KWCCSJ Newsletter Issue 1, Fall 2009

<PDF Here>

Welcome to Issue 1 of the KW Community Centre for Social Justice Newsletter. The very first thing that needs to be said is a massive thank you to all of our donors—without you, there would be no KWCCSJ.

In this letter you will find a brief introduction to the KWCCSJ as well as a history of recent events and a schedule for some that are coming up in the near future. You will also find links to info about those events and also to all sorts of issue-based information from AW@L.

What is the KWCCSJ?

The Kitchener-Waterloo Community Centre for Social Justice (KWCCSJ) is a radical space in downtown Kitchener. The space enjoyed its official opening in June of 2009, and we are starting regular weekly events and regular hours for the infoshop and drop-in starting in October.

The KWCCSJ has been in the works for close to a year now. The project was initiated by AW@L and KW Anti-Racist Action (ARA), and is now being run primarily by AW@L.

The KWCCSJ was created as a re-visioning of the old KW Youth Collective’s “Spot,” which closed in 2004. The idea of the drop-in centre was crafted into a community space for meetings, meals and events, with the addition of an ‘info-shop’—a radical bookstore and information centre.

The KWCCSJ is a functional meeting space where AW@L holds our bi-weekly and committee meetings. The space is also open to any group in the community who needs a workable safe space to meet in. We have black boards, white boards, and media capabilities including a large screen projector and sound hooked-up. We will soon have wireless internet and also free coffee.

The KWCCSJ is also currently home to the ongoing KW Cop Watch campaign, as well as other projects. If you want to use the space for your group or project, just let us know.

The KWCCSJ is a place where we regularly host speakers, films, info nights, bands, book tours and more. It is also a space where members of our collective with various expertise or skills conduct workshops on topics including direct action, working with the media, campaign planning, project visioning, anti-oppression, decolonization, consensus decision making, and more. If you have an event that you would like to put on, or if you would like to have one of our members conduct a workshop with your group, just let us know—that’s what we’re here for.

<Read More>