Meet the Community Organizers: Jaymie
Jaymie, one of five Community Organizers on the More Moss Park team, talked to us about her connection to Moss Park, personal experiences and – most of all – her passion for community engagement.
I wanted to become involved with the More Moss Park consultation because …
I believe in doing whatever is within my power to make visible and to leverage voices of people in our communities who are systematically excluded, silenced or made invisible. When it comes to community decision-making, I’ve seen that when you have community input, the impacts are extremely valuable in terms of the uptake of community spaces and programs. People know their communities and the strengths and challenges associated with them. Facilitating spaces where that knowledge is surfaced in meaningful ways really excites me about this work. I love people, so I was also excited about the opportunity to be out talking and engaging with community members and am honoured to be able to learn and hold their stories.
Community centres are important to me because…
To this day—likely because of the positive impact of the experience–I really enjoy swimming. We didn’t have a pool or anything, but there was a community centre with a pool nearby. My mom used to take my brother and me to go swim in the evenings and I just really took to it. Learning to swim was great. As a young adult I became a lifeguard and a swimming instructor, positions that gave me opportunities for teaching, leadership development and life skills. As a lifeguard, you deal with community members at all stages of life: parents, tots, youth, children, adults, older adults, peers. The inter-generational nature of the job helps you relate to, engage with and learn from people at all stages and walks of life. It’s a pretty special experience and to me demonstrates how access to community spaces can shape and inform some of the skills and lessons that you continue to call upon as you move through life.
My favourite spot in the park is…
On the north side of the park between the tennis courts and the playground. There are these big trees that provide a canopy of shade, but you can also hear kids play on the playground, see the gardens and hear what’s happening at the ball diamond. I like that little pocket of the park.
The first time I visited Moss Park was…
Some friends and I were just out walking and we stumbled upon this green space. So we sat and hung out there. The big trees and open field space were a nice break from the skyscrapers.
I feel a connection to Moss Park through…
Some of the previous volunteering and work I’ve done in agencies nearby, including the Native Women’s Resource Centre and Well Living House at St. Michael’s Hospital. I would see people I knew from these places in Moss Park and you recognize the networks of people that comprise the community and the longstanding relationships people share.
This summer, I’ve talked to…
So many people and different groups! I think the most interesting thing right now is that we are shifting a little bit towards design specific conversations, so we’re now starting to talk about how some of the themes from our initial conversations could speak to inclusive and welcoming design ideas. For me, talking to Indigenous women has been particularly informative. I think that’s invaluable for any community development to recognize unhonoured treaties and to work to uphold Indigenous knowledge in terms of decision making around the land that such a diverse group of people now call home. We have much to learn and remember from original people and their ancestors for whom this land has always been their home and who know the teachings of how to live here in a good way.
The moment that stands out the most in my mind from the More Moss Park consultations is…
From a focus group we held at one of the Toronto Community Housing buildings on Shuter Street. There were some parents in the group and the discussion shed light on the existing gaps in childcare available in the neighbourhood. Parents felt limited in the spaces and options for safe, affordable childcare nearby. Additionally, the building has a large population of older adults who live on their own. Many discussed how that can be very lonely and wanting to have ways to connect with one another and their community. Very naturally, as we were chatting, one of the participants contributed, “wouldn’t it be cool if there was access to daycare space where some of the seniors could, through volunteering or employment, support childcare provision?” Making this idea work in practice involves a lot of organization to ensure its success, but it was great to see how a community-generated idea could simultaneously address a strength and a gap in the neighbourhood. I mean, personally, my grandmother played a huge role in my upbringing and supporting childcare needs for our family, so this just made sense to me. Seeing these productive conversations made me think, “this is why I do this.”
The question I get asked the most is…
Will we lose space? People say they don’t want to lose the pool, the gym or the wood shop. And it is nice to be able to respond by saying that this is an expansion of existing services–which we’re learning are really stretched and not currently meeting the large community’s diverse needs–not a reduction.
One thing people don’t understand about Moss Park is…
How vibrant Moss Park is. The larger narrative in the city around Moss Park is that it’s unsafe for a variety of reasons and sometimes when I talk to people about how I spend my time I’m met with comments like “it’s not a nice space to be in.” While there are certainly challenges when people systematically find themselves in low income situations, the reality is that Moss Park is exceptionally diverse and extremely vibrant. There are very strong, longstanding community ties in the neighbourhood and I think that’s a really beautiful and powerful thing. I mean, when you walk down Sherbourne Street, you would be hard done by to not see people saying hello to their neighbour or checking in on a buddy.
The best thing about being a community organizer is…
Being a carrier of community stories and having people trust you enough to share their experiences with you. For me, I’ve really valued the conversations with older, racialized women who have lived in the community for decades and have influenced the neighbourhood through their own community organizing. This really speaks to and inspires me as well as helps me reflect on and respect the important work so many people have done before me to resist against the odds and pursue positive impacts for our families, friends, neighbours and communities.
