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The Dream Team "Road Show" is a provincial speaking tour members of the Dream Team began during the spring 2008. Working in partnership with ACTO -Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario- and HomeComing Community Choice Coalition, the Dream Team is conducting outreach and education on the subject of restrictive provisions in municipal policies and zoning bylaws and their impact on people living with mental health issues. This project received a funding from the Law Foundation of Ontario.
The specific goals of the road show are to provide support for psychiatric survivors who are being discriminated against to assert their rights, to educate communities and insititutions on the nature and impact of discriminatory zoning, and to create network of psychiatric survivors and advocates. As result of this project Deam Team hopes develop more strategic cooperation across the province to eliminate discrimination against people with mental health issues and help to strengthen local groups who provide ongoing education.
During the summer of 2008, The Dream Team ``Road Show`` visited four different communities across Ontario and held meetings with consumer survivors, and service organizations to find out the status of discriminatory bylaws in their communities. The result of these visits were of tremendous value for members of the Dream Team who were actively involved in engaging community members in discussions regarding issues of discriminatory zoning.
The presence fo the Dream Team was also of value to local communites. In an e-mail dated June 16, 2008, the local facilitator wrote:
Hello,
We had a dream day with the Dream Team here in
Smiths
Falls on June 13th! What a transformative experience! For a town close to the epicentre of the 'under-examined' rural housing crisis, the Dream Team was an awakening for this community. What exemplary work you're doing, among other things, to raise our collective morale (all 42 of us on Friday!). Consumers have a long and proud history of organizing and putting forth forward-leaning strategic initiatives - The Dream Team is a brave example of our collective capacity. Some participants who previously could barely leave their homes, found their voices again during this event, and the three break-out groups produced a wealth of information for our follow-up actions. What a success! Let's keep in touch,
Lisa Levesque, Manager Mental Health Support Project - The Link, Lanark,
Leeds and Grenville a part of Lanark Health & Community Services
We are currently working on a report to present and hope to publish our findings during the winter 2009. Printed and digital copies of the report will be available to the public.
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