HUMN 1000 – Critical Thinking (Georgian College): Community Service Learning Project
- i) A description of your Community Service Partner:
Our community service partner is Huronia Transition Homes. Huronia Transition Homes is a non-profit organization that works to end all violence against women. They began this non-profit in 1984 with one program, La Maison Rosewood Shelter but they expanded quickly and they now fully operate four successful programs in Simcoe County that include: Athena’s Sexual Assault Counselling & Advocacy Center, Choices for Children, Operation Grow, and La Maison Rosewood Shelter. La Maison Rosewood Shelter was the first program that Huronia Transition Homes started, it was founded in 1985 as a 15 bed emergency shelter for women and their children in Midland Ontario, then in 2009 they added five more beds and introduced a few women support groups that help women develop an understanding of the impacts of trauma and abuse while also increasing self-esteem. (La Maison Rosewood Shelter, n.d.) Athena’s Sexual Assault Counselling & Advocacy Center began operating in October 1998 in Alliston, Barrie, Collingwood, Midland, and Orillia; the purpose of this program is to support women 16 years old and up who have experienced sexual abuse or watched it happen as children or adults. (Athena’s Sexual Assault Counseling & Advocacy Centre, n.d.) Choices for Children started in 2001, its purpose is to help children between the ages of 5 – 15 across Simcoe County who have been exposed to violence against their mothers. It’s a 10 week program for mothers and their children to strengthen their relationships and better understand the impacts the violence had on their lives. The program empowers families by teaching them knowledge and giving them tools with topics such as: emotions, communication & conflict, safety planning, responsibility, family changes, personal boundaries & consent, self-compassion, along with self-acceptance. (Choices for Children, n.d.) Operation Grow is a community-based social enterprise that tackles social isolation and poverty by empowering women through various classes and a cutting-edge vertical farm that helps the women in La Maison Rosewood Shelter grow different skills, employment opportunities, and access to safe produce, fostering improved well-being and community resilience. (Operation Grow, n.d.) All programs work within an intersectional feminist, harm reduction philosophy and community members are committed to educating individuals to help end gender-based violence. Huronia Transition Homes aims to understand women’s diverse life experiences and the impact of violence they have on their lives, they understand that everyone has different stories, that each event is unique, and that the same event could impact another individual completely differently.
- ii) Discuss the main social issue(s) addressed by the agency/organization?
Huronia Transition Homes addresses the issues of violence against women. The organization recognizes the diverse life experiences of women and the varied impacts of violence on all of their lives and how different each situation may be. By having multiple programs open such as La Maison Rosewood Shelter, Athena’s Sexual Assult and Counselling & Advocacy Center, Choices for Children, and Operation Grow, they take an inclusive approach to ending gender-based violence. These programs collectively cater to women-identifying individuals and their children, spanning different age groups
iii) Describe your specific project
According to OCRCC (The Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centers) police-reported sexual assaults in Canada rose from 27.909 in 2018 to 33,242 in 2021 (Annelies, 2023). There seems to be a stigma that wearing revealing clothing invites non-consensual sexual encounters, blaming sexual assault on the victim’s choice of clothing. Our project aims to spread awareness about how the type of clothing you wear doesn’t cause assault; there is no excuse to assault someone. This will be demonstrated as an art installation that recreates outfits that an individual was wearing when they were sexually assaulted, highlighting the message that someone’s choice of clothing doesn’t give permission.
- iv) Identify two learning outcomes from the attached list and describe how your group is meeting these learning outcomes through your CSL project
- Appreciating Diversity
One of our goals of this project is to educate the community about appreciating diversity in victims of sexual assault. Specifically, the assumption that the clothing an individual is wearing is permission that they want to have a sexual encounter. We want to teach the community that everyone is to be treated the same no matter what. Specifically, no matter what clothing they are wearing.
- Clarified Values
Through this project, we want to help influence our community to make a change in the world when it comes to sexual assault. We are also wanting to teach the community what is happening around us. We are hoping that with our art exhibit, we can get individuals to channel their inner values & help spread awareness. The more people that are aware of the situation, hopefully, the more awareness & change will happen.