Gilbert Centre struggling to find new home after pushback for current location

After expanding services to offer a harm reduction program earlier this year, the Gilbert Centre says it is looking for a new location following some complaints about its expanded clientele.

Without wanting to single person or group out, Champagne Thomson, senior manager of community outreach and fundraising at the centre, says not everyone has been happy about more people coming into the plaza to access the harm reduction drop-in space.

“When I say that we’ve outgrown the space, it’s not in the physical sense of square footage. We have outgrown our ability to remain in this space, given the individuals that we serve and the respect that they deserve,” Thomson says.

“As much as we’re really going to miss being close to a lot of our community partners… we just feel it in the best interests of the individuals that we serve to move to a space where we can do our work in the best way possible.”

The Gilbert Centre started as an organization helping people with HIV and AIDS and has since expanded to offer services to people throughout the LGBTQ2+ community and other vulnerable groups. The harm reduction drop-in space opened earlier this year.

The organization helps around 2,000 individuals throughout the year through its various programs.

Currently, in a plaza on 80 Bradford St in downtown Barrie, Thomson says finding a new location to meet all their needs so that they can continue proving current programming is difficult.

She says the few options they are finding available are not accessible to the people they help.

“Accessibility is key given the fact that we service a very wide variety of individuals, including youth, individuals who are street-involved, individuals who are experiencing food insecurity, living through other forms of systemic marginalization.”

Factoring in inflation and the rising rent price, Thompson says finding a new home to meet their needs is proving to be even more challenging.

Having moved to a large unit within the same plaza earlier this year, Thomson says the added cost of another move within the same year would also be a challenge.

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“As a relatively small not-for-profit with less than 30 employees, it is incredibly challenging to balance the need for overhead, especially coming out of the pandemic. A space that has enough storage that we can have a drop-in space, a meeting space, at least six administrative offices and accessibility, which I know is a lot to ask, especially in a community as small as Barrie, but ideally that is what we need to continue functioning as the organization that we are.”

Looking at why they decided to move, Thomson wanted to address some possible misconceptions about the harm reduction space.

“Everyone has these big ideas of what they think goes in, but drop-in is literally couches, a television, a computer, a telephone, and really supportive staff that make peanut butter sandwiches and hand out harm reduction supplies, and if someone needs a piece, an article of clothing, if we have it in our donation, then it’s theirs.”

Thomson says they are hopeful that by getting the word about they can find a space that works and is within their budget.