The initiative that the Council has chosen to highlight for this application is that of Bienvenue à NDG, an organization that supports the integration of new immigrants in the neighborhood. Bienvenue à NDG was formed relatively recently, though the process started a decade ago in 2007 as a response to the closing of the Centre Multi-ethnic, an organization that had provided services to immigrants in the neighborhood for over 15 years. Recognizing that a significant gap in services and support for an important (and growing) segment of the local population had been created, the Council worked quickly to mobilize different partners, from private residents to the Borough of CDN-NDG, to better understand the needs in the community and to find solutions to fill the void. 

Starting in 2009, the Council led a multi-year process of creating a permanent solution to serving the needs of new immigrants in our neighborhood. Through a collective action in 2012, the community officially formed Bienvenue à NDG which the Council incubated as a project for several years until such time that it was able to establish itself as its own entity.  Still today, the Council continues to work closely with Bienvenue à NDG and to support its mission through collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and by sharing office space, as we strongly believe in the work and services they provide in the community.  As well, many NDG residents continue to take pride in and feel ownership of Bienvenue à NDG and remain deeply implicated: as volunteers, as Board Members, or as participants in their activities.

This process of Bienvenue à NDG’s formation is a clear demonstration of Council’s role in identifying a community need and then in taking leadership in mobilizing a wide range of actors in a collective action to support a common solution.

The Depot Community Food Centre, or The Depot, formerly The NDG Food Depot, is now a well-known leader in the fight against poverty and food insecurity in NDG and beyond.  It has been an autonomous organization since 2003. 

Food banks first appeared in Canada in the early eighties, in part because of the recession of 1981.  There were almost suddenly new needs to fight poverty and food insecurity all over the country, and many organizations, such as Centraide, were invited to help. 

In the NDG area, the NDG Community Council  became involved and created, in 1986, a new program, the NDG Food Depot, or the “Food Bank”, under the leadership of Sandra Frosst. The first location was Saint Augustine Church on Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Avenue. Two years later, the Depot moved for the summer in the small chalet of the Girouard Park. In the fall of 1989, a new location was found on Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Avenue until 1992 when it moved to the Oxford Street site.

La mission de la Société d'histoire de Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, fondée en 2022, est de préserver et de promouvoir les riches histoires du quartier Notre-Dame-de-Grâce de Montréal. Nous poursuivons cet objectif par le biais d'activités telles que des conférences, des expositions, des visites à pied, la conservation d'archives et des projets communautaires créatifs.

Le NDG Arts Collective a pour objectif de créer une communauté artistique dynamique et inclusive dans le quartier NDG, qui soutient les créateurs locaux, favorise la collaboration et renforce les liens culturels au sein du quartier.