The Social Development Society of Ville-Marie is promoting a partnership between the Welcome Hall Mission (Mission Bon Accueil) and Place Alexis Nihon.

Place Alexis Nihon, a property of the real estate investment and development company Homburg Canada, is an urban complex of over 2.4 million square feet just a short distance from downtown Montreal and moves to the rhythm of the 38 000 visitors, workers and students bustling through each day. Constructed in 1967, the year of the World Exposition in Montreal, Place Alexis Nihon is a multi-purpose commercial property that includes two business towers, a residential tower, a shopping centre and an underground parking lot for 1100 cars.

The Welcome Hall Mission (Mission Bon Accueil) was founded by T.B. Macaulay, a Christian business man from Montreal who later became president of Sun Life Insurance Company.

Mr. Macaulay sought to relieve the suffering of the indigent men he saw in the streets around Central Station in the early 20th century. He started a community soup kitchen which became a refuge for the homeless. Eventually this refuge became a food bank, a children's service and a centre for street kids.The Mission is always to extend a warm welcome to everyone who comes to our door. Here they find shelter, a caring person to listen, and a chance to rebuild their lives.

Today, this organisation offers more than ever a wide range of services and employs 85 full time people working in three different buildings in Montreal.

You can contact the Social Development Society of Ville-Marie at 514-312-7344.

The Commercial Development Corporation of the Village (SDC du Village), the Urban Development Corporation (CDU) and the Social Development Society of Ville-Marie (SDSVM) are pleased to collaborate with Sac à Dos to improve the lot of the homeless over the summer period, as well as their relationship with the business community.

People from the social reintegration program who use the Sac à Dos day centre will have the opportunity to receive economic assistance thanks to a program to clean commercial doorways on Saint-Catherine Street, Saint-Lawrence Boulevard and Cartier Street. The project will also help ease what is at times an awkward situation for the business community and pedestrians, as well as tensions on Saint-Catherine Street due to the presence of homeless individuals.

In January 2004, Sac à Dos opened its doors in the basement of St. John United Church, located at 110 Saint-Catherine Street East. This organisation offers a storage service to those who have lost their lodging, allowing them to keep what they own in a safe location.

With the collaboration of the local Employment Centre, Sac à Dos also offers postal services which allow homeless individuals to receive their social assistance cheques, mail from their friends and family, appointments with their doctor, and other services. They also offer a place to exchange ideas, reflect and seek help for their diverse needs, such as looking for lodging, hygienic needs or connecting with people of interest to them.

The mission of the Commercial Development Corporation of the Village (SDC du Village) is the commercial and economic development of the district known as “the Village”, specifically Saint-Catherine Street East (between Berri and Cartier) and Amherst (between René-Lévesque and Robin).

The Commercial Development Corporation of the Village (SCD du Village) is seeking a consensus with the community and the establishment of links with the economic forces in the district.

The objective of the Urban Development Corporation of the Saint-Lawrence district is to promote the physical revitalisation, the economic vitality as well as the cultural and touristic dynamics of the district in partnership with existing resources.

Like the Commercial Development Corporation of the Village, we invite you to support this cause which addresses homelessness and poverty. You can contact the Social Development Society of Ville-Marie at 514-312-7344.

The SDSVM sincerely thanks RSM Richter Chamberland and associates for the great generosity they have demonstrated towards three borough agencies.

On June 2, 2010, nearly 600 employees from RSM Richter Chamberland, the Société générale de financement du Québec, Export Development Canada and the CIBC bank dedicated one day to the community. 40 of these volunteers enabled Herstreet, Poussons-Poussette and the residents of Habitations Jeanne-Mance to carry out important cleaning, painting and renovation work.

RSM Richter Chamberland is one of Canada’s largest independent accounting and business consulting services firms. Founded in 1926, the firm offers financial consulting services in the areas of auditing, taxation, restructuring, business valuation and corporate financing, financial litigation support, insolvency, forensic accounting and wealth management.

The firm’s growth over the past 80 years has been based on the real spirit of enterprise of its public accountants. The firm’s professionals work together with the leaders and founders of Quebec business, advising them and, in particular, monitoring the healthy growth of their businesses. This is our passion and our reason for living.

“Our firm shares similar values with regards to a decidedly client-based approach and a priority on the well-being of our professionals. We are a bilingual firm that is both in touch with the new realities of local businesses and open to international opportunities. This gives us a unique position in the market that we are truly proud of,” explains managing partner Stephen Rosenhek.

Montreal’s Herstreet [Rue des femmes] helps homeless women and women in difficulty. In 2002, Herstreet opened a new multiservice centre complete with an integrated housing unit called the Olga House. Each year, nearly 400 women in distress seek Herstreet’s help. Herstreet was able to have its lounge repainted and the common areas at Olga House cleaned.

Poussons-Poussette, a non-profit community family agency, was established in 1989. It has offered a drop-in day-care centre since it began, and family services in Montreal’s Centre-South district since 1993. For them, this project came at just the right time. They were able to have their new site repainted and new flooring installed before moving in.

The Corporation d'habitation Jeanne-Mance is a paramunicipal agency mandated by the City of Montreal and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to manage the social housing project known as Les Habitations Jeanne-Mance. With 788 homes, Les Habitations Jeanne-Mance (HJM), inaugurated in 1959, covers an area of about one square kilometre in the heart of the Faubourg Saint-Laurent in downtown Montreal. The Corporation has generously managed the project on behalf of its residents. On this day, the volunteers repainted or cleaned space inside the homes of tenants unable to do the work for themselves.

In addition to all this work, staff of RSM Richter Chamberland and associates also donated various items to meet the specific needs presented by the agencies.

If you wish to organize a volunteer day and donate your talents to an agency, please do not hesitate to get in touch. It will be a pleasure to support you in your efforts.

Created in February 2007, Eidos-Montreal is one of the driving forces of the Eidos group, which is now owned by Square-Enix Holdings. This Montreal studio, which specializes in top-quality video games for next-generation consoles, continues the pursuit of excellence that is the Eidos hallmark.

Maisons Adrianna

Maisons Adrianna works with the family and with other community agencies to provide an educational and social environment that promotes empowerment and encourages child development. It offers a drop-in day-care centre for those under five, distributes food to Centre-South residents; and sells clothing at reduced prices.

Sixteen Eidos employees spent Saturday, May 29 repainting the day-care centre, cleaning the kitchen and used clothing store, and maintaining the grounds.

We thank all these generous volunteers!

Beginning in late May, homeless people who find shelter at the Maison du Père will also find an opportunity for social and economic integration thanks to the employability pilot project at the Consortium Écho-Logique operations and sorting centre. Throughout the sorting centre’s operations period, five days a week, jobs will be planned and reserved for workers from among the Maison du Père’s clientele.

Having worked with the homeless for 40 years, the Maison du Père is much more than just a place to eat and sleep. Every day, its team offers the support needed by those trying to escape homelessness, as well as mentoring services to ensure everyone’s success.

A social economy enterprise founded in 2001, the Consortium Écho-Logique is distinguished by its unique vision focusing on its values of social economy and eco-citizenship, and its dynamic and innovative image. The first business in Quebec to systemically introduce environmental materials management on event sites, the Consortium Écho-Logique was founded after it was noted that garbage generated during special events is almost entirely made up of recyclable materials. With an enviable reputation as specialists in environmental residual material management, the Consortium works, year after year, to develop an enormous eco-citizen movement with assistance from its Green Team, festival-goers, event promoters and the public. The Consortium’s objective is to try to get every citizen to work together towards a sustainable future where landfills are no longer the only alternative available.

Just like Consortium Écho-Logique, we invite you to support a social project. The Société de développement social de Ville-Marie can be reached at 514 312-7344.

Spectre de rue is a community agency that has been active in the Ville-Marie district for nearly twenty years helping marginalized young people who are struggling with addiction, prostitution, homelessness and mental health problems by supporting their socialization and social integration, and by improving relations with the public and the neighbourhood by fostering awareness of the realities facing them.

From May 31 to October 29 of this year, the Tapaj program will organize sheltered workshops on an organic farm located at Saint Marie-Salomé in the Lanaudière region.

Accompanied by two youth workers and a participating farmer, groups of five young people will carry out various tasks relating to the operation of an organic farm such as planting, mowing or even harvesting.

The Ministry of Education will finance part of the budget for this program.

Just like the Ministry of Education, we invite you to support various social projects in the Ville-Marie borough. The Société de développement social de Ville-Marie can be reached at 514 312-7344.

The RAP Jeunesse (Rue Action Prévention Jeunesse [Youth Prevention Street Action]) agency has made it its mission to take direct action to provide assistance, within their home neighbourhoods, to young people from all cultural backgrounds who are experiencing problems such as poverty, isolation, family breakup, generational conflict, violence, addiction and prostitution.

The main goal of the Jeux de la Rue [Street Games] is to organize sports activities for young Montrealers 12 to 24 years old. Marginalized young people excluded from traditional sports networks receive particular attention, as do those from the cultural communities. The choice of activities offered is based on the needs and realities of the young people and their neighbourhoods. This project also aims to develop participants’ social and physical skills. By encouraging social interaction during the events, this community project allows participants and the various social stakeholders in the partner neighbourhoods to maintain or develop friendly relationships. In the two years of its existence, the summer games have attracted some 1500 young people.

The soccer finals will take place in August 2010 on the new Pierre-Dupuy School grounds in the Ville-Marie borough. Between 150 and 200 young participants are expected to take part.

Idée Concept Inc., based in the Saint-Marie neighbourhood, is an advertisement agency that will be partly financing this event.

Just like Idée Concept Inc., we invite you to support a social project. The Société de développement social de Ville-Marie can be reached at 514 312-7344.

FIRST Robotics Competition is a robotics competition designed to help young people discover how interesting and rewarding the life of engineers and researchers can be.

It has a clear goal: high-school students have six weeks to construct a fully functional, high-quality robot capable of playing soccer, assessed at $25,000. During this time, the young people work together with university experts and engineers, a learning experience that allows them to widen their scientific knowledge. The robots were built in Montreal schools before February 23 and the competition is to take place in Toronto in April.

Thanks to Fusion Youth, which works with universities to address high-school drop-out rates, BMO Financial Group–Québec, Bell, Bombardier Inc., CAE, Hydro Quebec and Vigilant Futures have joined forces with this agency to offer young people in four Montreal public high schools a chance to take part in this international robotics competition:

• Honoré-Mercier
• Pierre-Dupuy
• Saint-Henri
• Henri-Bourassa

In connection with this activity, the OPMC (Old Port of Montréal Corporation) has invited 45 high-school students taking part in the FIRST Robotics Competition to spend a day at the Montreal Science Centre.

Just like the Old Port of Montréal Corporation, we invite you to support a social project. The Société de développement social de Ville-Marie can be reached at 514 312-7344.

La Société de développement social de Ville Marie has decided to support the TAPAJ Program and facilitate a partnership between Spectre de rue and l’École de technologie supérieure.

Spectre de rue is a community agency that has been active in Ville-Marie for nearly twenty years. It helps marginalized young people struggling with addiction, prostitution, homelessness and mental health problems. It also supports them in their socialization and social reintegration while increasing awareness within the community and among the general public about the realities facing these young people and encouraging their assimilation.

Since 2000, Spectre de rue has managed the TAPAJ Program, which targets those living on the edge who are unprepared to enter the labour market for both personal and vocational reasons. TAPAJ offers these young people short-term work contracts that allow them to tackle challenges in their lives such as housing, health, substance abuse and self-esteem issues. This enables them to improve their living conditions as adults and develop their personal confidence and self-esteem as well as their capacity to have trust in others. The TAPAJ program also allows them to acquire new personal and vocational skills.

To achieve the objectives of the TAPAJ Program and offer an alternative to the legal system for dealing with young people involved in street occupations the law considers illegitimate, we need companies that are prepared to commit to TAPAJ, companies prepared to offer these young people employment opportunities commensurate with their skills.

Seeing the positive impacts of the TAPAJ program on young people and the need to increase employment opportunities, the SDSVM is proud to have chosen to support TAPAJ and have facilitated this partnership between Spectre de rue and the sport Center of l’École de technologie supérieure . We are grateful to l’École de technologie supérieure for offering them their first employment opportunity.

ETS’s main focuses are higher education and research in applied engineering and technology in order to promote and advance technological and economical development in Quebec. Its sports Center is open to all the citizens in the area and offers high quality facilities, including a very modern training room.

ETS has nearly 5 000 students, 1 000 of which are at the graduate level. In Quebec, almost one engineer out of four holds a degree from ETS (730 new engineers in 2008).

The thirteen Scholars of the 2009-2010 Sauvé Scholars Program and the SDSVM are thrilled to collaborate to provide practical and financial support to implement a project with Sac à Dos. This project will provide recreational events for fifteen people who are taking part in a reintegration program for the homeless. Soccer, basketball and other team sports will be offered.

The Sauvé Scholars Program is the flagship initiative of the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation. Every year since 2003, up to 14 remarkable young leaders from across the globe have been given the opportunity to live in Montreal for a nine-month period to develop concrete initiatives and achieve personal and professional goals. To date, the Program has welcomed 87 Scholars from 44 countries.

In January 2004, Sac à Dos opened its doors in the basement of the Saint-Jean United Church (110 Saint-Catherine Street East) in Montreal. The organization offers storage services for those who have lost their homes so that they can keep their possessions in a safe place.

With the cooperation of the local Employment Centre, Sac à Dos also offers a post box service to allow the homeless to receive their social assistance checks and correspondence from friends and family, to make necessary appointments , e.g. with physicians. It also offers support for housing searches, health services, or re-establishing contact with family and friends, as well as a meeting place for conversations and discussions with peers.

We invite you to join the 209-2010 Sauvé Scholars in supporting a cause related to homelessness and poverty. The Société de développement social de Ville-Marie can be reached at 514 312-7344.

Thanks to the support of clothing manufacturer ENFIN SPORTS MODE, the Maison du Père has received a donation of more than 200 items of clothing.

Since 1988, ENFIN SPORTS MODE has donated superior quality clothing, suitable for organizations’ needs, manufactured in Quebec from high quality materials.

Now celebrating 40 years of serving the homeless, the Maison du Père is much more than a refuge or a place to eat and sleep.

On a daily basis, its team provides all those who ask with the support they require to escape homelessness, as well as mentoring services to prevent them from ending up on the streets.

Just like ENFIN SPORTS MODE, we invite you to support a cause related to homelessness and poverty. The Société de développement social de Ville-Marie can be reached at 514 312-7344.

The Social Development Society of Ville-Marie facilitated a partnership between Spectre de Rue and ETS (École de technologie supérieure).

La Société de développement social de Ville Marie has decided to support the TAPAJ Program and facilitate a partnership between Spectre de rue and l’École de technologie supérieure.

Spectre de rue is a community agency that has been active in Ville-Marie for nearly thirty years. It helps marginalized young people struggling with addiction, prostitution, homelessness and mental health problems. It also supports them in their socialization and social reintegration while increasing awareness within the community and among the general public about the realities facing these young people and encouraging their assimilation.

Since 2000, Spectre de rue has managed the TAPAJ Program, which targets those living on the edge who are unprepared to enter the labour market for both personal and vocational reasons. TAPAJ offers these young people short-term work contracts that allow them to tackle challenges in their lives such as housing, health, substance abuse and self-esteem issues. This enables them to improve their living conditions as adults and develop their personal confidence and self-esteem as well as their capacity to have trust in others. The TAPAJ program also allows them to acquire new personal and vocational skills.

To achieve the objectives of the TAPAJ Program and offer an alternative to the legal system for dealing with young people involved in street occupations the law considers illegitimate, we need companies that are prepared to commit to TAPAJ, companies prepared to offer these young people employment opportunities commensurate with their skills.

Seeing the positive impacts of the TAPAJ program on young people and the need to increase employment opportunities, the SDSVM is proud to have chosen to support TAPAJ and have facilitated this partnership between Spectre de rue and l’école de technologie supérieure . We are grateful to f l’école de technologie supérieure or offering them their first employment opportunity.

ETS’s main focuses are higher education and research in applied engineering and technology in order to promote and advance technological and economical development in Quebec.

ETS has nearly 5 000 students, 1 000 of which are at the graduate level. In Quebec, almost one engineer out of four holds a degree from ETS (730 new engineers in 2008).

In response to concerns about Quebec’s high drop-out rate, McGill University's Faculty of Law has established an awareness program for secondary students called the High School Outreach Program.

Already established in three schools, this program is expanding to a fourth, the École secondaire Pierre-Dupuy.

Twice per term, four volunteer law students will visit two Secondary III classes at École secondaire Pierre-Dupuy. They will lead pupils and teachers in discussions and exercises about law and social justice.

High school students also get to visit McGill University during the school year. Most of them have never before set foot on a university campus, or even considered the possibility of a postsecondary education. They will spend a full day at McGill, meeting with students and professors and visiting the sports facilities.

La Société de développement sociale de Ville-Marie can be reached at 514 312-7344.

The McGill Legal Information Clinic is placing two law students with inter-Loge during the fall 2009 and winter 2010 semesters to help deal with the real estate law issues that Inter-Loge is facing.

The McGill Legal Information Clinic (CIJM) is a non-profit, student-run, bilingual and free legal information service. Its mandate is to provide legal information, referral and community services to the McGill and Montreal communities, with a continuing commitment to meeting the needs of marginalized groups.

Over the past 30 years, Inter-Loge has provided more than 400 high-quality affordable homes to low-income households (average savings per tenant: $220 a month). It also supports the empowerment of residents with respect to their own housing by participating in the revitalization of Montreal’s downtown neighbourhoods.

Bénévoles d’affaires is supplying the students with a lawyer specializing in real estate law, who will supervise them for several months.

For three years, Bénévoles d’affaires has offered a free clearing house to bring together volunteers from the business community and non-profit organizations (NPO’s), taking into account each organization’s needs, and each volunteer’s area of expertise and interests.

La société de développement sociale de Ville-Marie can be reached at 514 312-7344.

La Table de concertation du Faubourg Saint-Laurent (TCFSL) is a multi-sectoral and multi-network coordination committee. Its main objectives are to encourage the development of a community life and to contribute to the process of a fair and sustainable human development in the Saint-Laurent Faubourg.

La Table de concertation du Faubourg Saint-Laurent has implemented a 20-week long seasonal market at the Habitations Jeanne-Mance at the Émilie Gamelin Place (Berri Square)

• The running of the markets will be supervised by a group of paid employees
• The recruitment of these employees will be done with the help and submissions of different community groups and residents of the neighborhood
• The new employees will be trained and supervised throughout the whole project
• One of the goals of the markets is to self-finance themselves through the sale of products and the rentals of kiosks and tents in order to cover all the running expenses and the salaries.

Founded in 1998, BUSAC Real Estate is a group of real-estate agencies affiliated with the JEMB Reality Corporation of New York. BUSAC is active and well known on the North-American real-estate scene through its various roles as investor, owner, promoter and real-estate manager.

We invite you to support and participate in these social integration projects. You may reach the SDSVM at 514-312-7344.

In an effort to address and alleviate a variety of unpleasant situations stemming from the issues of homelessness and users of certain community organisations, the Urban Mediation Group (EMU) will be providing a specially designed service on Ste-Catherine Street. Its primary focus will be to handle conflict and resolution problems arising for businesses. The geographical area of focus for this service will be those businesses located on Ste-Catherine Street as well as Amherst Street, and will run from June 29th till August 28th.

In addition to regular services provided in the area, two social workers qualified in mediation work and conflict resolutions will be responding to the needs and requests of businesses on Ste Catherine Street.

In order to resolve conflicts, EMU’s primary purpose and goal will be attempting to make a meeting possible between two parties implicated in a troublesome situation so as to better discuss and explore possible options.

The EMU group thus serves as an intermediary between different individuals and aims for peaceful relationships. The group encourages those involved to work together in finding solutions to conflicts that may arise. In doing so, their goal will be to follow-up with the proposed solutions and suggestions. The social workers foster a specific form of cohabitation and capitalize on ideals such as social harmony between various “actors” of the Ville-Marie borough.

Founded in 1998, BUSAC Immobilier is a group of real-estate agencies affiliated with the JEMB Reality Corporation of New York. BUSAC is active and well known on the North-American real-estate scene through its various roles as investor, owner, promoter and real-estate manager.

La société de développement commercial (SDC) du Village’s mandate is the commercial and economic development of those businesses finding themselves located in the area known as the “Village”, this district being formed between the streets of Sainte-Catherine Est (between Berri and Cartier) and Amherst (between René-Lévesque and Robin).

We are very pleased to support such a unique partnership and are confident that it is the first of many to come.

You can reach La société de développement sociale de Ville-Marie at 514.312.7344.

La société de développement sociale de Ville-Marie (SDSVM) is pleased to support the TAPAJ program and to foster a second partnership between Spectre de Rue and BUSAC Immobilier.

For almost thirty years, Spectre de rue has been an active community organisation in Arrondissement de Ville-Marie. It aims to help young individuals who are marginalised, overwhelmed, and affected by a variety of problems related to drugs, prostitution, homelessness and/or mental health. The organisation supports them in their quest for social reintegration while continuing to raise awareness of the plight of these young people in hopes of favouring cooperation and development.

Considering the positive impacts of the TAPAJ program on the lives of these individuals, such as their increased chances of employment, the SDSVM is proud to support TAPAJ and to foster this partnership between Spectre de rue and BUSAC Immobilier. Moreover, we are thrilled to announce that BUSAC Immobilier will employ (for the second time) one of these young individuals throughout the summer.

Founded in 1998, BUSAC Immobilier is a group of real-estate agencies affiliated with the JEMB Reality Corporation of New York. BUSAC is quite active and well known on the North-American real-estate scene through its several roles as investor, owner, promoter and real-estate manager.

We are always enthusiastic to see a renewal in these types of partnerships and hope that it is a forecast of more projects to come, enabling TAPAJ to respond to increasing demands and concerns brought forth by Spectre de Rue.

Echoing BUSAC Immobilier’s call, we invite you to support a young person in his or her quest for social integration. You can reach the Social Development Society of Ville-Marie at 514.312.7344 or TAPAJ at 514.528.1700.

La société de développement sociale de Ville-Marie (SDSVM) is pleased to announce the first Eidos-Volunteer Day in Montreal. Founded in 2007, Eidos-Montréal is one of the driving forces of the Eidos group, which now belongs to Square-Enix Holdings. The Montreal-based studio specialises in high quality video games made for the New Generation Console representing the quest for excellence from which Eidos’s culture is created.

This coming June 6th, 27 employees from Eidos will paint interior portions of the Champlain elementary school as well as the Gédéon-Oimet centre in the Ville-Marie borough. We are confident that this endeavour will become a yearly success.

Along with Eidos, we invite you to support and participate in these social integration projects. You may reach The Social Development Society of Ville-Marie at 514-312-7344.

In it's over 30 years in existence, Inter-Loge has offered more than 400 housing projects at an affordable price for low-income households (the average savings being approximately 220$ per month per tenant). In addition, it works to support these projects in coordination with the restoration of certain boroughs within Montréal's downtown core.

Founded in 1996, Digital Dimension is well known for its innovation and creativity in the world of visual and animation effects having carried out work within the cinema, television, publicity and entertainment industries. In addition, Digital Dimension is the recipient of 6 Emmy and Visual Effects Society Awards bestowed on them by the Hollywood Visual Effects Society.

ToxicoNet is a civic participation program that seeks to rehabilitate and reintegrate autonomous persons having previously consumed illegal drugs. The project offers those individuals who generally would not be eligible for the workplace various employment opportunities that pay by the day. Various chores and handy-work form the basis of these opportunities so as to reinforce efforts to clean and revitalize certain boroughs within Ville-Marie.

Inter-loge will be organising spring cleaning of their 25 residential housing properties in mid April with the help of Toxiconet participants. The cleaning of housing projects located within Ville-Marie's jurisdiction will include work on the facades of the structures as well as general deterioration caused by winter-related "wear and tear".

We hope that this first contact will be a starting point for developing the program so that it can respond to a wide variety of needs. We echo Inter-Loge's request in inviting you to support these participants in their quest for social reintegration. Should you have any questions, you may contact la Société de Développement Social de Ville-Marie at 514-312-7344.

La société de développement sociale de Ville-Marie (SDSVM) is thrilled to partner with Youth Fusion to develop a project for the students at Pierre-Dupuy High School. The SDSVM will contribute financially to this ambitious project.

High school drop out rates are a daunting social reality and we believe that this innovative project will inspire high school students to get involved in concrete activities, and feel motivated at school.

Youth Fusion seeks to promote creative youth empowerment, contribute to the development of socially conscious citizens, and encourage Quebec’s youth to get involved in their communities and succeed academically. Ultimately, Youth Fusion seeks to increase high school retention rates among youth.

To address the realities of Arrondissement de Ville-Marie, where the percentage of drop out rates is alarming, Youth Fusion has established a partnership between Pierre-Dupuy High School and Concordia University. Through this partnership, we will launch projects that encourage the students at Pierre-Dupuy to work together towards a common goal, thus strengthening their school spirit and sense of belonging. By developing and implementing concrete projects at Pierre-Dupuy, the undergraduate and graduate students at Concordia University will have the opportunity to work as community involvement coordinators and motivate the high school students to spend their time in more creative and productive ways.

Youth Fusion, in collaboration with the SDSVM and Concordia University, will develop one activity in music and another in science for Pierre-Dupuy students from February 25th to May 30th. An undergraduate in music will help the students during the extra-curricular music classes, and organize an end-of-year concert/music festival. A science undergraduate will help the students to develop science projects, and organize an end-of-year Science Fair.

These two activities will improve the student life at Pierre-Dupuy, encourage the students to become actively involved in their communities, and offer invaluable professional work experience to the Concordia undergraduates.

We will follow closely the development of this initiative and we look forward to sharing its accomplishments with you. Please visit our Website for regular updates.

La Société de développement social de Ville Marie has decided to support the TAPAJ Program and facilitate a partnership between Spectre de rue and BUSAC Immobilier.

Spectre de rue is a community agency that has been active in Ville-Marie for nearly thirty years. It helps marginalized young people struggling with addiction, prostitution, homelessness and mental health problems. It also supports them in their socialization and social reintegration while increasing awareness within the community and among the general public about the realities facing these young people and encouraging their assimilation.

Since 2000, Spectre de rue has managed the TAPAJ Program, which targets those living on the edge who are unprepared to enter the labour market for both personal and vocational reasons. TAPAJ offers these young people short-term work contracts that allow them to tackle challenges in their lives such as housing, health, substance abuse and self-esteem issues. This enables them to improve their living conditions as adults and develop their personal confidence and self-esteem as well as their capacity to have trust in others. The TAPAJ program also allows them to acquire new personal and vocational skills.

To achieve the objectives of the TAPAJ Program and offer an alternative to the legal system for dealing with young people involved in street occupations the law considers illegitimate, we need companies that are prepared to commit to TAPAJ, companies prepared to offer these young people employment opportunities commensurate with their skills.

Seeing the positive impacts of the TAPAJ program on young people and the need to increase employment opportunities, the SDSVM is proud to have chosen to support TAPAJ and have facilitated this partnership between Spectre de rue and BUSAC Immobilier. We are grateful to BUSAC Immobilier for offering them their first employment opportunity.

Founded in 1998, BUSAC Immobilier is a real estate group affiliated with JEMB Realty Corporation of New York. As investor, owner, promoter, and asset and real estate manager, BUSAC is an active player on the North American real estate stage.

We hope that this first contact will be a starting point for many others and that this type of partnership will grow in popularity, so that TAPAJ will be able to respond to the many applications submitted to Spectre de rue. Like BUSAC Immobilier, we invite you to support a young person in his/her efforts toward social integration. Call the Société de développement social de Ville Marie at 514 312-7344 or TAPAJ at 514 528-1700.

The La Baie stores made a donation of 500 trays, which the SDSVM presented to the Old Brewery Mission.