New community hub in Sunalta to combat social isolation, food insecurity
After over a decade of planning and fundraising, the Sunalta Community Association broke ground Monday on a project it says will help address chronic needs throughout the community.
The Sunalta community hub project will result in a new standalone building in Sunalta Park that will offer gathering spaces and free programming for community members. The project will also feature an outdoor multisport hardscape and expanded community gardens.
Jenny Vickers, the executive director of the Sunalta Community Association, said the space has been intentionally designed to increase social inclusion and food security and reduce poverty.
According to Sunalta's website, 34 per cent of the community's residents live alone and one in four residents live on low income.
Vickers said the community association hopes to open the first phase of the new hub in late 2024 or early 2025, and that future phases will include a commercial kitchen and a coffee kiosk, the proceeds of which will be fed back into the community.
"We hired a team of business experts to be able to do the business planning for us and it showed really large profit margins on the commercial kitchen and the coffee kiosk," said Vickers.
"So we feel very confident going into the new hub space that revenue can be put back into continuing to offer free programs and services to the tune of between $300,000 and $500,000 a year."
Renderings of the project on the association's website show plans for a future outdoor stage to host concerts, as well as a community greenhouse.
Jenny Vickers said she hopes the new community hub will bring people together. (Helen Pike/CBC News)
Vickers added that the need for the project was in part spurred by the fact that the current Sunalta community hall — which will remain in operation alongside the hub — is being run at capacity.
"The need in the community is too great for us to meet with our current space. And being a heritage hall, it has a number of challenges. So, for example, it's not accessible, which doesn't make for a very welcoming and inclusive space."
Coun. Courtney Walcott said aspects of the project have been designed to reflect the needs of a changing community.
"[This project] matches the demographics of the community, knowing that there's a significant number of refugees, new immigrants," said Walcott.
"Changing this field into a legitimate soccer field, for example, was an intentional decision to fit with this neighbourhood."
Walcott said a key aspect of the project is that future businesses run out of the hub will be social enterprises.
"This is a building that is not trying to make money. It's trying to serve the community and make sure that the operations overall are sustainable."
He added he hopes the community hub can be a model for other similar spaces in the city.
Nick Twyman, a member of the association's community hub committee, said he hopes the project will serve people who may feel more marginalized within the inner-city neighbourhood.
"This building is the culmination of the vision to try to create something that's going to be sustainable and something that we can impact as many lives as possible to make everybody feel that sense of community."
