The Emerald Project.

Could there be a more perfect name? Named after a quiet street in the heart of Côte Saint-Luc, this new “jewel” of a project is helping tackle two issues we face every day here at Ometz: poverty and mental health.

Thanks to the generous support of our funding partners and the City of Montreal, for the first time, Ometz is now able to offer a number of its clients long-term, affordable housing in two newly renovated and newly furnished apartment buildings on Emerald Street.

The clients participating in the project have all been diagnosed with a mental illness and the majority of them are young adults. They have lived on the margins, had difficult family pasts, some have been youth protection clients as children—and all lived in poverty.

Ometz currently assists 200 adults living with illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety disorder, many of whom live well below the poverty line and depend on welfare as their only source of income.

The Emerald Project is an incredible opportunity to offer some of our clients affordable living arrangements, while at the same time having our workers make frequent home visits and provide them with individualized day-to-day assistance, help with their budgeting and paperwork, as well as supportive counseling and community-based programming.

Chief Program Officer, Susan Karpman has been working closely on the project, along with Marcie Klein our manager of Mental Health Support Services. Both see the project as a long-term solution to breaking the cycle of poverty in our community and moving towards self-sufficiency.

As Susan said: “The residents are still poor, but their quality of life has changed remarkably. They now have a safe, affordable, stable place to live. They have services and support. They have an opportunity to plan for their future – in school, at work, in life.”

The Emerald Project is an inspiring initiative that we are proud to be a part of. I hope this issue of Onews showcases some of the other ways we are servicing the needs of our growing community.