“Our new name and new logo is the result of a collaborative effort between staff and participants,” said executive director Rachel Robinson. “Collectively, we chose a new logo with a bold look and three coloured arches that represent the three day programs and capture our mission to be an inclusive, safe, and nurturing community for all.”

“The essence of our day programs has been to offer a place to belong to people who otherwise can often feel very unwelcome within our greater community,” said the Rev. Canon Dr. Peter John Hobbs, director general of the Anglican Community Ministries.  “Now, the long tradition of our Anglican day programs will continue under a name that is so fitting for the work that we have done over the last decades and as we turn now to the future of our service to the community.”

The new name and logo will be on signs at all three locations and all communications from the programs, including a new Belong Ottawa website.

Robinson emphasized that the aim and heart of programs have not changed. The mission is still to be an inclusive community where no one is marginalized, and everyone is valued and supported. The programs will continue to provide safe spaces to connect people and create community in all three locations. They will continue to address basic human needs and foster dignity, wellness and hope for all.

The three programs have been working closely throughout the pandemic and have had one executive director since 2020.

Robinson has said that the experience of the pandemic demonstrated the power of the three programs pooling resources.  They initiated outreach, delivering food to rooming houses and people on the street as well as helping them stay connected and offering showers, laundry, washrooms and social support.

That integration helped the programs respond and adapt quickly when a fire damaged St. Luke’s Anglican Church in October and St. Luke’s Table was displaced out of its facility in the church basement. The next day, staff were able to deliver food prepared at the Well to people who normally came to St. Luke’s Table.

The launch of the new name and logo were originally planned for fall 2022, but it was delayed as the staff pivoted to cope with the temporary loss of the St. Luke’s Table location, which will reopen after the building has been restored.

Robinson told staff at the diocese that the programs could not go back to the way they were operating before the pandemic. “We can’t if we want to be prepared for another crisis,” she said. “There are more people to help. We need to keep the channels among the three programs open so we can be flexible and move staff and resources to where they need to be. We don’t want to lose that. We want to fortify it, so we are better prepared for whatever the future holds.”

The merger extends to streamlined governance. Instead of three separate management boards Belong Ottawa will be reporting to one board composed of about nine individuals both from the Diocese and the community at large. The board, in turn, is appointed by the Community Ministries Committee of the Diocese.

-— with files from David Humphreys

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There will be food, entertainment and activities for the women and gender diverse people who use the organizations’ services at St. Joseph’s Church on Wilbrod St. at the event put on by Belong Ottawa at The Well, Cornerstone Housing for Women, (both Anglican Community Ministries) along with Dress for Success, Harmony House, Immigrant Women Services of Ottawa, Interval House of Ottawa, the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre, and St. Joe’s.

Sarah Davis, executive director of Cornerstone Housing for Women, told Crosstalk that this is the first time since the pandemic began that all of the organizations will host a joint event.

The pandemic deepened the agencies’ connections, said Davis. “As you can imagine, crisis brings people closer together. Those partnerships are really forged to the point where we have memorandums of understanding with our sister organizations and are doing much more collaborative work on the ground together,” she said. “I don’t think any of us would have made it through to “knock on wood” the other side [of the pandemic] without our sister agencies, so we’re really celebrating the collaboration and partnerships,  lifting each other up as we supported each other through the last three years.”

It’s also an opportunity to highlight some of the gaps in services that still need attention, Davis said. “We’re always at maximum capacity. There was one day in December I believe when we turned away 22 phone calls, referrals to our shelter alone, and we’re just one service organization.” High inflation, near impossible rent increases and higher interest rates for mortgages are only increasing the number of people who are precariously housed, she added.

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