Ever since the Newo-Yotina Friendship Centre reopened in a new location in Regina’s Core neighbourhood, Eva Armstrong has taken advantage of the services provided to community members.

“I’ve only been here for a handful of times but so far, the [staff] have been so helpful,” said Armstrong, 22, originally from British Columbia but resides in Regina. “They helped me print off my resumes, they gave me job information and they even suggested available schools which I’m interested in.”

The Newo-Yotina Friendship moved from Winnipeg Street to the Regina Core neighbourhood to better accommodate community members. A grand opening celebrated the new location on the corner of 11th and Osler Street.

A grand opening was held on September 10th to celebrate the new location which now sits at 1635-11th avenue next to the Salvation Army. Armstrong is appreciative of the new location because it’s close to where she lives so accessibility is much more manageable. She added that she likes that the centre has a little play area for kids, which makes it convenient to bring her 2-year-old daughter along.

“She loves to come play here,” said Armstrong. “They even have snacks here too which is very helpful because not all the time we have snacks available.”

Michael Parker, the Executive Director of Newo-Yotina Friendship Centre, said the centre has been open since June 1st but they waited to celebrate the grand opening that drew in a large crowd of people.

“We [had] a barbeque and cake, some demonstrations from male and female pow-wow dance instructors as well as Mother Theresa Middle School’s drum group and some dancers as well,” said Parker.

The Newo-Yotina Friendship Centre was located by the food bank on Winnipeg Street which wasn’t very accessible for service delivery.

“The biggest challenge was the three flight of stairs and no elevator so accessibility was an issue,” he said. “We really wanted to focus on [relocating] to the core. There was not as many family-oriented community programs in this neighbourhood. We’ve seen our numbers go from 3 to 4 people a day to up to a 100 people a day that come to the drop-in centre.”

Eva Armstrong and her two-year-old daughter are some of the regulars at the relocated friendship centre.

Some of the services the centre provides are resolution health support workers that provide care to residential school survivors and their families, pow-wow/drumming/singing classes, smudging and language classes.

They provide toast and coffee in the mornings free of charge as well as access to computers and the internet. The drop-in centre is open Monday to Friday from 9am-2pm and the programming is after school and in the evenings as well.

“I feel like the new location engages into the community much better than it has before,” said Armstrong. “It’s nice to have another place to go to. You can feel safe and they have resources people need.”