Neethanshan's Blog

Day 5: Malvern Walk for Change

neethanshan — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:16:44 +0000

Yes! We have successfully completed out walk for change in Malvern. Five days of hard work of over 30 volunteers on the streets of Malvern and over 20 volunteers working hard on the administrative duties. On Day 5, we had five volunteers joining for the Walk first time: Mahes, Arjuna, Shanaiya, Arrenan and Krishan. We also had a journalist join our Walk for about an hour. We will share the story from her once it is published. The last five days have definitely created a buzz in Malvern. With the support of all of volunteers, we reached thousands of houses in these five days. Many new volunteers have joined our team! Many residents found our reminder and the card with information on dates for advance voting very useful. They also applauded us for working hard to make Malvern reach the 50% mark in the election. Now, we will continue with our regular canvassing activities everyday in various parts of Ward 42. With about 70 days left for the election, we will need the active involvement of all of our volunteers until we reach 9pm on the e-day!

Day 4: Malvern Walk for Change

neethanshan — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 03:44:50 +0000

Today was Day 4 of our Malvern Walk for Change. We spent most of the day in South Malvern talking to residents about the upcoming election. During the lunch break time, we dropped by at the Community Event organized by the local MP at Malvern Town Centre. We had four of our team members joining the Walk for the first time, Jorge, Kandeepan, Tharini and Kirunthu. Many others who joined earlier returned today as well. It has been an amazing experience so far. The conversations with the residents have been very informative and refreshing. As I mentioned in my earlier blog entry, I hope to write more about the Walk once the five days are over. We will finishing up our walk tomorrow and will be spending most of our time in the Northwest of Malvern. If you would like to join us on the last day of the Walk and help us with the canvassing, please email us at info@neethanshan.ca

Day 3: Malvern Walk for Change

neethanshan — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 02:51:02 +0000

Day 3: Another day of amazing coversations with the residents of Malvern. The reception and the response has been amazing. It was great to meet some of the youth who attended the programs that I offered in 2000 and 2001. It was great to hear of their successes and accomplishments. Unexpectedly but fortunately, our team was able to drop by at an informal street party and meet a number of residents of a street at one location. Overall, many residents of all ages are getting excited about the Malvern Walk for Change. In fact, a few have committed to help canvass their own streets once again, closer to the election date. Thanks to many volunteers who returned again today to help with the walk. Also we thank the volunteers who joined the Walk today: Josephine, Prabu, Kingsley, Kala, Geetha, Benita and Sanjay. Our team is growing each day! Looking forward to Day 4 tomorrow.

Day 2: Malvern Walk for Change

neethanshan — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 03:34:25 +0000

Second day of the Malvern Walk for Change was equally productive and informative. We canvassed in total for about 8 hours in another section on Malvern today. We were met with a lot of support and enthusiasm. Thanks to Nirupa, Sarva, Jojo and Sukeev for joining the Walk today, in addition to many others who returned today for canvassing again after helping out yesterday. Malvern residents are gearing up to see the change happen on October 25th. Many residents conveyed their appreciation to us for taking on this civic engagement initiative.

Day 1: Malvern Walk for Change

neethanshan — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 03:53:18 +0000

Day 1 of the Malvern Walk for Change: It was an amazing day! We had a great team out there today! We knocked hundreds of doors and talked to many hundreds of residents. In most cases, Malvern residents were very responsive to us. Many Malvern residents seem to agree that it is time for change. Residents said that they would want the municipal leadership to pay adequate attention to their needs and do something concrete to improve the image of the neighbourhood. We will definitely share more details on the discussions we had at the doors once the five day long initiative is over. Thanks to the team of canvassers that were out there today: Initha, Babli, Andrea, Ryan, Anojini, Subramaniam, Keerthana, Shaila, Tashnim and Thadsha. Looking forward to Day 2, tomorrow!

Voices of Ward 42 residents

neethanshan — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 06:05:12 +0000

Having knocked many hundreds of houses in Ward 42 so far, one overarching theme seems to emerge over and over again. Many residents feel that their voices are not being taken seriously in the various affairs related to the municipal government. Many feel that their complaints/suggestions are being ignored and that certain issues are being dragged on for a long period of time, until they get tired and give up.

I strongly feel that the City Hall processes need to have better ways to incorporate the inputs from residents. Ward 42 is one of the furthest from the City Hall, not only in terms of physical distance but also in terms of connection and influence in decision making. The residents want more avenues and forums to help shape what is happenning at City Hall with respect to social planning, policy, urban planning, budget etc. If engaged in a meaningful manner with respect for their time and input, the residents are ready to step up and get involved. The main barrier is not the lack of interest amongst the residents but the lack of effective and respectful community engagement. I am hoping to utilize my over 10 years of experience in community development to build structures and frameworks within Ward 42 so that the residents can not only have their voices heard but also have meaningful role in shaping how our City does its planning and operations.

Andrea Moffat joins my “Malvern Walk for Change” initiative

neethanshan — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:34:17 +0000

I had described the details of the Malvern Walk for Change in an earlier blog post. Today, our team is delighted to share with you that Andrea Moffat has agreed to coordinate the Malvern Walk for Change. Andrea is an amazing local activist with strong roots in Malvern. Her passion, experience and local connection will be a great asset to our Walk! We are currently working out the route and schedule and will keep you posted as soon as they are finalized. Thanks Andrea for agreeing to take up this role. Looking forward to amazing five full days in Malvern!

sharing four of the endorsements..

neethanshan — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 02:20:06 +0000

We need more people like Neethan Shan! A passionate community worker who immerses himself in the community,and, experiences as well as understands the issues faced by immigrants and the youth. He exemplifies the young Canadian with an ethnic origin who embraced Canada while respecting his roots. His commitment to making the City of Toronto better is proven by his track record in community service, his work with various community and ethnic groups, and, his untiring and self less dedication to serve the community. I believe that Neethan will be a great addition to the council and help make the City of Toronto an example of a place where people from all walks of life and all colours work together with respect and dignity.

Paulina Corpuz, President, Philippine Advocacy Through Arts and Culture

I have had the pleasure of working with Neethan during his term at CASSA and have been very impressed with his commitment to the organization’s objectives and his ability to mobilize action! I am confident that he will bring the same dedication to his role as a city councillor and achieve results. This is definitely a leader that delivers!

Syerah Virani, Editor-in-Chief & CEO, MyBindi.com

I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with Neethan for a number of years. Never have I encountered a more committed, passionate and inspiring individual and community worker as him. I have witnessed Neethan work tirelessly toward building great Canadian communities, which exhibit strength in their diversity and allow them to demonstrate their true potential. His character, dedication and tremendous work ethic are indicative of a great leader who is truly representative of Canada. I look forward to supporting his efforts in building strong, diverse and healthy Canadian communities as the next City Councillor for Ward 42.

Sahar Rizvi, Community Activist

Neethan Shan is a not only a formidable advocate for social justice and equity but also for individual rights and fairness. As a ward 42 Councillor I am confident that Neethan would be honest, hardworking and dedicated to achieving the best outcomes for residents and the community. Working with Neethan was a wonderful experience to witness his drive, passion and steadfast values: these are traits I would love to see more of in politics!!! I am quite pleased to indicate my support for his campaign and hope to see him take office this fall.

Nadine Rubie Foster, Social Worker, Health Promoter (and Former Malvern Youth Centre Supervisor)

Malvern Walk for Change

neethanshan — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:54:08 +0000

I am pleased to announce to Malvern residents, through my blog, a new and unique initiative of my election campaign team: Malvern Walk for Change!

I will be walking through the many trails of Malvern over 5 days (August 11th to 15th) for a total duration of 60 hours, talking to local residents in order to encourage them to come and vote. In addition to discussing my candidacy and platform, my team has one major objective for this Walk: we want to increase the voter turnout in Malvern in the upcoming municipal election to over 50%! We strongly believe that we can do it, of course, with the help of the Malvern residents themselves. Many residents want change. But change can only happen if we all take the first step of getting out and voting. After we vote, the next important step is staying involved in holding elected representatives accountable.

I will be out on the streets of Malvern for about 12 hours for each of those five days with volunteers to encourage its residents to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming municipal election on October 25^th. My message will be simple. We are and will continue to be ignored and not be heard if we don’t vote in high numbers in our neighbourhoods. Let’s get out and vote! Let’s get noticed! Let’s get heard! Let’s cross the 50% and show that Malvern is one of the most engaged neighbourhoods of Toronto!

Welcome

neethanshan — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:37:33 +0000

Dear Friends!

Hope you are all enjoying the long/Caribana weekend. I am delighted to let you all know that I have decided to venture into the blogging world from the start of August 2010. I am hoping that this will serve as an amazing forum for me to share my ideas, views and perspectives while receiving input, suggestions and feedback from all of you. In the next 85 days, leading up to the Municipal Election on October 25th, through this blog, my team and I will share with you the status and updates from the campaign trail. In addition, we hope to engage more people in the discussions about how to make our City, even stronger and better place to live, work, study and play.

Last seven months of the campaign have been amazing, thanks to our dedicated and passionate team. We have managed to do a lot of things so far including securing the support of thousands of ward 42 residents, recruitment of over 200 volunteers as well as gaining endorsements from over 100 community leaders (including from former Minister Hon. Mary Anne Chambers)

We are now on the streets canvassing everyday to expand our support and to increase the civic participation in the ward! Please visit www.neethanshan.ca for the details on the ward and other details on the campaign.

I will try to keep my blog posts simple and short (hopefully generally around 250 words) as we all have busy lives and have many demands!

Looking forward to your continued support and guidance,

Sincerely,

Neethan Shan – Candidate for City Councillor, Ward 42, Scarborough Rouge River, City of Toronto