Uplift: Building a Community Hub

YWCA Hamilton recently opened the doors of the Putman Family YWCA, a renewal of their location at 51 Ottawa Street North in Hamilton. The new facility is a dynamic community hub combining affordable housing, economic development infrastructure, and state-of the-art green building technology. YWCA Hamilton commissioned Civicplan to develop a concept plan for the community hub and was guided by three important themes:

1. Who would it serve? Understand the needs of the local community and stakeholders through engagement to establish a vision for the community hub.
2. How will it integrate with the neighbourhood? Understand how the physical building is situated within an existing and transforming neighbourhood and business district, as well as how it fit within existing and future municipal plans and policies.
3. How will it advance important social and economic development goals? Identify opportunities for partnerships and funding to make the plan a reality.

What emerged from this work were two clear directions: first to create flexible space for core services, such as supporting seniors and childcare; and second, to develop a centre of innovation supporting women’s entrepreneurship, employment, and training. The centre was proposed as key for building future partnerships with surrounding businesses and community leaders in education and industry, as well as being a draw for women in the Hamilton/Halton regions, more generally.

The concept plan provided a basis to pursue partnerships and funding, including from the Government of Canada. The fact this new facility would become a multi-dimensional community hub addressing a variety of issues, including affordable housing, training, and entrepreneurship, was of particular interest to Federal Economic Development Canada. In 2021, the community hub was launch with the Uplift program that provides training for women in specialized technology and advanced manufacturing fields.