VIPIRG Grants Program Launched!
This year VIPIRG is launching a new grants program for students and members of the greater Victoria community. Grants of up to $1000 are awarded to collectives or individual students.
The program funds projects aimed at creating positive change in the community through direct student and community engagement in events, research and campaigns around social justice issues. Projects could include a research paper, event, workshop, publication, multi-media presentation or performance.
All projects must increase knowledge, awareness, and dialogue on a given topic, with an emphasis on poverty – the particular focus of VIPIRG’s work over the next three years.
Grants for Collectives applications can be downloaded here.
Please note: The Grants Committee will award grants to collectives twice this year. If you're collective is unable to submit an application in time for the first deadline this fall, please apply in the spring. (Collectives may also be made up of students, but individual students must apply for the Grants for Students Program).
First run deadline: application due November 30, 2009.
Second run deadline: application due March 1, 2010.
Grants for Students applications can be downloaded here.
Please note: The Grants Committee will only award grants to individual students in our fall application process.
Grants for Students deadline:
November 30, 2009.
Temporary Autonomous Shelter Collective: TASC Survey Report 2009
TASC Survey Report 2009
The Temporary Autonomous Shelter Collective (TASC) is a group of homeless,
unstably housed and housed individuals who are determined to take collective
action on homelessness by ensuring that all residents on Coast Salish can live with
dignity, autonomy and respect. TASC was formed to explore the possibility of
creating user-run communities of temporary shelters, often called "tent cities".
While we were excited about the prospects of facilitating the process of creating a
user-run “tent city” in Victoria, we had to begin by seeing if there was a need and a
desire within our communities. Our first step was to get the opinions of those who
matter most – those who would be interested in living in a community of tents or
small shelters. We decided that the best and most inclusive way to hear what
people had to say would be to informally interview members of the street
community with a basic, simple and flexible survey as a guide. The survey was
distributed to people who self-identify as homeless or living in an unstable housing
situation in order to find out if they saw a need for a "tent city", and to see what
shape such a community would take. We will use the results of the survey to help
ensure that the project is guided by the visions, interests and needs of the
communities it will serve.
A team of volunteers and practicum students attended briefing sessions and
distributed the survey within the street community from February until April 2009.
We also tried to reach people who are homeless or unstably housed but who don’t
access downtown services by creating an on-line version of the survey.
Our humble, grassroots survey collected the reflections and opinions of 116 street-involved
individuals. This report summarizes the results of our survey.
TASC Survey Report 2009
