WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
Union Gospel Mission wants to give people an opportunity to walk a mile or two in the shoes of some of the city's neediest citizens.
As part of Homelessness Action Week beginning Oct. 8, the non-profit will be offering two-hour walking tours called "the Eastside Stride" through the DTES and surrounding area. Tours guides will be residents of the community who've struggled with various barriers to employment and an outreach worker will also accompany the walks.
"Most people are aware that 麻豆传媒映画has a homelessness problem and it's concentrated in the DTES," said UGM spokesperson Keela Keeping in a prepared statement. "There are diverse opinions regarding these issues and the people that live here, but the average person may have very little real knowledge of this community, past or present. If we want sustained solutions to the major issues here, then the DTES needs to be truly embraced as a valued part of Vancouver. And that starts with getting to know the neighbourhood."
Guided tours must be arranged in advance online at ugm.ca/haw. Self-guided audio tours are also available by downloading the itinerary and using a smartphone.
NEW ENGAGEMENT FOR CITY
The City of 麻豆传媒映画plans on getting to know you better. Coun. Andrea Reimer will be introducing a motion at the next meeting of the Vision Vancouver-dominated city council Oct. 2 to create an Engaged City Mayor's Task Force, which will be tasked with finding ways to increase neighbourhood engagement and improve the city's interaction methods with residents, not to mention meet an election campaign promise.
"We've seen from both the 麻豆传媒映画Foundation's research on social isolation and the success of last week's SFU Community Summit that there is a big appetite for people to be better connected, whether it's on an individual level with their neighbours or how they engage with City Hall," said Councillor Reimer in a press release. "麻豆传媒映画is a city that leads the world in many ways, and we can do more when it comes to building a more engaged city."
The task force would be made up of people with backgrounds in community building chosen from an open call for applications. The hope is to have things up and running by December.
NEW POETRY BOOK WINS AWARD
A book of poems has won the 2012 City of 麻豆传媒映画Book Award for the first time in more than a dozen years.
Author W.H. New's YVR, his 10th book of poetry, is an ode to 麻豆传媒映画presented in three separate sections. New, an Officer of the Order of Canada, is a well-known figure on the local literary scene and has also received the Governor General's International Award in Canadian Studies.
The other finalists for the literary award were John Mikhail Asfour and Elee Kraljii Gardiner for V6A: Writing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Claudia Cornwall for At the World's Edge: Curt Lang's Vancouver; Ali Kazimi for Undesirables: White Canada and the Komagata Maru; and Jen Sookfong Lee for The Better Mother.
