Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

FutureWatch's mission is to Foster the Creation of Healthy and Sustainable Communities through the integration of participatory action learning methods. We partner with community leaders and groups to spearhead community-based projects that are culturally sensitive and focus on social, economic and environmental development.

Our purpose is to engage individuals from diverse communities who are economically and socially disenfranchised, particularly youth, children, seniors and women. The objective is to support their engagement process and to foster a positive leadership role in implementing their own solutions. In our work, we involve individuals from diverse ethno-specific communities, including the Somali, Black, South Asian and Spanish communities.

History of Organization

FutureWatch was founded in 1993 by several graduate students of the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto. They envisioned the possibility of bringing community leaders together in partnerships to find solutions to complex social, environmental and economic problems. Philip Lucima was one of the founding members, an immigrant from Uganda. He lived and studied in Toronto for several years. Unfortunately, Philip did not live to see his dream come alive. Today, FutureWatch carries on the vision in his memory.

Our aim is to connect people living in a diverse and multicultural society by experiencing their local (mostly urban) natural environment as a starting point to address pressing environmental issues. These experiences also create opportunities for new and old Canadians to create a dialogue to promote communication and knowledge sharing, awareness building, recreation, and nature appreciation which can ultimately lead to an increased involvement and inclusion in the Canadian society.

Accolades and Accomplishments

1993 - FutureWatch was established as a not for profit charitable organization.

Since 2003 FutureWatch has become a leading environmental organization by facilitating avenues on how low income families and immigrant communities engage in waste reduction, energy savings, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in low income housing facilities. We have trained a score of community animators and have measured behavioral changes leading towards reduction in waste output, energy use and green house emissions.

2005 – Toronto Vital People Award – Our Executive Director, Lidia Ferreira was awarded this prestigious award from the Toronto Community Foundation.

Between 2006 – 2009

• We have trained 11 Community Animators and 6564 tenants have become engaged in our climate change initiatives.
• A follow up survey informed us that 92% of participants gained further understanding of climate change issues and that 78% of them are still using the six (6) actions established to alleviate their individual carbon foot print. 2009. FutureWatch was a finalist of the Green Award of the City of Toronto.
• For the past two years 800 families and their kids have experienced our unique Eco-Outdoor recreation programs.
• Through our international work, we have sent 36 young Canadian professionals to countries such as Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, Germany, Bolivia, Paraguay and Guyana and we designed and implemented a long-term community – based watershed project in Paraguay.

Programs

>Eco Crews! Greening our home, a school, a community space, and beyond…!
>Eco-Outdoor Recreation in all seasons!
>Green Opportunities: Reducing Barriers and Discriminatory Approaches to Increase Newcomers Participation in Environmental Initiatives

FutureWatch has established community-based projects that involve members of the Hispanic, Somali and South Asian communities in ecological restoration activities and energy saving initiatives. These initiatives involve the creation of community animation tools to involve members of local low income housing units (including new Canadians) to establish a healthy community through better management of solid waste, increase recycling and energy conservation.

Currently, FutureWatch is implementing several initiatives: a community-based climate change initiative under a contract with the Toronto Community Housing Corporation, an environmental initiative called EcoCrews! Funded by EcoAction-Environment Canada and a capacity building initiative called the Green Opportunities that seeks to enhance opportunities for newcomers to engage in environmental activities.

In 2009, FutureWatch expanded its geographical area outside the Greater Toronto Area to include the Halton-Peel Region, Guelph-Waterloo areas and the municipality of Hamilton. The aim has been to engage environmental organizations, green business, community organizations and local groups/clubs in an awareness building process as to how to improve the participation of newcomers to Canada in meaningful environmental activities. This is a two year program funded by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Eco Crews! Greening our home, a school, a community space, and beyond…!

“Eco crews!” is a climate change initiative that builds on FutureWatch EDEP’s unique community-based environmental model that seeks to enhance awareness and knowledge about negative effects of our carbon footprint; and translates it into concrete actions to ameliorate negative environmental effects at the local level. We are aiming to increase the environmental responsiveness of a community agency and a high school. These are places that provide services to Toronto’s growing newcomer communities.

During the first year of the project we will conduct 2 environmental audits – a building assessment related to energy use, recycling capacity and naturalization potential, and individual behavioural assessments related to carbon footprint emissions (paper use, waste production and energy consumption). The results of the audits will translate into a second year plan with a two prong approach: development of a green plan at each facility as well as replicating this effort within each site’s surrounding community of interest. 1000 community members will be reached, 600 individual households will volunteer to participate in environmental audits and 380 households are expected to engage in a carbon footprint reduction plan.

Through on-going seminars and workshops, educational materials, and other promotional efforts; 3-5,000 newcomers will be reached. The overall environmental target would be a 10% carbon footprint reduction per year by March 31, 2011.

Program Impact

At the school we support the student’s driven eco-club “Envirolink” and we trained 14 students as environmental animators. In turn, they involved 10 classrooms/teachers and the enrolment of 100+ students to form several ‘Eco-crews’. At the end of the first year a plan will be presented to the school principals seeking a reduction of 5-7 % of the school’s carbon footprint. In the second year, the ‘Eco-crews’ will conduct surveys and environmental audits targeting 200 homes. The aim is to further encourage these households to reduce in 10% their carbon footprint.

At the Community Centre, we have secured the involvement of a community agency (serving 8,000+ newcomers and community members per year) in a climate change campaign. During the first year, we conducted an audit of their facility and measured current levels of GHGs emissions of the staff. An ‘Eco-Crew’ of 6 staff had been established and develops a workplace green plan.

During the second year emphasis will be done in engaging staff and clients of the Centre in replicating this approach within their clientele. Our aim is to reach out to 400 community members/clients, and to engage 80-100 households in an energy and carbon emission reduction plan. The overall goal is to achieve a carbon footprint reduction of 10% per year.

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

“Meeting Ontario’s target of a 6% reduction on 1990 levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2014 will require an immediate and continuing reduction of 21% from 2007 levels of 59.8 million tonnes. Per capita emissions would have to be at 8 tonnes per year or less, to achieve that target. The City’s current annual per capita emission rate is 10 tonnes. Meeting the target of 8 tonnes per year would require the equivalent of 217,500 fewer cars on Toronto’s roads. The Toronto Region emits 11 tonnes per person per year (compared to San Francisco (13 tonnes), New York (7 tonnes) and London (6 tonnes)."

“Among Canadians as a whole, 64.4% reported a strong sense of belonging to a local community in 2005. That sense is highest among the young (77.45% of the 12-17-year age group) and seniors (71.6%) and weakest among younger adults (54.5% of the 18- 29- year age group). It also varies significantly among cultural and racial groups, being particularly high among those of South Asian and Filipino origin (74.2% and 68.9% respectively).” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

One of the programs that is run at the agency that we work with, has a group of older culturally diverse women that run the program. After one of the training sessions FutureWatch EDEP held with them that addressed the issue of how their program can run more environmentally friendly meetings and events the team leader told FutureWatch EDEP staff that they sat down and decided on goals that they would reach every couple of months to reduce their impact on monthly meetings. The team leader said that “these issues are important and an easy way for us to start making change”. When FutureWatch EDEP came back for the next training sessions all the ladies had brought with them reusable coffee mugs, bottles, and glasses to drink out of. It was their first step to making change.

Eco-Outdoor Recreation in all seasons!

Eco-Recreation for all! Connecting our multicultural & low income kids and families to the outdoor activities in all seasons! It is designed to show people, particularly newcomers, that no matter what the season we are in, there are many types of activities that they can enjoy outdoors. Our program seeks to provide an outlet for low-income & newcomer youth, children and their families to come-out, engage in healthy physical activity by connecting with their local natural habitats through walking, hiking, cross-country skiing and nature observation. A great number of newcomers & low-income families face higher degrees of stress and post-traumatic stress disorder. Feedback from past participants to FutureWatch outdoor programs inform us that once these families learn about opportunities out there (activities that are within range and relatively accessible cost-wise), a great percentage (50% plus) tend to continue participating in activities all year round. In addition a number of past participants are becoming volunteers for seasonal activities and/or they become agents of change within their own community.

Program Impact

This program has an impact in newcomers and other marginalized urban communities in Toronto, especially members of the Spanish, Somali and South Asian communities, particularly those living in low income housing, settled in neighbourhoods that are traditionally associated with high levels of poverty (i.e. South Etobicoke and York –South Weston Road districts).  In all FutureWatch manages to engage diverse communities and low income families in outdoor activities which they would not be able to participate on their own, while doing so they learn about nature and their local surroundings.

During 2009-10, more than 1500 individuals were reached and engaged in the eco-outdoor recreation activities:

• Canoeing – 250 families
• Eco-Camping - 120 families
• Canoe camping – 60 youths
• Summer activities, Family fishing Day, paddle an picnic -  760
• Discovery walks/nature observation - 150 families
• Winter activities/Cross country skiing - 196 families

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

“The 13 neighbourhoods had higher numbers of populations vulnerable to poverty than the City averages: visible minorities (66.2% vs. 46.4%), lone parent families (25% vs. 20.3%) and recent immigrants (14.4% vs. 10.7%).”

“Lifestyle choices increase the potential burden on Toronto’s health system:

• 1,316,000 people (58%) report that they are inactive during leisure time, including 38.9% of youth (almost 94,000 12-19 year olds)
• 44% (18 years and over) self-report that they are overweight or obese (a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 or higher). 13.4% of those (614,777 people) are obese (a BMI of 30 or more), a rise from 11.5% in 2007
• Only 38.8% eats 5 or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

Khadija Shire, a FutureWatch Community Animator with the Somali Community in Toronto was invited to attend the first FutureWatch staff and volunteer canoe trip in September 2008 at Massassauga Provincial Park. It gave FutureWatch staff and volunteers a chance to work together and build some outdoor skills.

What did you first think when you were told you were going to go on a canoe trip?

"I was scared. I had gone canoeing at the Paddle and Picnic with my husband and daughter. I was scared because I don’t know how to swim. We had paddled over to say “hi” to my daughter and husband in another canoe and the canoes crashed into each other and my daughter fell out into Lake Ontario. It was terrifying for me. My daughter wasn’t afraid, she knows how to swim. She went canoeing again and she liked it. After that experience, I felt good that I can do something. Sometimes it’s better to see someone fall in because it is the worst fear. I did not have any idea of what we would be doing. I wasn’t sure where we were going. If I had known what it was about, I would not have gone. At the time, I thought it was part of the job requirement and that I had to go. 

Before the trip, I was excited to have a vacation as I hadn’t had one in a very long time, but I was sad to leave my daughter. I was tense all the time on the trip. I liked sitting by the fire."

What did you learn about yourself on this trip?

"I learned that I can fit in with different people. I didn’t know any of the people very well and I learned that I could be with anyone.  I learned that people take care of each other. There was no discrimination."

What do you think other first timers should know about before they go on a trip?

"Give them lots of information about what to take, what to expect. They could hear from someone from their community, like me who had done it before. Someone they trust."

What made your trip a positive experience?  

"Knowing that you can survive and get along with anyone and make friends and know that I can adapt to a new environment. Seeing Rory (8 year old participant) running up and down made me inspired. It was fun to canoe in the big water. It was fun to look back and see all the water behind me. Scary too. Sometimes scary things can make things more fun. It was good to get experience about something for survival. I loved sitting by the fire with people to talk."

Green Opportunities: Reducing Barriers and Discriminatory Approaches to Increase Newcomers Participation in Environmental Initiatives

The Green Opportunities project seeks to develop awareness and increase capacity amongst environmental sector organizations, to more effectively cater their services and products to newcomers. Using participatory research methods, information exchange sessions and train the trainer sessions, we are building capacity within a wide range of environmental organizations, local clubs and green businesses, to engage newcomers in their own communities. Currently at the partnership development and research stage, the Green Opportunities Project is creating dialogue amongst those groups that organize environmental initiatives, and those groups that already offer services to newcomers. This cross pollination will identify barriers limiting newcomer engagement, while seeking best practices that allow newcomers equal opportunity to participate in environmental initiatives. The result is a more informed environmental sector, increased partnerships with settlement organizations and newcomer groups, resulting in more welcoming communities.

Program Impact

Since November 2009, Green Opportunities has engaged ninety three (93) stakeholders at the government, private and community levels through four open houses that explored the themes of newcomer engagement and created awareness newcomer exclusion from the environmental sector. We also engaged seventy one (71) newcomers interested in the environmental sector through five focus groups. By the end of this year, we will have engaged over three hundred (300) individuals, produced a best practices manual, developed an Anti-Discrimination/Anti-Racism report card and provided twelve training sessions on best practices for newcomer engagement. Of the current stakeholders, we are working with fifty two (52) representatives from settlement and environmental organizations as well as forty one (41) representatives from green business and government agencies, to develop formal and informal partnerships, which will create a wider range of opportunities for newcomers, both to have healthier, more sustainable lifestyles and to become engaged in the environmental sector.

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

“40% of Canada’s recent immigrants (those arriving between 2001 and 2006) settled in the Toronto Region, making up 9% of the population. In comparison, 14% chose to settle in Vancouver and 15% in Montreal. The high concentration of immigrants in just three metropolitan centres creates intense pressure on those cities. It is also a major public policy issue, as wider dispersion of immigrants would likely allow a faster economic integration of newcomers.”
 
“The Conference Board of Canada noted in its 2007 benchmarking study the troubling income disparity between immigrant and non-immigrant residents. Toronto ranked 26th of 27 Canadian cities on this indicator.”

“Recent immigrants are faring worse than 5 years previously when the median family income was 7.3% higher (in 2005 dollars) and 54.7% of non-immigrant median family income.” (Toronto’s Vital Signs®, 2009)

Participant Vignette

As the Green Opportunities project began hosting open houses, we were contacted by Yaneth Londono, a foreign trained professional interested in entering the environmental field. Before she came to Canada in 2004, Yaneth had been a lawyer focusing on environmental protection and waste reduction, with ten years of professional experience. Since arriving to Canada, Yaneth improved her English level, and took post-secondary courses on Environmental Management. Once both her children began attending school, Yaneth began her job search to realize that the Canadian Environmental sector was highly competitive.

Although Yaneth had attended language classes, had been an intern in a hospital’s recycling program, and did a co-op placement as a law clerk, she could only find entry level positions in hospitality and customer service. Although her English level was good enough to interact with individuals and work in the service industry, as an immigrant Yaneth did not have equal access or opportunities because she lacked an in-depth awareness of the environmental sector and did not have a personal network in the Canadian environmental sector.

Yaneth began volunteering with the Green Opportunities project and helped us to get in touch with various environmental stakeholders including municipalities, conservation authorities, local environmental groups, newcomer and settlement organization, as well as environmental and green sector businesses. In just two months of engagement with the Green Opportunities project, Yaneth had a well rounded knowledge base of the local and regional environmental sector, as well as contacts within various local environmental organizations, including green businesses, non-profit organizations and government contacts at the municipal and provincial level. With this awareness and support, Yaneth now feels that she has greater access to the environmental sector and has become involved with a local environmental organization, to develop a professional network that will allow her greater opportunities to participate fully in our local environmental sector.