The Burnaby school district got kudos last week for its part in helping to transform the neighbourhood around a local elementary school.
A couple of weeks ago, kids at Windsor Elementary, near Imperial Street and Gilley Avenue, got outdoors for a neighbourhood cleanup.
Neighbour Diane Gillis couldn’t help thinking what a nice change the sound of their happy voices outside her home was from 10 years ago.
“Those are the sounds in our neighbourhood now as opposed to a pimp and a hooker having a disagreement,” Gillis said.
Ten years ago, the sex trade, drug activity and property crime had taken over her neighbourhood. Together with local businesses and other concerned neighbours, Gillis set out to change that through the formation of the Kingsway Imperial Neighbourhood Association (KINA).
The group’s activities, such as neighbourhood cleanups and barbecues, along with efforts by the City of Burnaby, local RCMP and the school district, have helped transform the community, once derisively called the “Whalley of Burnaby” after a neighbourhood in Surrey notorious for crime.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s much, much better,” Gillis said.
The neighbourhood association had hoped the school district would turn Windsor into a community school to provide a much needed community space and activities for youth and their families, many of which are new to Canada.
While that did happen, the district did get “creative” with its budget, according to Gillis, opening a Neighbourhood Learning Centre, which offers English teaching to families new to Canada.
It also added some extra staff, including a community connect worker, a neighbourhood learning coordinator and a settlement worker.
The changes have made a big difference, Gillis said, and a delegation from the neighbourhood association was at a board of education meeting last week to express their thanks.
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