Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability

Why get involved with CAFES?

It takes teamwork to create change in municipal environmental policy. While environmental committees in community associations certainly make a difference in their neighbourhood, convincing a panel of councillors to change policies often requires a larger presence. CAFES acts as a link between our community associations, helping them present a united front to councillors at council and committee meetings. Together, we can make change happen.

Here are the ways you can get involved!

Join the CAFES mailing list

This link takes you to a form to sign up for our mailing list. This is the easiest way to stay in the loop way news gets shared at CAFES right now. Stay tuned as we are in the process of rolling out a new communications strategy!

Join the Mailing List!

Become a CAFES Member

Gain first access to CAFES community initiatives, access to our members only forum, and a seat at the CAFES community roundtables and caucuses for the environment. Learn more about membership.

 

Become a Member

Make a donation! 

With growing capacity also come recurring expenses. While goodwill and love for the environment grows on trees, money for things like insurance does not. Please consider making a donation to help sustain CAFES.

Donate

 

Please note that CAFES is a non-profit but not a registered charity. You will receive a receipt for your kind donation but it is not a charitable donation receipt for tax purposes. 

Participate in the CAFES Caucus meetings

Look for notices and RSVP links for Caucus meetings in the latest CAFES Bulletin.

Volunteer

The volunteer situation at CAFES is "pretzeled". We love community volunteers but don't have a volunteer coordinator capacity to mentor, support or organize them awfully well. If you have an idea about how you would like to volunteer for CAFES, or would like to staff the CAFES table at community events please write to us at info@cafesottawa.ca.

Find your City Councillor... and let them know your concerns

Follow this link to see the list of City councilors and
to find your own:
Find your City Councillor

Find your Community Association... Join the environment committee (or start one)

The City of Ottawa maintains a list of community associations

Why get involved with community organizations?

A community associations and citizens organizations are groups of residents who advocate for positive change in their neighbourhood. Volunteers work together in areas such as anti-racism, environmentalism, neighbourhood security, zoning, the arts, etc.. Community Associations work closely with their city councillor to advocate for improvements in their neighborhoods. Getting involved with your CA is a great way to jump into meaningful activism while creating new friendships in your neighbourhood.

Why activism at the municipal level?

Advocating for change at a municipal level is a very effective way to create change. While Federal and Provincial politics are known for lengthy bureaucratic delays, decisions made at the municipal level are more easily swayed by enthusiastic citizens and advocacy groups. For example: Reno, Nevada installed wind and solar infrastructure throughout their city in 2011, and they have saved $1 million annually in energy since - not to mention the environmental benefits! A project like this is much more difficult to execute at higher levels of government.

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