April 2^nd, 2008

Hello, I am currently a resident at Second Base youth shelter. I would like to write about my experiences with Second base (SB) both in the present and in the past time that I have resided here. In my current experiences I have noticed that some great things have changed here from the past. For example, previously SB did not have an education program for residents and drop in clients. Clients/residents had to go as far as Kipling Station to attend adult learning centers.

Also at the time, clients (people who just come here for drop in) and residents both had to stay upstairs in the common area for the day program. There was no access into the rec room or any real monitoring going on. Also other changes that have happened were there was no fencing, or any real monitoring of the resident or clients that were entering / exiting the building. There only were 3 cameras at the time to monitor the whole building. There were a lot of poorly lit areas. It seemed as if staff didn’t even care about us.

There was a lot of drugs (mostly Narcotics), and alcohol on the premise. People were getting robbed at knifepoint or gunpoint or whatever people could find. There were no computers. There also were a lot of physical / verbal altercations every day, and the Toronto Police Service was here almost every day on a call to deal with the problems that staff were having with the residents/clients.

When I resided at SB 4 years ago, I really did not feel comfortable staying. There truly was a big problem on their hands. When I left 4 years ago, I did not plan on coming back. I finished high school, got a job, and got my life back on track. When I lost everything 4 years later, I honestly thought of not coming to SB. I thought of it as my last resort.

When the choice came, I had no choice but to go to SB. When I first came back to SB, I noticed a lot of changes. The building had a fence to control access to the building. There was a safer reinforced glass installed into most windows that would prevent people for lodging items of all kind into the building. The access control system has been updated from Mechanical locks, to electric and magnetic locks. There is now no more unlit areas surrounding SB. The staff are more caring and respectfull than they used to be. Sure there is the odd verbal altercation, but overall it has defiantly improved. SB also now controls who and who cannot enter the premises, which eliminates unwanted people entering the shelter. There is now more staff on the floor that can deal with residents. There is more of a family feeling that was not there in the past.

The drop in for the shelter is now conducted in the basement, away from the common areas for the residents. The drop in center now has it own set of computers (as well as the ones that are upstairs for our use), which residents and clients can use to Job Search, find out more information about schools or educations, or even to find housing. There is also now support workers who come in and give drop-in housing lists, and talk about various subjects including employment resources and support, counseling as well as other topic or subjects that people have questions for. SB has really changed it around from the past. Now you can even get apprenticeships as well as work on getting high school credits or even to write your General Educational Development test. There is now more of a family feel at SB. With the great and supportive staff, that helps the residents/clients, a new management team, the shelter has improved exponentionaly. In the time that I have spent here at SB, I feel a lot safer as well as a lot more relaxed in SB’s shelter environment. Currently it seems that they don’t let any aggressive/offensive people enter the shelter anymore, and there are a lot stricter on the rules. Second base has really raised the expectations in the safety, comfort and caring of the resident/Clients that use the services and resources that this Shelter now has to offer. In closing I personally believe that shelter has raised the bar in the services and resources that the will continue to improve and help residents in the future.

I’m always available to answer any question/ comments that you may have for me, I am not a shy person and don’t be afraid to contact me.

Marcel Hagge

cobrathesniper@hotmail.com