
Since the purchase of the Cornerstone Building, we have been able to rent space to commercial tenants—like long-time fixture of the neighbourhood, Stage Wine Bar.
And a few years ago, we bought Studio 1313 Hair Design. Jacqueline Rogers, the owner, was going to retire and close the business.
Instead, we took over the business requirements—mostly paperwork and accounting—and Jacqueline stayed on salary to manage the salon. No more payroll, tax remittance, or licensing hassles for her, and NRG makes a little more revenue and keeps jobs and services in the Village. These management tasks are things we have to do for the non-profit anyway, so why not do a bit more?
The same opportunity arose with Rachel Sadava at the Yoga Den. After six years of ownership, she was ready to expand the studio—and the new building has a spacious and light-filled main floor. Partnering with Fernwood NRG allows her to focus on teaching and building the yoga community in Fernwood.
Yoga feels good and now it will feel even better as income is invested back into neighbourhood programs. And yoga has proven to be a good fit with Fernwood—practitioners tend to be kind and gentle people, interested in wholeness and health.
As the community expands, what else will they bring to the neighbourhood?
The income from these activities goes to many more amazing programs—programs that simply would not exist if we were relying solely on government grants instead of on the generous donations and purchasing decisions of our neighbours.
We publish the Village Vibe.
We hold weekly community dinners for families, lunches for seniors, and a weekly student dinner during the school year because if you are hungry or worried about the grocery budget, everything else is harder.
We support healthy food in the city through the Good Food Box program, and fundraise for the Gift of Good Food, which provides fresh fruits and vegetables to families who need it, every two weeks for the whole year.
We supervise Spring Ridge Common, a public food forest ripe with fruit and herbs. We increase food security in the neighbourhood through the Fernwood Community Orchard and Kitchen Garden which each produce food for use by neighbours and the Community Centre. And we are the depot for distributing rescued food to the Coalition of Neighbourhood Houses Capital Region.
These many food-centred programs add up—we are a Neighbourhood Food Hub. More than just a hot meal for hungry people, food hubs layer on social relationships and in-the-ground food access to try to solve problems at the roots.
We are active in city planning which can have such a big impact on the built environment of our neighbourhood.
And, of course, Fernwood’s dance party, FernFest. The Hallowe’en Bonfire. Fernwood Bites. The Pole Painting that marks Fernwood as special and reduces tagging and vandalism.
So many of the things that make Fernwood special happen through volunteers, donations, or social enterprise.
If you are able, any donation to our organization is gratefully appreciated. Unrestricted donations allow us to best respond to emerging needs while targeted donations can be put toward any of the specific projects and programs mentioned above.
With your help, what more can we achieve?
