The application for Ontario Endowment for Children and Youth in Recreation Fund and funds were distributed in the spring of 2010 and were utilized March 2012 to purchase plates, bowls, cups and utensils with the help of the CAPC program staff.  The new dishes and utensils will serve clients of both in-house programs by Catulpa Community Support Services, CAP-C and New Path Youth and Family Services ACT Program as well as other agencies and their affiliates for seminars, meetings and info sessions directed to agency reps, clients and the public for many years to come.

Showing off the new hardware is (left to right) Darlene Elder (Chair Community Foundation Board), Nancy Hastings (Catulpa Community Support Services CAP-C), Laurie Herd (New Path Foundation, Orillia Common Roof Project Supervisor), Kent Boehme (New Path Youth and Family Services ACT Program for Families)and Heather Code-Burrell (CAP-C Food Worker and Orillia Community Kitchen Resource Group Rep).

*photos* photo credit, Frank Matys, Orillia Today

Submitted by Laurie Herd

Common Roof open house ‘impressive’ to health unit ORILLIA – Staff and administration of the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit had a chance to rub elbows with the staff of other agencies in the Common Roof in Orillia at the facility’s open house on Thursday. Several hundred supporters and clients of the agencies in the Common Roof packed the Front Street building to tour the facilities and learn what services are available. “It was an impressive event, and the number of people who showed up indicates just how much interest there has been in the Common Roof in Orillia,” said Ellen Hartwick, who oversaw the health unit’s move into the new location. “It gave our staff a chance to really understand the potential of the services the Common Roof now offers. I have to tip my hat to Laurie Herd, the Common Roof coordinator, for all the work she did to put this event together.” The health unit had three prime objectives in mind when it began searching for a new home: a good location, the ability to strengthen partnerships in the community, and a site where shared space created economies, said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Charles Gardner. “Over the last 25 or 30 years we have been located at four other sites in the downtown. Throughout those moves, our staff has devoted itself to the city and its needs; a number of our employees have served in virtually every one of those offices,” Dr. Gardner said. “The Common Roof truly is a beautiful facility that will help us cement our relationship with the city in new ways, establish new partnerships with the other agencies in the building and provide even better service to the people of Orillia.” Orillia Councillor Linda Murray, who sits on the board of health, said the Common Roof will have long lasting benefits for the city. “Having the health unit as one of the lead tenants will help the Common Roof reach its full potential,” she said. “I know that our families, young adults, health professionals and food services – they’re all finding the new location convenient and helpful.” New Path Foundation board members and staff were pleased with the interest of local agency representatives, human-service providers and community members as indicated by the 200 plus people in attendance. “The Orillia Common Roof is an exceptional example of a multi-tenant non-profit centre that provides long term sustainability for vital community based human services and I am absolutely thrilled to see this successful culmination of collaborative planning by so many Orillia agencies and community citizens”, said Glen Newby, President and CEO of New Path Foundation, which developed, owns, and manages the Orillia Common Roof. Orillia’s Common Roof facility currently has nine tenants, with the Orillia Central Preschool soon to open two classes as well. The in-house agencies of New Path Foundation and New Path Youth and Family Services, Catulpa Community Support Services, the Orillia Housing Resource Centre, Alzheimer Society of North East Simcoe County, Catholic Family Services of Simcoe County, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit and newcomer Welcome Centre Immigrant Services showcased their available resources and programs in the facility’s 2nd floor space. These displays were further enhanced by visitors, Committee Advocating for People with Special needs (CAPS) who plan to partner with New Path Foundationand expand facilities on adjacent property. Boardrooms, Meeting rooms, waiting and resource areas as well as the kitchen on the main floor came alive with interactive program displays hosted by Catulpa’s CAPC, New Path Services for Tele-psychiatry and Observation room resources, Health Unit Clinic and Health Connection space and Endaad Native Non-Profit Homes for First Nations Traditions. Visitors from the Orillia Community Kitchen Resource Group prepared soup from Good Food Box supplies and local artists Brant Mawdsley and Shawn Ledouceur displayed their family themed art. Plaques to commemorate Funds generated at the 2011Orillia Winter Carnival’s Polar Bear dip for shared resource areas in the Orillia Common Roof and the exquisite wall quilt by Textile Artist Marilyn Lippert in tribute to the 10 founding Orillia Common Roof agencies were installed. Congratulations were extended by municipal, county, provincial and federal representatives. New Path Foundation Board Chair Paul Pratt (left), Orillia Mayor Angelo Orsi and New Path Foundation President & CEO Glen Newby at the Orillia Common Roof Grand Opening The Grand Opening was a culmination of work that began over 3-years ago. “The collaborative sharing, cooperation, and working together, evidenced by the Common Roof facility, represents a new, integrated business model for non-profit human service organizations, that will ensure their sustainability and mission fulfillment well into the future, while at the same time contributing to neighborhood revitalization and economic growth”, said Newby, “this truly is  a win-win situation all around”.

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The wall quilt depicts a variety of local flowers representing the 9 founding tenant agencies and took Lippert over 200 hours to  make. The quilt is now hanging in the Orillia Common Roof lobby for everyone’s enjoyment and will later be installed  in  the 1^st floor atrium to make space for the Living Wall.

The Grand Opening festivities, themed to celebrate families, will begin at 1:30 p.m. and will include greetings from local dignitaries, plaque installations, plus  building tours starting at 3:00 p.m. to showcase  tenant programs, an art work display, community kitchen cooking, and native drumming.

The New Path Foundation  event is open to the public and invites community members to attend in anticipation of the Family Day Holiday later in the week.

And so the fact remains that there are numerous groups, all doing good work for our community, out there competing for support dollars so that their programs or services can survive.

A lot of energy, time and people power is expended to research possible funding sources, build a proposal, and apply to the funder with follow-up. Usually even more resources are required to run an event. The rate of success can be directly related to the ‘talent’ that your office employs for writing, publicity and engagement and the time that can be devoted to it.

Most of the human service organizations that I have been involved with would far rather focus on the work that they do rather than ‘fundraise’ to see that it happens. The Common Roof model is a vehicle to help these organizations sustain their program while assisting with their operating budget.

To become a Common Roof partner an organization provides capital funds to accomplish building retrofits. This partner designation provides opportunities that ensure high visibility and affordable space and more importantly future sustainability and potential growth for the agency. What this means is that they are able to participate in a 10-year fixed rate plan and once the mortgage is paid they receive an unrestricted grant equalling 60-65% of their rent.

Nadine Ritchie, Coordinator of the Orillia Housing Resource Centre believes this is a great opportunity. “The benefit for us and for our clients is that we can focus our energy on the work we do, front-line services assisting people to find appropriate housing and less time on fund raising.”

However, fundraising does do more than just raise funds; it provides an opportunity to advertise your group’s vision and mission for those who need the services. Fundraising helps to engage the public about your program; helping to build a volunteer base. Fundraising efforts publicize the need filled by the organization’s mandate and can strengthen the bonds of the people doing the good work.

New Path Foundation has been fortunate to be the recipient of several funding opportunities for the Orillia Common Roof facility since the project started last year. One of the most fun and effective fundraiser for getting the word out about this project was the Orillia Winter Carnival’s Polar Bear Dip that took place in February.

Records of numbers of people came out to brace the cold waters of Lake Couchiching in support of our Common Roof Community Resource Centre and Couchiching Jubilee House’s new ‘house’.

Common Roof ‘chilly dippers’ included 9 Orillia Parks & Recreation aquatics team, New Path staffers Michelle Vennard and Doug Moore with family member Nick and friend Ely who all did a chillingly fine plunge. Media both before and during the event helped to create even more excitement and special thanks goes to Rob Reid of Swisssh Radio.

Jim Storey presenting his pledge of $2500 to Neville Twine of New Path Foundation

However, New Path had a sponsor in the Common Roof corner that got the funds rolling in for this ‘fundraising’ event. Jim Storey, Bradanick Construction’s general manager and contractor for the Common Roof retrofit pledged $2500 to the dippers and challenged others to offer support as well. This challenge started an internal fundraising frenzy and along with pledges from the community dippers resulted in an overall total raised of $9695 for the Common Roof.

Thanks to all who participated, donated or produced to the dip’s efforts the Common Roof is now a house hold name in Orillia.

Other fundraiser events this month by New Path Foundation include: Expand the Reach initiative with speak by Theo Fleury ‘Don’t Quit before the Miracle’, Tuesday, June 7 at 8p.m., Georgian Theatre in Barrie.

Not Just Jazz, Music, Mirth & Magic, Friday, June 17 at 7p.m. South Shore Centre, Barrie. Both events are to support children/youth mental health. For tickets see www.newpath.ca

Common Roof construction is ongoing and should be completed in July with various groups taking residency at the 169 Front St. S property in August. There is space still available for your agency to have a home within the Orillia Common Roof. Contact Laurie at the Orillia New Path Foundation office at 705-259-7663 for information about the Orillia Common Roof Project.

Glen Newby, President and CEO, and Ken Edwards, Director of Finance and Administration, along with Laurie Herd, Orillia Common Roof Coordinator, presented at the recent NonProfit Centres Network (NCN) conference in Los Angeles, California on May 9 – 11, 2011.  The NCN is a bi-national network of non-profit organizations which have realized, understood, and taken the first steps at ensuring agency sustainability through the use of shared space and shared services.  New Path, through the Common Roof projects, has been active on this network for a number of years, attending conferences regularly throughout the United States.  This past presentation focused on New Path business tools and assessment considerations that help determine the viability of going to scale and building the Orillia Common Roof.  The New Path team joined up with the United Way of Greater Houston, which has also successfully accomplished some similar initiatives throughout Texas.  The team was very pleased that over sixty Canadians attended this conference, more than ever in the past.  There is no question that the movement towards multi-tenant facilities is well underway now in Canada.

The NonProfit Centres Network has also just released the first-ever assessment of organizations sharing facilities across the US and Canada, and have documented evidence of what we have known for sometime about the Common Roof:

 “Significant improvements in overall effectiveness and efficiency, ultimately yielding greater impacts for the communities we serve”.

New Path’s Common Roof projects were active participants in this research.  The Executive Summary will be available soon at http://www.nonprofitcenters.org.

Glen Newby has been invited to sit on the NCN Steering Committee for the next three years to help further support and help guide future directions.  Perhaps one day the NCN conference will be held here in Southern Ontario.

Young people, who participate in sports, music or the arts, have unique relationships with their coach for these activities. Our goal is to create a “tool-kit” that would provide coaches with resources to better assist the youth they work with, and therefore capitalize on the close relationship. We hope this means that young people exhibiting mental health problems will receive the support they need earlier. 

We don’t yet know what the “tool-kit” will be, or what will be in it.   It could include a book of resources/phone numbers, mental health information/facts on early identification and intervention, how to approach coaching from a youth engagement model etc. We won’t know until we hear directly from the coaches, and that’s why we’re asking them about their experiences on the front lines. 

New Path Foundation and New Path Youth and Family Services will be celebrating the launch of this initiative with an event on Tuesday, June 7th 2011, Theo Fleury – Don’t Quit Before the Miracle.  Theo Fleury is a former NHL All-Star, Stanley Cup winner and Olympic Gold Medalist. Recently, Theo fascinated readers with his #1 bestseller, “Playing With Fire”. Now he is one of the country’s most in-demand keynote speakers. He shares funny stories behind the scenes with the game’s biggest stars. Theo tells jaw-dropping anecdotes of living hard at the top of the NHL, the crash that followed, and finally his comeback and redemption. Theo knows what it takes to become a champion, build a strong team and overcome incredible odds. His presentations entertain, motivate and inspire.

Details for this exciting event are as follows:

                                  Tuesday, June 7, 2011
                      Georgian Theatre, Georgian College
                                               Barrie, ON
                       8:00 pm – doors open at 7:30 pm

                              General Admission Tickets
                 Adults $20    Youth (24 yrs and under) $5

Tickets are available at the following locations:
Common Roof Barrie 705-725-4970
Common Roof Orillia 705-259-7663
New Path Barrie Office 705-733-2654
New Path Orillia Office 705-325-6161

For further information about this project or event and tickets please contact: Lisa Cluett, 705-458-4338 ext. 248

Construction continues at 169 Front Street South as the building expands and also becomes more delineated within while tenant areas and shared space for work and programming are refined.

Some programs offered require unique space features like a kitchen modeled after one at home. And although future development of the Common Roof Project campus includes a teaching or skills kitchen within its plan on the adjacent property the tenants set to move into the building at 169 Front St. S. this spring require specialized program space now.

Addressing this need presents design challenges as a staff lunch room area now becomes a working program kitchen which breaks out into larger meeting space. With collaboration and focus by the partner tenants, the design team and the builder these changes have been made facilitating the efficient use of this shared component. 

Partner tenants will be better able to service their clients through programming delivered in an area that works the best. Of course there are other community groups that New Path Foundation has been working with who also require kitchen space.

The Orillia Community Kitchen Resource Group provides information and workshops through partnerships with local agencies, businesses and individuals about nutrition, food preparation classes, kitchen skill development and budgeting while developing a sense of family and community through food programs. OCKRG also works to provide assistance to community members who take advantage of cooperative food programs such as the Good Food Box.  “I really enjoy the food I receive in my Good Food Box but sometimes I need some help as to how to prepare it.  What do I do with a 5-pound bag of beets?” asks the writer of this article.

So while they are a ‘virtual’ kitchen they do have resources that need a home such as their mobile kitchen case. OCKRG can provide home economists that travel to various locations for workshops and they bring the tools they need. The Common Roof is really a community centre in that now some of these programs can be delivered in this new, modern, bright facility accessible to any number of community groups; who will benefit from both the use of the facilities as well as the resources existing by the Orillia Community Kitchen Resource Group.

Epicure Donation to Orillia Common Roof

New Path Foundation partnering with OCKRG has mutually benefitted the groups as they expand resources by way of successful funding proposals. One being $500 worth of quality cookware provided by the Epicure Foundation.

The Common Roof kitchen becomes better equipped providing more opportunities to expand kitchen programs both with Common Roof tenant partners as well as community organizations. Opportunities exist to further extend the reach to new partners possibly with students of Georgian College or new programs at Lakehead University such as Humanities 101. The Orillia Community Kitchen Resource Group through their resource home economists will offer new programming with the Orillia Parks and Recreation Department this spring.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when you consider that the kitchen and meeting space located in the Front St. S. building will be dwarfed by the kitchen and food area, as well as recreation and sport facilities planned for Phase 2 at the adjacent Queen St E property.

Design plans that include a working resource kitchen and a multi-purpose room will further increase recreational, sport, educational and therapeutic options within the city creating expanded services while nurturing community partnerships.

Green initiatives, such as raised garden beds and a green house are being investigated to further enhance current community projects surrounding food rights and poverty issues.

The Orillia Common Roof project offers numerous and varied opportunities providing all community members access to; services, diverse activities, work, and play within safe, accessible, professional, visible and affordable facilities.

… a Community Centre bringing services and resources home via the kitchen.

Contact Laurie at the Orillia Common Roof office at 705-259-7663 or visit www.thecommonroof.ca for information about the Orillia Common Roof Project.

Construction continues on the Common Roof building and as tenant improvements and shared components are finalized the New Path Foundation office continues to work with agencies that need a home while investigating funding dollars to help accommodate them.

Orillia Winter Carnival committee announced that the Orillia Common Roof current build and Couchiching Jubilee House are to be the recipients of Polar Bear Dip pledge monies. Both very worthwhile projects that deserve lots of community support.

New Path Foundation, the lead agency for the Orillia Common Roof Project will direct these receipts toward a shared asset in the building currently being retrofitted at 169 Front Street South. The funds will be used for the development and installation of a resource area in the lobby of this building and will be utilized by clients, agency associates and community members. This resource will provide access to information and services available within the facility, the community, and the region and so on.

Bradanick’s Jim Storey stepped forward and offered to pledge $2500 to New Path Foundation for this Common Roof shared community resource. Orillia Parks & Rec Aquatics crew; the Twelve Frosty Flippers are the Chilly Dippers for Project Common Roof who will take the plunge at Couchiching Beach on Sunday, February 13^th at 2:00 p.m.

Jim is challenging other members of the local building trade sector and all community members to support the OPR Frosty Flipper Crew and donate to the cause.

Contact Laurie at the Orillia Common Roof office at 705-259-7663 to make your pledge or visit www.thecommonroof.ca
and do not forget to buy your Orillia Winter Carnival Button; enjoy the winter wonderful event running February 11,12,13 at the Port of Orillia and Couchiching Beach Park.

Laurie Herd                                                    
Project Coordinator                                        
Orillia Common Roof          
Tel: 705.259.7663               
lherd@thecommonroof.ca    
www.thecommonroof.ca 
www.newpath.ca