$1M donation to transform Richmond Street landmark into safe space for young mums
Paula Duhatschek | CBC News | Posted: October 24, 2017 5:16 PM | Last Updated: October 24, 2017
Youth Opportunities Unlimited will expand services to new building thanks to gift in memory of Joan Smith
Young mothers at risk of homeless will soon have a place to go in London following a $1-million donation in memory of Joan Smith, Ontario's first female solicitor general and a mother of seven.
Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) announced Tuesday that it will convert a vacant space on Richmond Street, formerly GTs bar and once the New Yorker movie theatre, into affordable housing and services for young women and their babies.
The facility, dubbed The New Addition, is funded by Smith's family, which founded construction giant EllisDon. It will be run by YOU.
Steve Cordes, executive director of YOU, said that housing will be available for any young people that need it, but that pregnant women and new moms will be at the top of their priority list.
The facility will also house a live-in mentor that Cordes said will act as a sort of "den mother" to other young parents.
"They would be a trusted friend where they could ask questions about sleeping patterns, nursing issues, general care, and then maybe just to be a relief so that young mom doesn't have to be young mom 24/7."
Mother of three Ashley Wyatt said this kind of service would have been welcome when she was a new mom. Wyatt works at the YOU Made it Cafe and has struggled with mental illness and addiction in the past — problems that she said were compounded by her lack of a support network.
"They always say you have those mother instincts, but I don't think those instincts come unless you have someone that's strong and supportive as a role model initially to teach you those," said Wyatt.
Beyond the services aimed specifically at new moms, the building as a whole will be known as the Joan Smith Building for Youth, and will share space with mental health services from London Health Sciences Centre and Addiction Services of Thames Valley.
Cordes expects that these services will do a better job of reaching young people once they're all under one roof.
"The challenge right now with those services is that they already exist, but they're sort of segmented in different parts of the city," he said. "To go into a place that's built for the needs of youth, they can feel a lot safer."
Construction is slated to begin in the summer of 2018 and will take about 15 months, said Cordes.
Legacy of social justice
In addition to their initial $1-million contribution, the Smith family said it will also match every dollar donated to the project up to the $1-million dollar mark.
"From an early age, [Joan Smith] recognized her own good fortune, and made a commitment to helping the most vulnerable in this province, in particular women and children," said her daughter Lynne Cram in a news release.
Smith served as a London city councillor in the late 1970s until her election as a Liberal MPP in 1985.
She acted as solicitor general and then party whip fighting for gay rights and helping to found Vanier Children's Services, the children's mental health agency.
All the while, she raised seven children, and supported her husband while he established his construction company.
Cram said that The New Addition project aligns with her late mother's interest in social justice. Smith died in 2016 at age 88.