ACORN Canada | Uniting Communities for Justice

Cape Breton ACORN Continues Impressive Growth

Cape Breton ACORN is growing fast! Dozens of people came together to rally (link) for affordable and livable housing, and hundreds are now involved. Members are planning the next steps of their Healthy Homes campaign, and deciding what other issues to build campaigns in response to.

There’s an important municipal election on the horizon in Cape Breton, and ACORN Canada members will be working hard to make sure tenants’ voices are heard. Member-organizers will work door-to-door to boost voter turnout and make their issues into election issues.

To get involved, contact Cape Breton ACORN (http://www.acorncanada.org/contact)!

Ottawa ACORN Rally for Improved Social Assistance

Ottawa ACORN members and our allies from the Put Food in the Budget campaign will take Dalton McGuinty shopping to show how social assistance is failing recipients who are trying to buy healthy food for their families. There will be a press event and outreach in front of 1465 Merivale Rd (Food Basics) on Thurs, May 24 at 12 noon.

Ottawa ACORN & Put Food in the Budget are calling for an increase in Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program.

Ottawa West EMC: Community Housing, ACORN team up in Carlington, Residents fed up with needles, garbage

EMC news - Nathalie Cledanor is a single mother of a nine-year-old girl. She lives in Carlington and is tired of seeing needles and garbage strewn across the neighbourhood and having no lighting where her daughter plays.

"I want a safe neighbourhood for our children," said Cledanor, 28, who was part of an Ottawa ACORN event on April 12 that saw group members and Ottawa Community Housing staff working together to clean up a park on Caldwell Avenue.

 Cledanor said she moved from Ottawa's east end to the Caldwell neighbourhood because she was told there were lots of children in the area and it was a good neighbourhood.

"I was told it was a good neighbourhood because there's playgrounds, a community centre, and a lot of children," she said. "When I'm in my apartment, I feel safe, but not when I'm outside. It's not fair for people to be trapped in their house."

Read more:

Ottawa Sun: Community fed up with drug infested park

Members of the Carlington community want more help to reduce the needle problem plaguing their area.

The neighbourhood has been in the news lately because a six-year-old boy was pricked by a needle left behind by drug users.

ACORN, an independent organization that deals with issues impacting low-income communities, along with members of the Carlington community, have formally asked the Ottawa Community Housing Corp, to remedy four things.

“We want more needle drop boxes, we want more pickups, we want more needle hunters and we want the hunters to broaden their route,” said ACORN member and Carlington resident Robbie McCall.

The community has just the one drop box, and McCall said it’s always full. 

Read more:

Video: Ottawa ACORN cleans Pleasant Park

Video via the Ottawa Citizen (Adobe Flash Player Required)