ACORN hosts town hall to address key community issues in Waterloo Region
Posted January 25, 2025
On Saturday, January 25th Waterloo region ACORN members held an amazing Region-Wide Town Hall to hear from local communities on the issues they’re facing and to build power to fight back together! CTV joined us to cover the story.
With an amazing turnout of over three dozen ACORN members and allies, leaders began the meeting with a review of ACORN’s current campaigns, with emphasis on not only our housing campaigns but also ACORN’s work to improve ODSP/OW rates, fight grocery price gouging, and stop predatory banking fees like NSFs. Leaders also discussed building collective power, and the value of coordinating with our sister groups across Canada to put pressure on higher levels of government and large corporations.
Big thanks to Hamilton ACORN who joined us at the Town Hall to discuss how their members fought for and WON a strong renoviction bylaw in Hamilton, the hurdles they had to overcome to get a strong bylaw, and the importance of perseverance in the fight for change. We also welcomed guest speakers Sam Nabi from One Million Neighbors and MPP Aislynn Clancy to share their thoughts on local issues facing our communities and the importance of working together to fight for positive change.
Later in the meeting, ACORN leaders divided the room into small groups where members could discuss community issues like renovictions, AGIs, grocery prices, disrepair and pests in apartments, and so much more. ACORN leaders then led an exercise with one example issue that was discussed to highlight how we can build campaigns to fight back on these issues collectively.
To finish the meeting, we launched Waterloo Region ACORN’s new tenant survey! City Councillors and other politicians are constantly saying they “need more data” to make the right decision (like passing a renoviction bylaw!) – so we’re bringing them data! Click here to fill out the survey.
Big shoutout to ACORN leaders Jacquie Wells, Ken Voghelpohl, Ryan Murdock, and Emanuel Melo for leading such a great meeting!