CUSA voted on June 28 to combine Foot Patrol and Carleton’s Food Centre into one service to be known as the Unified Support Centre.
The services provided by both the Foot Patrol and the Food Centre—including accompanying students on safe walks and providing free food for Carleton community members—will largely stay the same once they merge into the Unified Support Centre, according to Foot Patrol administrative coordinator Liam Callaghan.
“Currently we’re integrating both centres’ services as they are, with the benefit of being able to expand operational hours on the Food Centre side,” Callaghan said.
Although the services will remain the same as the centre gets started, Callaghan said the goal is to eventually expand these services.
CUSA’s vice-president (finance) Venassa Baptiste also spoke about expanding the responsibilities of the Unified Support Centre.
“Because food insecurity is a big issue here on campus, I feel like giving more resources, both in terms of volunteers and financial support, to both centres is the way to go,” Baptiste said.
Callaghan said the idea to unify the centres came naturally as the centres began relying on each other’s support.
The volunteer bases of Foot Patrol and Carleton’s Food Centre will become one set of volunteers when the Unified Support Centre begins. Callaghan said combining the volunteers will allow for more efficiency, stating that when Foot Patrol volunteers are not needed for safe walks in the evening they can pack food hampers for the next day.
Callaghan added the Food Centre and Foot Patrol are each currently staffed by two part-time employees. According to the Unified Support Centre proposal, the Unified Support Centre will be staffed by three employees: a full-time unified support administrator, a part-time unified support operations coordinator and a part-time unified support volunteer coordinator.
Callaghan said CUSA is still in the process of hiring staff.
The Unified Support Centre proposal states the new centre will operate in University Centre Room 314.
Foot Patrol’s student levy fee will be used to fund the Unified Support Centre, according to the proposal. CUSA will also increase the Food Centre’s budget. According to the proposal, the Food Centre’s total budget allocation for the 2019-2020 academic year was just over $50,000 which CUSA will increase by about $25,000.
Callaghan said while the amendment to the bylaw is important for funding, it is not necessary for the creation of the Unified Support Centre.
One of the centre’s future ambitions is to provide emergency housing support to students in need.
“We can walk people home in the evening, but they disclose that they don’t have a safe place to stay and we really can’t do anything for them and there aren’t any Carleton specific services that can provide that same day service and same day support,” Callaghan said.
Callaghan added the Unified Support Centre proposal integrates emergency housing support into what the Unified Support Centre will be doing in the future. The proposal also includes the creation of an emergency housing support program into the responsibilities of the unified support administrator.
“I want to make sure that when we come back to CUSA in 2021 that we come back to a modern CUSA—not one that’s been doing the same thing for years on years,” Baptiste said.
A motion to amend CUSA bylaws has been presented to CUSA councillors and is set to be voted upon July 26.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
