It really felt like it was a perfect summer day. It was warm outside and there was nothing but sunshine and blue skies stretching out as far as the eye could see. But actually it’s October and it was one of those tricky throwback days in early fall, when you find yourself suddenly back in class or work and looking out the window thinking “When can I get back out there?!”
So the timing couldn’t have been better for a small group of us from NOISE to get outside the walls and get into the fall sunshine for a short walk around to get to know the Jane and Finch neighbourhood a little better.
Walking over from the York campus, we had two excellent and well informed locals to show us around, point out all the sights and answer all of our endless questions: “What’s that? Where’s the mall? When’s lunch?” 😉
Our guides Henry and Talisha were very clever and quickly walked us to Yorkgate Mall, and pointed us in the direction of some of the several community service providers working out of there, so we could grill them with our questions for awhile: “How many people use your services? What hours are you open? What’s in that box over there?” 🙂
But seriously, it was pretty cool to see that there is this neat little network of organizations in Yorkgate Mall working together to provide services to Jane and Finch residents. Talisha and Henry were also thoughtful enough to warn these orgs that we were coming for a visit, so our little group felt very welcome at all of the places that we made it to. (Thanks for the hospitality!: The Spot, Where YOU(th) Wanna Be , TD Community Engagement Centre, Working Women Community Centre, Seneca College)
Because of our relaxed approach to time management, we only just barely scratched the surface of getting to know the neighbourhood. We did get the chance to familiarize ourselves with the Yorkgate food court though. I have to say that is some really fine jerk chicken at Caribbean Cuisine Delight, really fine, and the portions were huge!
Pretty much our little walk around just sparked my interest in finding out more about so many of the other things going on in the neighbourhood. Talisha and Henry said that the walk along the path through the Hyrdo Corridor is really green and pretty. I also found out about the new Black Creek Community Farm, which would be really fun to check out during the fall harvest season…
So, for someone like me that doesn’t know the neighbourhood much at all, what else should be on my list to get out and see the next time I’m around Jane and Finch?
– Larissa