Tropicana Insider
SPRING 2021
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A Message from the Executive Director
Happy Anniversary Tropicana—This month marks our 41st year of crucial community work!
Over that period, Tropicana Community Services has been a quiet but potent force for good in Toronto’s community life and its not-for-profit sector. We’ve been changing lives and building human capital in our city for a good long time yet in many ways, we’re just getting started. Today, as we reach hopefully towards an open-ended future, we also look back at our four decades of history for strength and inspiration in uncertain times.
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Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative (SBCCI) Round One Completed
Last February, Tropicana Community Services, The Black Business Initiative, and Groupe 3737 were pleased to announce the first grant recipients of Canada’s Black-focused initiative called Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative (SBCCI).
Over 1100 applications were received Canada-wide, and Tropicana funneled a total of 178 who were looking to enhance operational management effectiveness and efficiency and build board governance capacity in any of the following categories: Empowerment through accountability; Accomplishment and measurement; or Service and fairness.
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Toronto’s Violence Against Women’s Shelters Launch #stillhereTO—an Outreach Campaign
Not everyone is safe at home and with the stay-at-home orders, women who live in violent homes are further isolated from the community and resources that help keep them safer. There has been a growing concern about violence against women during the pandemic, with preliminary data showing that incidences have risen nationwide by 20–30%.
VAWN (Violence Against Women Network), through the #stillhereTO campaign wants people to know that shelters and other support services for survivors of violence are still open. There is a safe place for women to turn to.
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Behind the Scenes at Tropicana
As part of celebrating our 41st Anniversary, we are adding this new section to our newsletter. Our people are the heart of our organization. They make a huge difference in the community every day. To celebrate the efforts of those that make us the organization that we are, and that we are proud to be, we will be highlighting a few of our team members each quarter to give them the recognition they deserve.
In this edition we showcase three hardworking individuals Nimo Abdulkadir, Karen Soltau, and Olive McKenzie.
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Harvest Share Receives $30,000
Grant from City of Toronto
In October 2020, Tropicana received a $30,000 grant from the City of Toronto to scale up our Harvest Share food distribution program. It came through the TO Supports 2020 COVID 19 Emergency Relief Funding program, to respond to the “urgent, unmet needs of Toronto’s vulnerable populations” from October 2020 to February 2021. These funds enabled us to invest in equipment and supplies and augment the food hampers distributed to local families. Thank you, City of Toronto.
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