FAMILY… AT THE HEART OF OUR ACTION !
La Maisonnette des parents is a non-profit family community organization founded in July 1987 by Sister Madeleine Gagnon. The community center is located in the heart of the Saint-Edouard district, in the Little Italy neighborhood of Montreal.
La Maisonnette des parents’ primary mission is to strengthen trust, mutual assistance, solidarity, and empowerment within families by supporting parents in their roles as their children’s primary educators. We fulfill our mandate by promoting family autonomy and growth through four areas [departments] of activity : Early Childhood, Food Security, Recreation, and Urban Agriculture.
In our Early Childhood department, we offer a drop-in daycare service for children aged 6 months to 5 years. Children benefit from fun and educational activities that promote their overall development in a warm, safe, and family-friendly environment. The service allows parents to take a break, search for employment or housing, attend appointments, or take a course on-site, such as a French course for newcomers. It also helps build a social safety net around the most vulnerable families. As a frontline resource, working daily with our families, we can identify difficulties encountered by certain children, particularly in situations of neglect or when children present with one or more developmental delays. We direct families to the support resources best suited to their situation. We support parents in developing their parenting skills and offer them the necessary support to obtain the required services. Each week, we reserve spaces for families in urgent need or when we receive a specific request from a CLSC worker.
We also offer a preschool program, “Petits pas vers l’école,” for children aged 3 to 5, which facilitates the home/school transition.
Furthermore, a new addition since summer 2022, we are offering a camp for preschoolers aged 4-5. This initiative addresses the new reality faced by many parents whose 4-year-olds have entered preschool and find themselves without childcare during the summer, given that the age requirement for most day camps is 5 years and older.
As for our Food Security department, we offer a food support service with our Thursday community grocery pickup. We also offer weekly community cooking for adults and cooking workshops for children aged 5-12. which are very popular. These classes are very popular with our users.
In our Recreation departement, we offer after-school activities for children aged 5-12, in partnership with a local school, as well as a few Saturday classes, including martial arts and science classes. We also offer personal development classes and activities for adults during the day and evening : French class, Yoga class, Sewing class, Guitar class, Piano class, Zumba class, and more. During the summer, we offer a day camp for children ages 5-12. In addition to the variety of activities and services offered, French language courses are offered and often serve as a gateway for many immigrant families. In addition to building a network in their neighborhood and having access to training and activities for families, parents are supported in their efforts and referred to other resources as needed.
Finally, in our Urban Agriculture department, we offer gardening workshops for children ages 5-12, we collaborate on collective and community gardens, and from late June to late August, we welcome a few chickens into our urban henhouse to introduce children and families to caring for farm animals in the city.
At La Maisonnette des parents, families discover and embrace the services and variety of activities available throughout the year. They return, meet other families, and create a new social network, which further facilitates their integration into Quebec society. The users of La Maisonnette des parents are multi-ethnic, as are its team and volunteers. Moreover, volunteering often serves as their first experience in Quebec leading to the job market. Many volunteers at La Maisonnette des parents were first parents.
In conclusion : respect, inclusion, mutual support, dignity, education, ecology, and humanity are the main values that define our community center.