Huronia Transition Homes is getting a welcomed boost from the province to expand its Operation Grow program.
On Friday, Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop joined her cabinet colleague Charmaine Williams, who serves as associate minister of Women's Social and Economic Opportunity, to announce the Midland-based organization will receive an investment of $325,000 over three years.
Williams told those assembled at Operation Grow on Bay Street that the move comes as the province expands its Investing in Women’s Futures program to 10 additional locations across the province, including Huronia Transition Homes.
“I’m really just blown away by the operation here,” Williams said, noting Operation Grow provides a perfect example of an organization helping women as they not only seek shelter from violence, but attempt to regain their independence and empowerment after a violent relationship.
“Expanding the Investing in Women’s Futures program to these new locations will give more women access to a safe space and a continuum of wraparound supports and resources so they are empowered to participate in the labour market and gain financial independence.”
The provincial program's expansion is part of a $6.9 million investment over three years that's designed to create more economic opportunities for women.
Williams said there’s been an increased need for violence prevention and economic aid for women trying to escape the cycle of violence.
“This helps women improve their well-being and become financially independent,” she said, adding that programs like Operation Grow offers solutions to social and food insecurity along with helping women escape poverty.
“Our goal is to lift women up by providing support and a key step to enter or reenter the labour market and stay safe. When women succeed, Ontario succeeds.”
Through Operation Grow, women will have access to yoga and meditation programming, skills building workshops in the facility's commercial kitchen and vertical farming operation to reduce social isolation, address food insecurity and boost employment readiness.
Dunlop said the province’s investment will help women who need support to overcome challenges and gain employment.
“By delivering the well-being supports and employment readiness training they need to pursue permanent, well-paying jobs, this new program will empower more women in Simcoe County and help them achieve economic security,” Dunlop said.
Dunlop said Huronia Transition Homes has played an “integral role” over the past 40 years for women and their children by directly supporting the needs of women in the community who have experienced violence.
She said she hopes the new funding helps further support the organization’s education and advocacy for women facing socio-economic challenges as they rebuild their lives.
Haily MacDonald, acting executive director of Huronia Transition Homes, said Operation Grow provides women with employable skills while helping them gain greater confidence and hope for a brighter future.
“Our motto is growing more than just produce,” said MacDonald, who reiterated Williams' point that violence against women and children seems to be showing no signs of letting up.
Just last December, a vigil was held at Operation Grow to not only remember 14 women murdered at l'École Polytechnique on December 6, 1989, but also memorialize the 52 women and children, who were murdered in Ontario in 2022. The youngest victim was eight, the oldest 88.
Sadly, here in Canada, every six days a woman is killed by her intimate partner and one in three women will experience sexual violence in their lifetime, according to statistics provided by La Maison Rosewood Shelter.
That makes the work of Huronia Transition Homes all the more important, according to MacDonald.
Currently, MacDonald says between 800 and 1,000 women in Simcoe County access Huronia Transition Homes’ services, a figure that doesn’t include those who have needed the organization’s assistance on multiple occasions.
With a goal of working to end all violence against all women, the non-profit organization was established in 1984 and now operates four primary programs: La Maison Rosewood Shelter, Athena’s Sexual Assault Counselling & Advocacy Centre, Choices for Children and Operation Grow.
“For women who have experienced violence, the abuse impacts every aspect of their lives,” MacDonald said, noting the province's investment recognizes that and the direct connection between violence against women and the economic insecurity it creates.
“It is a critical step to building an equitable society free from violence.”
The vision for Operation Grow came directly from the women Huronia Transition Homes serves. The women asked for ways to break away from the oppressive grips of trauma, which is compounded by their lived experiences of multi-generational poverty.
At the heart of the program is a vertical farm using cutting edge technology to grow pesticide free, non-GMO produce in stacked rows inside a controlled-indoor environment. Operation Grow addresses the demand for local fresh quality produce, which is distributed locally in both retail and wholesale markets at a competitive price point.
