The fiduciary project of NDG Community Council is a heartwarming tradition that has been running for over three decades. Organized exclusively by a dedicated team of volunteers, this Christmas Day event brings the community together for a delightful meal and warm fellowship. It's made possible by the generous support of the community, with donations that include cash contributions, turkeys, baked goods, beverages, and gifts for the children, demonstrating the spirit of giving and unity during the holiday season

Following its successful debut in 2015, The Council was once again proud to be the fiduciary for the 4th edition of the Porchfest music festival in May 2018.
Held over 2 days with more than 100 musical performances on balconies spread across the neighbourhood, the festival brought thousands of people out as spectators, NDG residents and visitors to the neighbourhood alike, and raised more than six thousand (6,000$) in donations for the Walkley Community Centre. Porchfest is now a staple of NDG’s cultural scene and the partnership between the Council and the amazing Porchfest team is as strong as ever. We will continue in our supporting role for 2019 and beyond. Aurora Robinson and Sarah Ring work tirelessly with a team of volunteers and musicians to host this wonderful weekend.

The NDG Art Hive is a free, accessible, bilingual community art studio that has been offered in a variety of locations in NDG since 2015. This past year, we offered several hours per day of programming, five days per week across six different sites in NDG including popups at Benny Library, Walkley and SaintRaymond’s Centre and a Saturday outdoor art hive in Park Georges StPierre. Our total participation count was over 2,000 seniors, families and individuals. We reached approximately 45 seniors in the HLMs (social housing buildings on Bourret, Monkland, SaintRaymond, Girouard) who appreciated having this welcoming and inclusive activity in the common room of their buildings.
Special thanks to the NDG Community Council and Notre Dame des Arts for offering fiduciary support. In the upcoming year, we face new funding challenges and encourage people to donate and volunteer. Contact Marlo at 514.482.4435 or email ndg.arthive@gmail.com for more info.

Residents committees in HLMs have the same requirements as bigger organisations when it comes to reporting and finances. As these tasks can be overwhelming, The Council is currently offering support to HLM Monkland Committee by taking care of all financial matters, ensuring they continue receiving subsidies from OMHM and regular donors.

Incorporated in 2012, Bienvenue à Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is a non-profit organization whose mission is to facilitate the integration of immigrants (newcomers or others) into the community life of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

The initiative that the Council has chosen to highlight for this application is that of Bienvenue à NDG, an organization that supports the integration of new immigrants in the neighborhood. Bienvenue à NDG was formed relatively recently, though the process started a decade ago in 2007 as a response to the closing of the Centre Multi-ethnic, an organization that had provided services to immigrants in the neighborhood for over 15 years. Recognizing that a significant gap in services and support for an important (and growing) segment of the local population had been created, the Council worked quickly to mobilize different partners, from private residents to the Borough of CDN-NDG, to better understand the needs in the community and to find solutions to fill the void. 

Starting in 2009, the Council led a multi-year process of creating a permanent solution to serving the needs of new immigrants in our neighborhood. Through a collective action in 2012, the community officially formed Bienvenue à NDG which the Council incubated as a project for several years until such time that it was able to establish itself as its own entity.  Still today, the Council continues to work closely with Bienvenue à NDG and to support its mission through collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and by sharing office space, as we strongly believe in the work and services they provide in the community.  As well, many NDG residents continue to take pride in and feel ownership of Bienvenue à NDG and remain deeply implicated: as volunteers, as Board Members, or as participants in their activities.

This process of Bienvenue à NDG’s formation is a clear demonstration of Council’s role in identifying a community need and then in taking leadership in mobilizing a wide range of actors in a collective action to support a common solution.

The Depot Community Food Centre, or The Depot, formerly The NDG Food Depot, is now a well-known leader in the fight against poverty and food insecurity in NDG and beyond.  It has been an autonomous organization since 2003. 

Food banks first appeared in Canada in the early eighties, in part because of the recession of 1981.  There were almost suddenly new needs to fight poverty and food insecurity all over the country, and many organizations, such as Centraide, were invited to help. 

In the NDG area, the NDG Community Council  became involved and created, in 1986, a new program, the NDG Food Depot, or the “Food Bank”, under the leadership of Sandra Frosst. The first location was Saint Augustine Church on Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Avenue. Two years later, the Depot moved for the summer in the small chalet of the Girouard Park. In the fall of 1989, a new location was found on Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Avenue until 1992 when it moved to the Oxford Street site.

A Food Needs Committee (FNC) was set up as a committee of the NDG Community Council  to coordinate the food needs in the neighbourhood at a time when the churches were giving out food.  January 14, 2001, the NDG Community Council Board of Directors decided that, after 14 years, it was time for the Food Bank to become autonomous.

1986 - Food Depot is founded by concerned citizens and operated as a project of the NDG Community council out of St. Augustine’s Church rectory.
2003 - The Depot becomes an independent organization with charitable status.

Logis Action
An independent organization since September 2016, LogisAction continues to benefit from the support of the Community Council for its daily operations. The Council is proud to offer them a free (or several!) office space and access to equipment and meeting rooms to enable them to offer assistance and referral services to neighbourhood tenants, who are in need of advice on their current rental situation or in search of a new home. 564 tenants benefited from the service this year, both at the Council’s offices and through their satellite services at the NDG Food Depot and the

With the amazing work of our Chinese Community Mobilizer; a Chinese senior group has formed in NDG! They seek new knowledge with different workshops around housing or French language skills. As an ethnic group, they feel heard in the community and often support the council in other activities.

Seniors from the Persian community continue to gather in our space one evening a week with the support of a generous volunteer. Having access to our space provides these 15 to 20 seniors with a social engagement every week, strengthens
friendships, reduces isolation, and keeps them informed about what they have access to in the community.
Playing games, sharing food and knowledge, or playing music; the Council provides this group with more than just a space - we allow them to
be themselves and feel safe together.

This group was created by a stay at home mom in need of peer support. They now are 7-10 mo-thers who meet weekly with their young children and do school preparation activities as well as educative games. This is an opportunity for both those children and mothers to socialize and share experiences.
The project has grown and last summer Motherland went on various field trips, ending the season with a sleepover camping trip. This is an opportunity for both child and mother to socialize and share experiences with others in similar life experiences.

Atelier Apart is a community arts and culture space open to everyone in the NDG community and beyond. Located in an apartment at 6462 Sherbrooke St. West and formerly known as the Sherbrooke Forest Art Hive, Atelier Apart will host activities and events such as art hives, artist residencies, free art workshops, artist presentations, and exhibitions.

Space rent for Community Organisation.  We support our members with space when they have a problem with General Mission Funding.

We provide a room space in the evening time for our members for free to support their workshops.