Men Are Part of the Solution (MAPS) is moving from its original home at 201-79 Selkirk Ave. to 27 Station Rd. next month.
Oswald Sawh, chairperson of MAPS, says the move is happening because of Northern Restorative Justice (NRJ) shutting down.
"We had a sublease with NRJ, so when they folded we tried to stay in the same location but the fact that we were not the primary leaser on that area meant we didn't get the first crack at keeping the space," Sawh explains. Instead, the Awasis program will be expanding into the office space owned by J.B. Johnston Ventures Limited, the commercial property management business run by Mayor Tim Johnston
From the time when MAPS was formed in 2002, as a service that helps men by offering support and resources to facilitate healthy relationships, until just recently in 2009, it didn't have an office or an official headquarters space.
"We actually opened our office in 2009 between 2002 and 2009 were the years where we were formatting our program and our program actually just opened for clients in April of this year," Sawh explains.
Although he says MAPS didn't want to move, he believes that it will end up being good for the organization.
"I think the good thing about this space is that it is still within the downtown area, so accessibility will be relatively easy. We do have more space than we had before so we're hoping to put in place our resource library, which we're in the midst of with getting books and videos and DVDs and so on," he explains. "We of course grew by one person for our clinicians. We had started with one person, but we found the need for two, so that person will now be able to have her own office."
According to Sawh, as more people find out about MAPS, more and more men are using its service to create a healthier balance in their lives.
"We've been slowly getting more and more clients. As we get the word out, a lot of these stakeholder organizations have been doing referrals to our program, so we have found that has increased substantially," he notes.
Sawh says that the federal government has supported MAPS substantially for the last seven years through organizations like the National Crime Prevention Strategy, the Thompson Urban Aboriginal Strategy and the RCMP, along with Neighbourhoods! Alive. He says the program is now asking for support from the provincial government.
"We're keeping our fingers crossed, waiting to hear back from the province in regards to long term funding for the program. We won't know about that until early 2010, so if we get that then MAPS will be around for a long time," he explains. "The cost for the most part would go towards wage costs for two employees and administrative costs, office costs, rent and so on."
Sawh says he is hoping for a smooth transition with no down time or interruptions to normal work flow at MAPS for the move to the new building, which will happen on Dec. 1 and 2.
