It’s a new year!
OCA News:
Message from the President
Black lives matter
Annual General Meeting
Next board meeting
Call for submissions for the winter issue of ConneXions
Message from the President
Happy New Year / Bonne année!
Thanks to Board members and active volunteers, OCA adjusted pretty well to this wild pandemic year. Our achievements are thanks to their hard work and commitment. Together with the Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre and the Overbrook Community Centre, we ran a fantastic - and now nostalgic - face-to-face Family Day event in February, before our world changed. We influenced the City's R4 (residential, low rise multiple unit) zoning review, created a better new website, expanded our social media reach, delivered 4 issues of our community newspaper, ConneXions, into everyone's home, delivered 300 school bags to kids in need, and delivered the kindness of the Overbrook Community Care team to our most vulnerable at a frightening time. These are just some of the highlights of our accomplishments.
We are moving forward on many fronts. This bulletin reports on our ongoing commitment to anti-black racism and our upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM), and invites you to contribute stories, letters photos and more to the winter issue of ConneXions.
Black lives matter
OCA is voicing strong support for the young Black men who were surrounded by police pointing guns on December 27 in the parking lot of the St. Laurent Mall. Click here to read our statement. For more information about the incident and the demands made on behalf of the young men by the Ottawa Black Diaspora – Coalition (OBDC) and local community organizers, see the January 4 press release on the OBDC Facebook page.
Annual General Meeting
To learn more about what we have done in 2020 and plan to do in 2021, and to get involved, please join us at our virtual AGM on Thursday, February 25, 2021. Watch the website and our Facebook and Twitter accounts in early February for more information about speakers, themes and registration.
Next board meeting
Everyone is also welcome at our next virtual Board meeting: Thursday, January 28 at 8 p.m. at https://discord.gg/qdBdGG4 (log in and go to the OCA button on the lefthand edge of the screen). There is an “Open Mic” for residents to present neighbourhood ideas, issues and concerns early in every Board meeting, and an AGM preview will also be on the agenda.
Call for submissions for the winter issue of the newspaper!
There are other ways to get involved in OCA activities and the neighbourhood. The newspaper is one of them! ConneXions is currently calling for submissions for the next issue. Write an article or a letter to the editor, submit a notice, a poem, a photo that connects to our neighbourhood!
We are especially interested in content to help us through the February doldrums in pandemic-time. Do you have a fun game to share or can you create a crossword for neighbours to play? Are you inspired by acts of kindness? Would you like to celebrate a friend or family member by writing a profile and/or sharing photos for our “Humans of Overbrook” series? Have you explored all the best places to walk your dog? What are you doing for outside fun? Do you have gardening tips for spring (it’s coming!)? Or do you have some good books, movies, music, podcasts or TV shows to recommend? Tell your community about it!
Please send ideas, inquiries, and submissions to editor@overbrook.ca. Submissions can be in English or French.
The deadline for submissions is FRIDAY, JANUARY 29.
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