Bronson RISE
A new day for seniors is RISE-ing at Bronson Centre.
Welcome to the online home of Bronson RISE: Real Inclusion by Seniors Everywhere.
We arose from the longtime community hub work of Bronson Centre, which identified an opportunity to tackle a vital and growing issue for Ottawa and everywhere: the isolation and inclusion of those 55-plus in our communities. So, after much exploration and hard work, Bronson Centre secured a five-year grant from the Employment and Social Development Canada, New Horizons for Seniors Program, and RISE was born.
We are:
an inclusive, diverse, senior-led “collective impact project” — a way to bring all kinds of people together in a common cause — made up, like Bronson Centre, of people of all ages and backgrounds
We exist:
to fight social isolation and increase inclusion for seniors, especially those who may be at risk of isolation
We think:
- Seniors have infinite opportunities to be fully included in everything we do
- People of all ages and backgrounds can amplify the importance of seniors in our lives
- A seniors’ led approach will provide experience, vision, and energy to all our work
- Our lives are all socially richer, healthier, and more fulfilling with seniors fully integrated in our daily lives
Our current projects, with more to come
Growing a Sustainable Multi-Cultural Seniors Food Network and Service: Our collaborating organization, Flo’s Seniors, is embarking on a social enterprise that will provide food and to-home services for isolated seniors in the Ottawa community. This is both a virtual and in-person project. Sustainability is enhanced through co-supporting business development investments in the Flo’s organization.
Bronson Safe Open: This exciting virtual project reaches out to isolated seniors through enhanced technology both within Bronson Centre and in the home of the participating seniors. Our outreach extends as far as British Columbia, making the <region> in Bronson Centre’s mission wider than we had ever imagined!
Dalhousie Courtyard Garden: With Bronson Centre tenant Dalhousie Food Cupboard (DFC), we’re converting a Bronson Centre courtyard into a productive, welcoming place that will reflect the Centre’s values through murals and gardens, create a community gardening program that all generations and abilities can participate in, and help the DFC improve on their food centre model.
BEING Home: Bronson Centre is supporting BEING Studio in their aim to expand the impact of BEING Home beyond their immediate studio community, to reach a new intergenerational client base of adults with developmental disabilities in Ottawa.
We’re currently working with
Project Partners & Project Pillars
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Dovercourt Recreation Centre
- Recreation
Phoenix Concert Theatre
- Culture
Somerset West Community Health Centre
- Health
Abbeyfield Canada
- Seniors Housing
Collaborators and Sub-Projects
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Jaku Konbit — Afro-Caribbean Family Programs
- Success in all their work is leading this organization to long term sustainability
Dalhousie Food Cupboard — Dalhousie Courtyard Garden (Lead Collaborator)
- benefitting persons of all ages in outdoor community garden spaces at the hub
Kateri Native Ministry
- extension of healing lodge concept from Bronson Centre to a natural land space in Ottawa
- engaging multiple organizations as collaborators in this foundational project
Elizabeth Fry Society of Ottawa)
- providing virtual programs through BSO (Bronson Safe Open) with diverse tenant collaborators
BEING Studio — BEING Home
- artistic programs both in-person and virtual for adults with intellectual development disabilities
Flo’s Seniors — Growing a Sustainable Multicultural Seniors Food Network and Service
- providing in-person and virtual support to older adults the the Afro-Caribbean community