After 20 years, Marjorie Crew is hanging up her hat as chair of East Side Pride and reflecting on her time in the influential group.
Crew formed the community-boosting association in 1999. As a resident of Chatham's east side, she said she was inspired to make a change in the neighbourhood after seeing it become ravaged with crime. Another catalyst for the creation of the group, according to Crew, was the drug-related death of a resident.
"We were born out of the death of a young man, conditions in our neighbourhood were deteriorating and we were angry at what we felt was a lack of response from external agencies like the police and the municipality at the time," she said.
Shortly after, Crew and her friend wrote a letter to the editor at the local newspaper, complaining about the issues in the neighbourhood. The letter garnered some attention from residents and community leaders. As a response, a community forum was held in collaboration with different local groups.
"There were over 200 people that attended that meeting and they too were sick of the conditions but afraid to speak up," Crew said. "So, that's how it started."
From there, East Side Pride developed partnerships with police and media in the hopes of addressing crime and drug use in the area while at the same time empowering the residents. They took on undertakings including citizen patrols throughout the neighbourhood. Crew said the goal was to work on solving some of the underlying issues plaguing the area and then bring in neighbourhood initiatives.
"You had to do those things to reduce crime before you could get it to a point where we could do some more proactive things like the community building activities that we wanted to get our community rallying behind," she said.
One of the biggest changes that East Side Pride brought was working closely with local law enforcement. At one point, Chatham-Kent police went to Windsor to work with their police force and learn how to recognize prostitution and how to handle it. Crew also worked with the court systems to follow up on criminal cases, something she said was one of the biggest challenges.
"Our job was, when somebody got arrested, we followed it through the courts and we made the courts aware of the impact this had on our community," Crew explained. "I'll tell you, I sat in that courtroom, I don't know how many times when the men were charged with soliciting a prostitute, just to get the court to hear the victim impact statement and it was a struggle."
The efforts have paid off, as Crew said street-level prostitution is now near non-existent in the neighbourhood and although Chatham's east end is far from perfect, according to Crew, the way problems are addressed has changed drastically.
"I don't want people to think this is a neighbourhood without crime, we'll always have issues," she said. "But at least now we know how to address them as a neighbourhood and how to empower and engage people."
Crew was eventually able to take the group from more of a "crime-fighting" group to a community association that works on building up the neighbourhood through activities and partnerships. They have created and helped with dozens of initiatives including fixing up houses, neighbourhood Christmas parties, getting street lights installed, helping to support youths in sport and the Coats for Kids campaign. Crew said it's hard to pick a highlight of the last two decades.
"Looking back and thinking about everything, it was building the trusts and the partnerships within our community and with everyone that touched us. That was really huge," she stated.
After 20 years, Crew, who currently sits on municipal council, decided it was time to move on from her chair position. Taking her place will be Bev Webster, who has been a member of East Side Pride for 10 years. Webster was elected by fellow members of the group at their last meeting. According to Crew, Webster is a perfect fit for the role.
"We share the same values," Crew said. "Bev is very smart and funny and I have a lot of confidence in her to be a good leader."
Crew said she will still be heavily involved in East Side Pride, an organization that she described as being "life-changing."
"All organizations are not meant to have the same leadership because then it becomes stale and stagnant and all that stuff," she said. "I guess it was meant for me to be there all this time to help lead this and get it going. I will be involved, it's my neighbourhood, I'm not going anywhere. I will be a member of East Side Pride as long as I'm alive, I think."