A new space for the Sparroway community

The renovated community hub in Sparroway opened its doors at the beginning of the summer, providing residents with a much-needed space for the community. The renovated hub includes three new rooms: a fitness room, a youth room and a room dedicated to community events and meetings.  

Work on this community hub started in 2018, when the community approached Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) and Councillor Shelley Carroll following a tragedy. In dealing with the tragedy, several tenants joined together to form the Sparroway Wellness Committee and advocated for a central location where they could gather, feel supported, inspired and have access to programming and opportunity. They wanted to reclaim the community hub and make it theirs. Throughout this project, the committee worked with TCHC and community partners to organize events and provide support and services that promote community safety and well-being.

Community Navigator Andrew Cox has been involved in the project since its start. He supported the community to get the necessary resources to create this space. 

“This project started because of the young people,” said Andrew. “The resiliency of the community and how they take on initiatives was very integral to the process. Even through the pandemic, the community reminded us not to forget this project and to keep pushing through.”  

Members of the East Region Operations, Facilities Management, and Violence Reduction Programs teams invested in the space through capital repair funding and purchasing equipment and furniture.  

The success of this project is also due to the partnership of local councillor Shelley Carroll and Building UP.  

Councillor Carroll used Section 37 Funds which are city funding towards the capital costs of facilities, services and matters intended to serve development and redevelopment of communities. Through the Section 37 funds, Councillor Carroll secured over $87,000 towards capital repairs in the community hub.  Building UP contributed by hiring TCHC tenants to help build and install the furniture in the space. This was one of nine TCHC community hubs where Building UP was the partner for the space renovations.  

“From the very first conversation, I heard the community say, we are going to make this our home, we are going to make [the Sparroway community] better,” said Councillor Caroll at the ceremony. “This is about paying it forward, investing in a community and helping them to make it happen.”

One of the programs that will take place out of the community hub is the Youth Restorative Program. With funding received from the City of Toronto, youth leaders Sakeenah Abdul and Jegmal Williams, have led the Youth Restorative Justice Program for the past three years, bringing together youth and providing them with opportunities to gain new skills.  

“When we were young, Jegmal and I had community members run after-school programs in the community, and we had a blast,” said Sakeenah. “This helped shape us on what community is and is one of the reasons why [we run the Youth Restorative Program].” 

Jegmal highlighted that he is most excited to move beyond the virtual space and offer more in-person programming for the community.  

“Our Restorative Justice Program not only restores justice to the community, but builds up new young community leaders, so they can step into our shoes and continue to run programming in Sparroway.”  

The group plans to host art, healing and therapy workshops for youth several times a week.  

Now that the doors are open, the Sparroway Wellness Committee hopes that this space will have a positive impact and continue to uplift and empower the community for years to come.  

“We gather here to not just open doors of a building, but to open our hearts to something we dreamed about for a long time,” said Sparroway Wellness Committee member and tenant leader Kim Miller.

Tenant Leader Rui Saude agrees and says that, “after years of motivation, we now have a space for the kids and a space that will keep the tenants happy and comfortable.”