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What is a Neighbourhood House?
A place to connect, grow, and contribute to community!
We value diversity, and work towards inclusion.
What is a neighbourhood house?
Neighbourhood houses are one of the most adaptable and flexible tools in the field of social services. They grew out of the Settlement Movement where the discriminatory class structure fostered a wide gap creating a class system. Having started in 1880s England, “settlement” refers to members of more affluent London neighbourhoods settling into increasingly poor areas. This unprecedented move was a result of unease among some of affluent late-Victorians, who, to their credit, recognized the excessive levels of poverty, deprivation, starvation and disease created by the rapid growth of industrialization.
By living alongside their neighbours in these struggling areas in London they began sharing their knowledge and skills rather than dispensing charity, therefore improving the quality of life in these traditionally low income neighbourhoods. From the settlement movement, the profession of social work was created.
Today, what separates a neighbourhood house from community centres or other social service organizations is the philosophy behind the movement. Every Neighbourhood House is different because they seek to bring people together to collectively build and strengthen their own community. Neighbourhood Houses approach everything in a holistic way—providing support with the whole person, the whole family, the whole neighbourhood and the whole community in mind.
Neighbourhood Houses build safe, inclusive communities where people have a sense of belonging, a sense of place in time and the knowledge that they, as individuals, have the ability to make a difference in their own lives, in their neighbourhood and in their community. It isn’t about providing a program or service to address a specific need, it’s about providing tools, knowledge and practical support that empowers individuals to improve their quality of life and, in some cases, take on leadership roles in their community. Neighbourhood Houses aim to help people to find the solution instead of being the solution.
Alex House is:
Place-based
Focusing on strengthening our neighbourhoods and communities.
Inclusive
Creating places where everyone is welcome and feels a sense of belonging.
Collaborative
Working with our neighbours, community and partners to succeed through innovation, creativity and support.
Our Mission
Contributing to a vibrant, inclusive, and caring society by strengthening individual, family and neighbourhood life through opportunities that encourage people to gather, grow and build a spirit of community.
Our Vision
A vibrant, inclusive, and caring community
At Alex House, we value
Leadership
Being sector leaders and fostering leadership in staff, volunteers and participants.
Social Justice
Social and economic benefits should be distributed for the benefit of all people.
Alex House Priorities:
Serving the Surrey/White Rock area, on the stolen land of the Semiahma (Semiahmoo, q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), and qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓ (Kwantlen) Nations, Alex House is a place-based multi-service organization that works with the community to address their emergent and diverse needs. As a member of the Association of Neighbourhood Houses of BC, we are committed to place-making and working to create a vibrant, inclusive, and caring community where people from diverse backgrounds can gather, grow, and build a spirit of community.
Agree with our priorities?
The History of Alex House
Camp Alex was founded in 1916 as a summer camp for children from the Alexandra Orphanage in Vancouver. While it certainly facilitated this purpose, the camp also hosted groups of vulnerable mothers and children from Vancouver who were in need, providing an opportunity to get a respite from their day-to-day. In 1970, the local community requested that the camp keep its doors open year-round so that they could host activities supporting their families. This is exactly how neighbourhood houses start out, and how Alex House began.
Since the early 1900's Camp Alex has offered traditional summer camp programs. Today we keep these traditions alive in our spring and summer Fresh Air day camp program.
Alex House also operates child care programs throughout Surrey, helping to meet the needs of families and provide early intervention and prevention programs for youth and their families, including the innovative, grant-funded Youth Space project.
Alex House is focusing on reconciling our complex 100+ year history contributing to the child welfare movement in British Columbia—which paved the way for the formation of residential schools in British Columbia—with the organization we aspire to be: an anti-racist organization that takes a decolonizing lens on our day-to-day work.
Our organizational namesake was drawn from Queen Alexandra, who had a strong interest in the welfare of orphaned children. As an interim response to our colonizing history, we are now shifting to being known as Alex House. We hope our work around decolonizing will lead us to a name that better reflects our current priorities.
Our New Logo
Alex House is focusing on reconciling our complex 100+ year history contributing to the child welfare movement in British Columbia—which paved the way for the formation of residential schools in British Columbia—with the organization we aspire to be: an anti-racist organization that takes a decolonizing lens on our day-to-day work.
We are grateful to Nahanee Creative for our updated logo reflecting our sense of place with the shades from our local beach sunset, while creating an aspirational vision that includes Coast Salish lines, and a trio that reflects the community.