Mark your calendars! The Youth Employment Centre’s 25th annual Youth Hiring Fair is rolling into the Big Four Building on Thursday, March 28 from 1:30 to 6 p.m.

If you are between the ages of 15-24, this is your opportunity to secure a part-time, full-time, permanent or seasonal job. With 80+ employers, the event is a hub of possibilities to obtain meaningful employment.

This event is the largest youth hiring fair in Calgary. Since 1999, over 1,900 employers have attended YEC’s hiring fairs, serving over 92,000 youth.

A special morning spent visiting the team at Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids.

Thanks to the incredible dedication of hundreds of volunteers in over 30 community kitchens across Calgary, BB4CK is able to deliver 6000+ lunches every single day to students in more than 230 schools all over the city.

With 21% of Calgarians reporting struggles with food security and the ability to buy groceries for themselves and their families, BB4CK is helping to bridge the gap for kids that may otherwise go without.

Through a partnership with GFL Environmental, The City of Calgary officially has a new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to provide additional recycling services and increased recycling capacity to Calgarians.

The new facility is just outside the city limits in Rocky View County, and is owned and operated by GFL. The MRF leverages cutting-edge sorting technology, including Al robotics, ballistics, and optical sorters that use digital recognition to identify and separate and sort recyclables in milliseconds.

By recycling, we conserve resources by putting materials back to productive uses. Recycling also helps conserve finite space in our landfills through significant waste diversion. GFL ensures that recyclables only go to legitimate recyclers that have been screened through a comprehensive vetting process, and operates in compliance with all applicable environmental regulations.

The Greater Forest Lawn Local Area Planning project team will be hosting the next Community Conversation Series on Thursday, February 22 and Wednesday, March 13. This is an opportunity to meet with the project team to discuss plans, learn where we are in the planning process, and have your questions answered.

The City of Calgary’s Anti-Racism Program will be hosting its first ever Racial Justice Conference March 18 & 19, 2024.

This in-person event will run from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre, and is free for all to attend. The conference will provide opportunities to develop and apply anti-racism knowledge, skills, and practices through speaker presentations, workshops, and more. Registration includes breakfast, lunch, and refreshments.

Come together to dismantle systemic racism and answer the call to action. Attendees will be able to explore the impacts of systemic racism and co-create transformative anti-racism actions through an intersectional lens. By gathering as racial justice champions, we can take actions to centre our responsibility to each other and to the systemic changes needed to transform lives, as this is key to anti-racism practice. Together we have an opportunity to create relationships and repair systems and practices in a way that serves all Calgarians.

As part of The City’s commitment to Truth and Reconciliation, The City of Calgary is working to reduce barriers and improve capabilities for Indigenous-owned businesses to sell their goods and services to The City. The first and most important step is engaging with Indigenous communities to hear the challenges and barriers they currently experience when competing for City of Calgary contracts.

The City of Calgary’s Indigenous Procurement Strategy has been created to facilitate valuable discussions and guide the procurement strategy in order to increase opportunities for Indigenous businesses to work with The City.

Nominations are now open for Youth Centrals ‘Youth of Distinctions Awards’ (YODA) is an opportunity to recognize exceptional youth aged 12-18 who stand out in the community.  Theses awards are not academic, rather, they focus on leadership, friendship, overcoming a personal challenge, and community service.

Single-use items are an opportunity for both businesses and Calgarians to reduce their disposable waste.

Calgary’s Single-use Items Bylaw starts January 16, 2024, to reduce single-use items made from all types of materials, not just plastics. It is focused on preventing waste and promoting reusables through a combination of bylaw requirements and voluntary programs to encourage waste reduction.

Calgary is in a housing crisis. We need more homes. The citywide rezoning proposed in Home is Here: The City of Calgary’s Housing Strategy will help.

If you’re renting or buying, rezoning increases the number and types of homes available in all communities, making homes more affordable. If you own property, you’ll have more options to meet your future needs.

The City wants to hear from you on citywide rezoning. Provide your input online, attend one of the virtual or in-person information sessions, and participate in the Public Hearing of Council on April 22, 2024.

2024 marks the 35th anniversary of the Calgary Awards. Each year, individuals, corporations, community groups, and organizations are nominated in five major award categories, for a total of 13 awards.

With extreme cold weather conditions in the forecast, please note the following supports and resources available to any Calgarian experiencing homelessness or vulnerabilities.

For more information, call/text/chat 211 or visit ab.211.ca 24-hours a day.
If you see someone who needs help, you can call the HELP Team at 403-998-7388.
If someone is in serious distress or non-responsive, call 9-1-1.
For more information, visit calgaryhomeless.com/ccewr

The City has officially launched a new feature for the 311 call centre. If the expected wait is longer than one minute, the system will advise on the estimated wait time before providing the option for a call back. The call back feature will be active on the 10-digit 403.268.CITY (2489) and 311 lines between the hours of 8am - 4:30pm, seven days a week. These hours of operation experience the highest volume of call demand resulting in longer wait times. 

Seasons Greetings for Your Team Ward 9

This holiday season began for me with a one-two punch. Early in the morning at the end of November, my son, my Chief of Staff’s child, and I assembled at the Calgary Food Bank for a food hamper stuffing competition, kicking off the 35th Annual Mayor and Council’s Food Drive. It was a spirited morning with Councillors and their teams competing to see who could pack the most hampers, and while the mood was fun, and the competition brought out the press to help spread awareness, the underlying message is sobering. Too many of our neighbours are struggling to make ends meet in this post-Covid period of unprecedented economic inequality, high inflation, high interest rates, and an increasingly constricted housing supply as the population of our wonderfully livable city booms. The Calgary Food Bank is facing a record 30% year-over-year increase in demand, with a third of the clients they serve being children. And while it’s imperative that we pursue larger fixes to larger societal issues, our neighbours need our help right now.

On New Year’s Eve, Calgarians are invited to ring in 2024 with a midnight fireworks show launched from Prince’s Island Park. The spectacular display will be synchronized to music on CJSW 90.9 FM, highlighting the talents of Canadian artists.

Watch the fireworks from any location with a view of Prince’s Island Park or from home via livestream at calgary.ca/NYE.

Team Ward 9 recently spent an afternoon touring and learning about BonnyBoom - a multi-disciplinary arts venue right in the heart of the Bonnybrook Industrial Area.

Unofficially being dubbed the Scrap Yard Arts District, owner and founder Doug McKaeg initially started BonnyBoom in order to provide a new home for The Old Trout Puppet Workshop. Post-Covid, the building has welcomed a variety of independent artists, actors, and musicians renting office, studio, and gallery spaces.

With an expansion to a second nearby location in the new year, (a future home and circus school space for The Green Fools, BonnyBoom is trailblazing a new and unique path for the creative sector in Calgary.

As the GreenLine LRT begins to shift from planning to implementation, we are at a place where key challenges and opportunities associated with the current GreenLine station designs in Ward 9 need to be addressed. These challenges and opportunities are grounded in the perspective I have as a 10+ year advocate and champion of the GreenLine in my role as the area’s City Councillor, as well as my 20+ year role as an urban design professional working with East Calgary Communities towards the transit-oriented future we are now on the brink of achieving.

As part of the 2023-2026 Service Plans and Budgets review, Council has approved new user fees for parking permits. The introduction of user fees allows the program to recover the operational costs from those who benefit from the program and aligns with the Council-approved User Fees and Subsidies Policy.

The Council-approved user fees for residential parking permits will be effective December 4, 2023. Council also approved new user fees for the Market and Low-Income Market Permit that will be effective for the January 2024 permits.

We were fortunate to be invited to tour the newest Mustard Seed project in Ogden, Hub:29. Set to open early next year, the former United church site is now being stewarded by The Mustard Seed, delivering a unique mixed-use social hub and affordable housing project in the community. Hub:29 was designed to bring people together, exemplifying the true meaning of community, anchored in the betterment and wellbeing of all residents.

Ward 9 is home to many of the absolute best local businesses and organizations in Calgary. As the holiday season approaches, we’ve compiled a list of gift ideas that support some of these local Ward 9 businesses and create happy memories and opportunities for connection in the process.

Learn more and support local this holiday season…

The role of Constituent Liaison is an opportunity for a team player who is keen to get involved in city building and who excels in customer service. This role works directly with the Ward 9 Councillor and team to:

• Correspond regularly with constituents about ongoing projects and issues.

• Liaise with Community Associations, Business Improvement Areas, business owners, and advocacy groups to collect information and help solve issues.

• Work with City of Calgary Administration to identify problems and solutions.