antidote Annual Report 2010-11 (PDF)

Additionally, antidote is seeking new Board Representatives to lead in sharing the voices of our Aunties, Sistahs and Gurlz in our network! If you’re interested in joining our family, email us at info@antidotenetwork.org.

Thursday, April 15th, 2010
7:30 – 9:00 pm
Burnside Gorge Community Centre
471 Cecilia Road (off of Jutland Road)
Lekwungen & WSANEC Territories

Please join us in celebrating another great year and meet our new board of directors!

info@antidotenetwork.org

Several successes are worth highlighting. We welcomed the arrival of Manjeet Birk, our new Executive Director, under whose skilled leadership antidote has undergone a process of restructuring and transformation. We continue to be sought-after presenters, fielding invitations for workshops and keynotes from schools, conferences, and various organizations. This year, our members presented in South Africa, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and diverse locations in and around Victoria. Our presentations highlight the impact of social exclusion on Indigenous and racialized minority girls and women, who in Canada face the highest risk of gendered and sexualized violence, poverty, lack of access to services, and social, political, and economic isolation. Despite these gaps, antidote maintains a vision for positive social change. Our initiatives bridge community development, engaged research, arts-based methods, and a growing social support network, all developed by and for girls and women. As usual when we present, antidote’s gifted girl presenters tend to steal the show and blow everyone way with their insightful and deeply personal stories.

This year, we also held our most successful Unlabel event to date, launched a fabulous new logo and website, and were nominated for several awards. Our network and Board membership continued to expand. Our unique inter-generational Board structure ensures that girls, young women and women have equal representation in the governance of antidote. To support our growing network, we now hold monthly inter-generational socials where we share skills and knowledge, eat, laugh, celebrate, cry, and bond together. Every month, a team of one girl, one sistah and one auntie plan a special event such as dance, spoken word, and art workshops. These events are integral to the fabric of antidote –it is difficult for activists to sustain their work without the replenishing energy offered by social and relational ties.

Finally, I would like to warmly thank Jin-Sun Yoon (past president), Rosalyn Cua (incoming president) and Manjeet Birk (ED) for their boundless dedication and support. My complete gratitude also goes out to our extremely capable facilitators, Melanie and Letitia, as well as to our board members and countless volunteers, who are the heart and soul of this network. None of this would be possible without their willingness to work within and across multiple sites of difference. Solidarity in action requires constant evaluation, patience, advocacy, social action, and of course, the nurturing power of relationship. Like most grassroots networks, antidote is a work in progress. We continuously evaluate our approach to address gaps. We are innovating engaged methods and funding sources through social enterprising, and seeking strategies for partnering with an increasingly diverse community network. Whether through our always inspiring We’re Just Sayin’ Gurlz Club, our skilled and dedicated sistahs, or the administrative and visioning support of our aunties, antidote continues to provide a much-needed space for the voices of racialized girls, young women, and women. My year as antidote president has been humbling, inspiring, and rejuvenating. I am truly in awe of the amazing girls and women I work with, and am thankful for their continued energy and support!

As always, we welcome new members to our network. Do not hesitate to drop by  antidote events, or contact us for further information about our initiatives.

In good spirit

It has been an exciting year for us. We have a new look, a new website and logo that uses new technologies to help optimize our work. Over the next year we hope that these new tools will help build our multi media communication strategies, including blogging, internet resourcing and online sharing to further develop our global networks.

We have introduced our new monthly intergenerational events.  These monthly social gatherings allow us the opportunity to skill build, create and deliver workshops, have fun, and spend much needed networking time with each other.   Many of our members have shared their skills, from the fierce hip shaking of salsa to the powerful tantalizing rhymes of spoken word, to the self-care practices of acupuncture.

We have hosted many successful events and speaking engagements around the world. This includes the Unlabel Fashion Workshop where local fashion designer Charlene George helped us cut up fashion and stereotypes. Most recently, at our Mural Project at 1177 Esquimalt Road, in partnership with Project Respect, we left our mark and painted the town red.

This year is the start of a long road towards restructuring, growing and changing. It’s a particularly exciting time for me as I watch this amazing network develop the capacity to change the face of Victoria.  All of these amazing things could not happen without the unwavering support of our amazing executive team- Sandrina, Rosalyn and Jin-Sun, who without fail are the heartbeat of antidote. And also to the amazing facilitators- Melanie and Letitia, whose hard work, dedication and commitment does not go unnoticed. To all of these women and the rest of the amazing gurlz and women who make antidote the best “job” on earth – thank you!

Most people say their organizations are unique, and I feel the same way about antidote. However it wasn’t until my trip to Cape Town, South Africa, representing antidote at the AWID forum, that I realized this was really true. I sat in many rooms with women from all over the world, who live with varying levels of challenges and struggle. I sat there explaining antidote, telling them about this little organization on the other side of the world. I told them about what we do, and how we do it; how we work to create a sustainable intergenerational movement, driven by women of all ages; how we work in solidarity with Indigenous and racialized girls and women to create a network of support, love, advocacy and resistance. And it was here that these women told me that this organization is truly unique. It was here that they told me we inspired them and that our work affects them around the globe. It was here that I realized in the presence of some of the most progressive women’s movements in the world that we are pioneering intergenerational movements globally. And that although we work on a small scale we do it powerfully, thoughtfully and with the purposeful intent that changes the world!