Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

Evergreen's mission is to bring communities and nature together for the benefit of both.

Evergreen envisions a sustainable society where individuals live in
 harmony with and contribute meaningfully to their local environment.


Evergreen will be at the forefront of the movement to create this
 society, by
empowering communities, by creating innovative resources and
 by transforming
educational values.

History of Organization

Since 1991 Evergreen has been engaging Canadians in creating and sustaining 
dynamic outdoor spaces—in schools, communities and homes. By deepening the connection between people and nature, and empowering Canadians
 to take a hands-on approach to their urban environments, Evergreen is improving 
the health of our cities—now and for the future.

Through Evergreen
 Common Grounds and Toyota
 Evergreen Learning Grounds, we are a leading national funder and
 facilitator of local, sustainable greening projects in schoolyards, parks and
 communities across Canada.

With Evergreen 
Brick Works, we have opened a unique community environmental centre in the 
heart of Toronto’s Don River Valley. This spectacular natural and industrial
 heritage site and its ongoing engaging programming from Farmers’ Markets to seminars and plantings, is already 
inspiring and educating the community to embrace a sustainable future.

Accolades and Accomplishments

- Named by National Geographic as one of the world’s top 10 geotourism destinations, standing out among over 600 entries.

- Evergreen is awarded a silver Urban Leadership Award (ULA), in the City Livability category, as a result of its significant contribution to the public realm.


-Evergreen Brick Works becomes the first receipt of the annual Green Leadership Award presented by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) Real Estate Excellence
Awards.

Programs

>Healthy Choices
>Green City Cycles

With 80% of Canadians living in urban areas, we
believe that nature must be a vital part of our communities, and that people
have a central role to play in restoring and stewarding nature—on school
grounds, in public parks and at home. Our work is divided into three main program areas, through which Evergreen fulfils the dual objectives of restoring a healthy physical environment and building more cohesive and supportive communities: Learning Grounds (greening of school grounds), Common Grounds (tree planting, community greening, community development/youth engagement) and Evergreen Brick Works (EBW).

In 2010, EBW opened its doors as Canada's first large-scale community environmental centre. It is many things: a vibrant public space featuring a local farmers’ market and retail garden centre; a showcase of sustainable design; an educational playground for green living; and an international hub that fosters new ideas in urban innovation. Our model facility inspires and equips visitors to live, work and play more sustainably.

Healthy Choices

We believe that healthy, active, sustainable
lifestyles begin with happy, engaged young people. Using Evergreen Brick Works as a community hub for food literacy, active transportation, recreational and educational opportunities, the Healthy Choices program engages youth from the underserved communities surrounding the Don Valley site. These programs offer hands-on learning opportunities that equip youth to make healthier choices for their bodies, their communities and the environment. Our goal is to nourish and
exercise the young minds and bodies of Toronto.

We are facing a crisis of food literacy among youth in Canada: an increasing number of young people are not connected to where their food comes from, are ill-equipped to make healthy food choices, and have few opportunities to learn the skills required to cook a healthy fresh meal. Our food-based programming educates youth about the origins of food, plant life cycles and food preparation through gardening, kitchen and eating experiences. Cooking classes with volunteer chefs build skills and confidence, and allow youth to bring a healthy meal home to their families.

Healthy Choices also seeks to improve access and increase physical activity, by promoting community participation in the development of active transportation alternatives. Through guided nature and urban exploration walks, participation in trail audits, access to community bicycle fleets, and a skating rink in winter, youth can learn that being active
outdoors is not only healthy but fun.

Funding and Program Partners

In 2010-2011, the program was supported by the Toronto Community Foundation, Helen McCrea Peacock Foundation, and the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion's Healthy Communities Fund. 

Program Impact

Over a 12 month period, The Healthy Choices program provides 36 sessions, engaging between 34 and 40 youth. Participants learn food literacy basics,
nutrition, cooking and food system health as well as having the opportunity to
improve their existing knowledge and skills while hiking, biking and skating
outdoors.  

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“Toronto high school students are much more likely
than students in other Ontario regions to rate their health as poor (17.9% compared to the Ontario average of 14.5%); more of them are physically inactive, and almost one in seven spends 7 or more hours a day in front of a
computer or TV screen.”

“Barely more than a third of teenagers (aged 15 -17) were eating one daily meal at home with their parents in 2005 – a decline of more than 80% since 1992” (Toronto's Vital Signs® 2010)

Healthy Choices engages youth in recreation and food literacy programming, aimed at helping them choose healthy options through an exploration of origins of food, plant life cycles and food preparation through gardening, kitchen classes and eating experiences. Healthy Choices also seeks to improve access and increase physical activity, by promoting community participation in active transportation and outdoor recreation.

Participant Vignette

A quote from a recent Healthy Choices participant:

"I learned lots from your program. I learn what my food
 goes through to get to my house. I also learned that there is more than 
tomatoes in a can of tomatoes. I also learned from the outdoors education. I learned
 skills on fire building and that you can make tea from cedar trees. I spend two 
whole months on an island during the summer so I can use those skills there. I
 will also eat healthier now and try to shop at the farmers market more often
 now that I know where other food comes from. Thank you for taking the time to teach
 us about food and the outdoors I know that it will help me through my life"

Green City Cycles

The goal of Green City Cycles is to increase the number of Torontonians who ride
bicycles. We do this by offering free rentals of bicycles at Evergreen Brick Works, offering safety training, learn to ride and cycling workshops as well as a Do it Yourself Bike Shop, empowering cyclists to learn how to build and maintain their own bicycle.

Our program offerings have been
 developed to create multiple ways to participate. Each
person who walks into the Bike Works space is greeted by a broad menu of exciting
 choices.

They can:

• Get involved in our safety riding workshops and learn effective riding skills, road safety
 skills, legalities and all-weather riding techniques.
• Participate in
 one of our hands-on after-school programs or public workshops and learn how to repair and build bicycles.
• Join our
 volunteer core, or participate in a credited co-op or paid internship to
 learn mechanical skills, public programming and facilitation, and the “
ins-and-outs” of operating a successful bike shop.
  Identify bicycle
 routes using resources such as trail maps and resources available online to
 assist in safe navigation.
• Repair their 
bicycle or build one themselves during our weekly DIY shop hours, assisted by 
trained mechanics.

Funding and Program Partners

The infrastructure for the Green City Cycles Program was funded through the Ministry of Health Promotion's Healthy Communities Fund. Program partners in 2010 included U for Change, Pathways to Education, Wellesley Community Center, Aboriginal Education Center, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood office, the Cabbagetown Youth Center and the TDSB.

Program Impact

The most recent Vital Signs report outlines the
 negative health impacts associated with the lack of access to physical and
 recreation programming in Toronto’s most vulnerable communities. Green
 City Cycles will combat these realities by enabling more than 200 youth and adults 
from underserved communities to access active transportation and recreation
 programming, through safety training, trail rides and mechanical skills training.

Benefits to participants include increased:

• Overall
 physical activity
• Bicycle 
use for leisure, exercise, and transportation
• Familiarity
 and comfort with the ravines and immediately accessible natural areas
• Participation 
in on-site and citywide
  recreation activities

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

“One in two adult Torontonians bike for work, school or recreation. Improved convenience, safety and accessibility remain challenges.”

“Less than 15% of Ontario children are physically active (getting the recommended daily hour and a half of physical activity, half of which should come from active play).”  (Toronto's Vital Signs® 2010) 

Green City Cycles will combat these realities by enabling community members to access active transportation and recreation
programming, through safety
training, trail rides and mechanical skills training. 

Participant Vignette

In 
the fall of 2010, staff at the YMCA Academy, an alternative school run by the YMCA for students with learning disabilities and learning-style differences, came to us looking for an opportunity for a high-school student. The student needed to complete a co-op placement 
program, and was working with his teachers at school to increase his ability to 
focus and complete a specific task. He 
interned two times a week with the Green
 City Cycles program, learning the essentials of conducting a basic tune-up. At school, his challenge was an inability to focus on multiple tasks simultaneously. But
 he found this was not an issue in the context of bicycle mechanics.

As staff gave him small simple 
tasks, over time he built a solid set of skills. His own focus and
 determination made this happen, it was truly rewarding watching him become more 
and more proficient with each session. At 
the end of his placement he said: “I have learned so much here about bikes and
 about life, and the people are great.”