To learn more about resilience, the City asked Torontonians to share their understanding of resilience through stories. This included a campaign to collect people’s stories online, on postcards, through conversations with communities, and through the development of short films, financed by the Resilience Office through small grants.
Here are some resilience stories from residents and communities across the city:
This series of resilience stories is the work of filmmaker Mike Regis, who won an Artsworks Grant that supports youth employed in Communications. It features three Torontonians from diverse backgrounds sharing their stories of resilience.
Silent Voice is a Toronto-based organization that offers community and family-based support to deaf children and adults in American Sign Language. Their film tells the story of Mihret, a deaf refugee from Eritrea, and how Silent Voice helped her and her family to build their resilience.
This resilience story comes from the folks at the Mennonite New Life Centre, and features Nellys Garcia, an artist who came to Toronto from Venezuela. In it, Nellys talks of the challenges of being a newcomer in Toronto.
Village Bloggurls is a weekly girls’ leadership and media production/literacy program housed at the North York Community House in Lotherton, a private development near Lawrence Heights. Their film explores the resilience challenges and opportunities faced by the residents of this low-income community.
This resilience story comes from local filmmaker Gregory Greene and the folks at CREW (Community Resilience to Extreme Weather). It follows some of the people affected by this summer’s fire at 650 Parliament Street as they struggle to bounce back from that significant shock, and outlines how CREW is helping.
This resilience story comes from the folks at the Davenport-Perth Community Health Centre and follows the volunteers who make their Community Dining Program – a partnership with Second Harvest – possible. Through the program, the Centre provides free nutritious meals to one hundred or more members of the community.
This film features a series of short conversations with friends and staff of the Scadding Court Community Centre, as they discuss the meaning of resilience and the importance of more resilient food systems.