CCSAC is founded; opens Headstart Nursery at St. John the Evangelist Anglican.

CCSAC opens the Emergency Food & Clothing Centre at McLeod-Stewarton (now Centretown) United Church. The project continues today as the Centretown Emergency Food Centre (CEFC), now located at 507 Bank Street, serving an average 900 people per month.

CCSAC operates the Centretown Employment Support Programme. In 1990, regional school breakfast programs were consolidated by the United Way, the Community Foundation of Ottawa, and Ottawa Network for Education. In 2005, the City of Ottawa opened a Social Services Centre on Catherine Street, prompting the closure of the Employment Support Programme.

CCSAC members start participating in Citizens for Public Justice nation-wide campaigns to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

CCSAC makes submissions advocating for social justice issues to the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario, and the Minimum Wage Advisory Panel.

CCSAC launches the “Walk for the Centre”  – to raise funds for the Centretown Emergency Food Centre and highlight the food insecurity facing many in Central Ottawa.

CCSAC prepares a submission to the panel working on a National Poverty Strategy. In the report, CCSAC identifies the lack of affordable housing as the single most important factor contributing to poverty for those living in the central urban core.

CCSAC writes letters supporting the findings of the Centretown and Somerset West Community Health Centres’ reports on rooming houses. Both reports emphasize the need to improve the quality of existing rooming house accommodation, as well as ensuring enforcement of current standards, in central Ottawa.

CCSAC writes letters on anti-poverty topics to all three levels of government and endorses the City of Ottawa’s efforts to establish cooling centres for inadequately house individuals during summer heat waves. CCSAC supports a motion at City Council declaring a housing emergency in Ottawa. CCSAC continues to recognize that the unavailability of affordable housing is the major factor affecting quality of life for many central Ottawa residents. CCSAC supports the Community Laundry Cooperative.