MONTREAL — The building is no longer in a small space on Victoria Avenue. There are more floors and a much larger staff, and the hum of computers and photocopy machines now accompanies the multicultural din outside the doors.
But in its core values and philosophy, Project Genesis, which began as
a mostly Jewish “storefront” agency in Cote des Neiges and is
celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, has not strayed from its socially activist underpinnings, officials said in a recent interview.
It remains, at its most basic level, they said, the same grassroots community organization it has always been, helping the powerless become empowered, reaching out and advocating for the multiethnic thousands it serves.
The issues the organization tackles include housing, employment, tenants’ rights, immigrant concerns, health care, poverty, and access to social and government services.
And the walk-in “storefront” is still there – just as it was on the first day.
Now located at the corner of Victoria and Cote Ste. Catherine Road in a renovated property owned by the Jewish General Hospital and formerly occupied by the Communauté Sépharade du Québec, Project Genesis remains a people’s place: open, user-friendly and not the least bit intimidating, an advocacy and referral service many consider without equal in the city in terms of its effectiveness.
Its board of directors is also overseen by the people who use it, with much of the work done by volunteers – more than 200 of them.
“We moved here to the new location seven years ago, but we made sure we kept the storefront,” said Jack Gottheil, above right, immediate past president of the Project Genesis board of directors.
Gottheil, 90, has remained an enthusiastic, energetic and pro-active part of the program.
He was there at the beginning in 1977 – although the actual first year is a matter of debate.
Project Genesis began as an initiative of McGill University students under social work professor James Torczyner. They went out door-to-door in the neighbourhood to assess the needs of the local population, particularly Jewish seniors.
Gottheil said the feedback they got was that there was a definite need for a “storefront,” a user-friendly agency where people could just walk in, unlike the more structured agencies in community buildings that people might avoid.
He added that at the time, there was no existing agency dealing with the social rights of Jewish or other community members.
Gottheil, who was then serving on the planning committee of FEDERATION CJA’s precursor organization, Allied Jewish Community Services, recalled that when the Jewish community was initially approached by Torczyner, there was a reluctance to provide seed funding for Project Genesis, because there were already “established agencies” dealing with similar issues.
But in the end, the federation funding – initially $50,000 – came through, and continues to this day. Project Genesis is now an associated agency of FEDERATION CJA, receiving $117,500 in funding. Most of its $670,000 annual budget comes from Centraide, foundations – including the Jewish Community Foundation – and the provincial and municipal governments.
Project Genesis executive director Michael Chervin said that last year, the program directly aided more than 8,500 people originating from some 130 countries reflecting the enormous diversity within the immigrant population of Cote des Neiges. There were also 15,000 telephone interventions.
“We have always tried to stay focused on our mission,” Chervin said. “Don’t forget, over 40 per cent of the people we see live below the poverty line.”
Malika Bhatty, who immigrated from Pakistan years ago, didn’t know what to make of Project Genesis when volunteers first came knocking on her door.
But she was soon immensely impressed by its programs and advocacy abilities, including lobbying for a local traffic light to give seniors enough time to cross the street.
Bhatty has also been an active figure in the organization’s Building Links program, which brings neighbours together to identify issues of importance.
“It was the type of project I dreamed about,” Bhatty said. “Ordinary people getting together to effect change. Immigrants don’t always know they can do that.”
Over the decades, some things have changed, but others have not. The need to provide basic information, referrals and advocacy on things like housing, jobs and paying rent has remained constant.
What has changed, Chervin said, is the scope of the organization’s work and the degree to which it has become a real player on health-care issues like the cost of medications, and in building coalitions. New issues come up all the time – recent ones have included reducing the wait times for rental board hearings, income security advocacy and lobbying for more social housing.
Sometimes, because of budgetary considerations and workloads, Chervin said, a “creative tension between values and actions” creates challenges within Project Genesis. But it is all part of being a “living, dynamic” organization, he said. It is also in the midst of an ambitious, three-year strategic plan aimed at, among other things, strengthening membership, increasing financial resources and empowering storefront users even more.
Chervin said plans for the 30th anniversary year include a special donor fundraising campaign as well as “simply taking stock of where we are and where we want to go.”
Gottheil made it clear that for him, Project Genesis has, for 30 years, been exactly where he wants it to be.
“We let the individual become involved. Self-empowerment. That’s the most important thing.”