TRAC workers improving life in St-Henri 1 person at a time

EverydayStphanie walks the streets of St-Henrihelpingmembers of the community live a better life and combating the negative reputation that has tailed the neighbourhood for decades.

Whether it's assistingpeople to obtaintheir healthcards, or to get an appointment at the CLSC clinic, she is always there to offer a helping hand.

"Our job is not to stop crime or to change the neighbourhood," Stphanie said. Her job, as a worker for TRAC(Travail de Rue ActionCommunautaire),is to make someone else'slife in this neighbourhooda little better.

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TRACworkersdon't have fixed offices in a building.

Stphanie,like her colleagues, carriesall the suppliesshe may need to do her job with her, at all times. Her backpack is filled with condoms, food, first aid kits, prevention material, information pamphlets and other reference material.

TRAC workers can be found in most boroughs of Montreal. In St-Henri,Stphanie and her colleaguescan be found mainly in the metro stations, parks,and community centres.

Some days she will help someone find a jobor write a resume, on other days she simply offers alistening ear tosomeone going through a tough time.

To maximize itsimpact and reach, TRAC works withcommunity organisations such asthe YMCA, Maison des jeunes La galerie, Famijeunesandneighbourhood high schools.

While TRAC doesn't have a mandateto stop crime, it strives to helpmembers of the community become betterequipped to handle stressful situations. In that way, TRACacts to improvethe neighbourhood, one individual at a time.

In recent years, Montreal police statistics showa significant decrease in reportedcrime in theSaint-Henri area.

Stphaniesaysthat gentrification has affected the dynamic of the neighbourhood, which has "changed so much over the last five or six years."

Lower crime incidence is a positive step forward. At the same time,"it is hard forpeople of the area to adapt to new places, new businesses, andnew services," she said.

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Stphanie and her colleagues work with many people who have lost their jobs as a result of St-Henri's transformation.

Many of these peopleworked for the same business for decades, and when those businesses closed, they foundthemselves looking for a new job.

Stphanie's job is to create a personal link with these people, and to be their support system.

All the work she does is on a anonymous basis, a necessity as muchfor the people she works with, as forherself.

Stphanie and her peers hope to growTRAC intoa bigger organization in St-Henri, and across Montreal,to help morepeople. Her colleaguesbelieve they would need two workers for every neighbourhood,one male, and one female, to meet demand.

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St-Henri Chronicles

St-Henri Chronicles is a collaboration between the Department of Journalism at Concordia University, and CBC Montreal.

Students in a graduate-level multimedia course were asked to find and produce original stories on St-Henri for their final class project.

They spent the winter term developing these stories, and experimented with sound, pictures, video, infographics and maps to tell them.

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