Regent Park SDP Community Building Working Group Meeting April 2023

By Dawar Naeem
Dawar is a Community Journalist with Focus Media Arts Centre.

The Regent Park Social Development Plan is a community wide initiative aimed at fostering social cohesion and inclusion. The SDP Community Building Working Group is one of the four working groups of the Regent Park Social Development Plan (SDP). The goal of the Community Building working table of the SDP, is to Create and organize equitable spaces, events and groups that bring residents together and build bridges, particularly between market and TCH residents.

The Group meets every month to discuss various issues related to spaces and events in Regent Park.

In this month's meeting, the members discussed about the availability of the Daniels Spectrum's 3rd floor for the Regent Park's Social Development Plan (SDP) working groups. A document was shared in the meeting about this. According to the document, the SDP network now has access to all the shared spaces on the 3rd floor. This access is due to a lease agreement between Artscape, the Landlord, and Regent Park Neighborhood Association (RPNA), the tenant. The document also icludes the rules and  regulations regarding the use of the space.

Alif Ashraf the founder and the Executive Director of Mental Health Matters (MHM), i.e a non-profit organization in Regent Park,gave a presentation about MHM's activities in Regent Park. The organization aims to bring awareness and to address various barriers associated with mental health. Humaira and Halima shared their perspectives about organizing the Black History Month Event which happened in February. They spoke about how to make this event bigger better and more visible in the future for the residents of Regent Park.