Happy New Year from TCE!

Happy New Year! In 2018, Marketing and Communications shifted to the Tenant and Community Engagement Department. This change puts the relationships with our communities at the centre of how we do our business. As CCOC moves into a new decade, we are reflecting on our values and reinvigorating them with tenants.

We wanted to highlight a few moments in 2019 where we worked with neat partners to express the values that mean so much to us.

Sustainability

Our Sustainability Facilitator, Natalia, was tapped to inform a classroom of keen, green design students from Carleton’s Industrial Design School who were tackling waste diversion. Most property managers of multi-residential buildings don’t currently have green bins on-site, leaving tenants with no option but to put food scraps in the trash. This means all the good stuff can’t properly break down into compost; instead, it turns into methane. CCOC is a leading landlord by providing composting at many buildings, and we take seriously our role in encouraging waste diversion across the greater community.

Inclusion and Openness

On August 25, CCOC marched in the Capital Pride Parade and celebrated with our community! We wanted to honour the history of our staff, tenants, and volunteers who have always ensured that CCOC is a landlord for everyone. For example, two-spirit and transgender folks have a particularly difficult time accessing housing. Identification cards might not match someone’s name, pronouns, or gender. At CCOC, tenants can choose how they want to be addressed in communications with us. This is what one tenant said:

“I was stressed as hell when coming to see the apt. and fill out the forms, because I use a different name than the one on my identification. At the viewing, [she] asked what I wanted to be called. When I tried to justify the ID name difference she said she doesn’t need to ask questions and will call me RJ because that’s my name… [Until now] I’ve never experienced housing in a way that didn’t cause me endless anxiety.”
– RJ Jones

Partnerships

2020 will bring with it many more opportunities to work in partnership with other communities. Partners help CCOC align our mandate with what is evolving and emerging in the city more broadly. Sustainability and inclusion are only two values we are looking at; there are more! Check in with us in 2020 to see what work we’re up to next, and don’t hesitate to reach out!