Where the village meets the city
Growing Up Healthy Downtown offers young children and parents safe and diverse spaces to connect, play and learn
It is commonly said that “it takes a village to raise a child”. But in a densely populated, multicultural, bustling city like Toronto, communities are often fragmented. The village is not always easy to find and parents or caregivers struggle if they do not have a strong personal support network.
Growing Up Healthy Downtown, a program funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Community Action Program for Children, helps create a “village” for these families by providing programs and services that focus on improving the health and well-being of young children, and offering support and new skills to their parents or caregivers.
A partnership between eight multi-service organizations in central Toronto, Growing Up Healthy Downtown, or GUHD as it’s often called, offers a range of high-quality programs to families with children up to the age of six. “Our programs and services are based on the guiding principles of children first, equity and accessibility and community-focused,” says Sophia Ali, GUHD’s co-ordinator based at Family Service Toronto.
“We create safe, clean spaces with a variety of stimulating activities for children and parents. Moms make up the major- ity of parents who bring their children to GUHD activities.”
“Most of our parents are stay-at-home moms,” says Chantelle Flowers, a GUHD coordinator at University Settlement, which, along with The 519 Church St. Community Centre, Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood Centre, Dixon Hall, Family Service Toronto, Harbourfront Community Centre, St. Christopher House and Woodgreen Community Services, makes up the eight-agency partnership. “They like coming to the program because they get a mental break from the daily routine. They also like interacting with other parents.”
Providing respite and relief to caregivers is one of the objectives of GUHD, as is improving their capacity to engage with their community and contribute to community development. GUHD activities expose caregivers and children to the diversity of families around them. “A basic feature of GUHD is that we welcome people with labels and without labels,” observes Sophia. “GUHD is a cause for celebration because it promotes open-mindedness and provides opportunities to explore differences.”
“Diverse participants want to connect with and provide mutual support to each other,” says Joanne Chong-Kettle of The 519. “Many people we see are newcomers who are isolated or are learning English. Some participants are sole-support parents. We respect and value the principles of equity, inclusion and the dignity of all.”
Those GUHD programs include drop-in caregiving programs, children’s swimming, kinder gym, reading circles, music programs, community kitchens, creative arts, monthly queer family mixers and an annual summer festival. GUHD has also developed other initiatives. They include Families Are Important Resources, a three-year project to help families become involved in their communities, and Ready For School Connects, which offers educational programs to newcomer families to help ease children’s transition to school.
Through play, socializing and learning, GUHD gives both young children and parents opportunities to grow and improve their well-being, increase their knowledge, address racism and stereotypes and become empowered to improve their lives. And that makes all the difference to growing up healthy downtown.
For more information about GUHD go to GUHD website.
355
Church St., Toronto ON M6C 1L9