Women's Place has a team of 3 staff and numerous volunteers who work to provide women in the Malvern community with information and resources. Here is a list of the staff members who you can contact regarding programs.

Cathy Mwanza, Women's Place Manager

Shauna Benn, Project Co-ordinator

Gloria Sam, Office and Program Assistant

Women's Place Mandate

• To serve isolated women and girls in the community by linking them to community services.
• To work in collaboration and partnership with agencies from various sectors such as physical and mental health, services for women with disabilities, housing, women's shelters and woman abuse services, information counselling and settlement services.

The purpose of Women's Place is to

• Reach out to isolated, vulnerable women.
• Provide information counseling by trained workers who will bridge women to community services that they are not aware of.
• Strengthen the network of services for women in Scarborough.
• Provide a drop-in atmosphere in a mall setting.

History:

A group of agencies working with women in Scarborough came together in 1994. They were concerned about the numbers of women who were isolated and vulnerable because of violence/abuse, poverty, mental health and newcomer issues. Our needs assessment survey showed that 52% of these women had never used any kinds of community service-not even a library. Their isolation and vulnerability was caused by lack of information, the stigma of exposing family problems or fear of reprisal at home. We wanted to create an informal safe place where women could learn about resources available to them and begin to overcome their isolation.

Services:

Women's Place Provides:

• Informal counselling
• Employment Board
• Referrals
• Computer usage
• Fax services
• Information on various issues. – Housing, relationships, health and more