currently

Most days are filled with small moments of significant connection: organizing donations to bring to families who need various things; providing grocery or gas gift cards; meeting someone in the park for conversation; accompanying someone to a legal appointment; interpreting situations and systems – like housing, CRA paperwork, community service interactions, bills, etc. – for newcomers to Canada and those in survival mode; finding money in the community for specific needs, like power and oil; and more.

Legacy

Through several conversations with alumni youth, an exciting project came about: an online legacy gallery that exhibits photos, artwork and mementos from the drop-in days. It celebrates and honours our community and we hope it will be a gathering place for those who used the Halifax drop-in as their home base for many years. Weekly, we love hearing from former youth, in Halifax as well as in other parts of Canada, doing significant community work. They communicate their gratitude, questions and desire for mentorship with us.

Network of Community Organizations

As the homeless population is growing, we are increasingly affirmed that our need for strong community connections is key in addressing this. In the last year, ARK co-founded a monthly gathering of local community organizations (about 50 are connected). Our aim is to build relationships among community workers, network, share knowledge and resources, and collaborate to address community-identified issues.

Community Food Centre Canada

In 2022, we were grateful to receive a repeat grant from Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC) called the Good Food Access Fund. This fund provided emergency relief to our most vulnerable neighbours. With this opportunity, we bought grocery store gift cards to distribute to individuals and families, offering choice and dignity in their shopping.

This spring, we also received another grant from CFCC called Disability Without Poverty. Recently, members of the ARK community who live with disabilities have shown us how disproportionately poverty affects their demographic. In light of this, we partnered with Prescott Group and hosted a community BBQ to raise awareness for Accessibility Week. We were one of 20 organizations across Canada to participate in this program.

On Thursday June 22, 2023, Bill C-22 “Canada Disability Benefit” was passed in Parliament creating a federal income supplement for low-income, working-age people with disabilities.