Transit Roundtable with Mayor and Councilors

On February 29, 2024, The Essentials Fund Committee was very grateful for the opportunity to support the non-profit community through convening a roundtable discussion between several TEF grant recipients, Mayor Dorothy McCabe and Regional Councillors Chantal Huinink and Jim Erb about the importance and growing need for accessible and affordable transit in our community.

Since launching the Fund in 2022, we have consistently heard from applicants about the need for improved access to transit for their clients, often the most marginalized people in the community. In fact, bus tickets are routinely listed as one of the purchased items with the unrestrictive grant non-profits receive from The Essentials Fund.

It was a fantastic discussion and we greatly appreciated the important insights and ideas to improve the transit system shared by the local charities that participated, including:

• Porchlight Counselling and Addiction Services
• The Canadian Arab Women’s Association
• The Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region
• Sanguen Health Centre
• Camino Wellbeing + Mental Health
• The Brain Injury Association ​of Waterloo-Wellington
• The Somali Canadian Association of Waterloo Region (SCAWR),
• The Waterloo Region Family Network
• Family and Children’s Services of the Waterloo Region
• SHORE Centre
• Supportive Housing of Waterloo (SHOW)

Many thanks to Mayor Dorothy McCabe for proposing the roundtable conversation and to the Accelerator Centre for hosting this important community discussion!