For over twenty years the Carnegie Centre at the corner of Main and Hastings in Vancouver has served the city’s Downtown Eastside community, providing literacy programs, a library, a weight room, a venue for films, concerts and other events and a place to seek refuge from the streets. The Carnegie Newsletter has been the voice of the Centre’s patrons, staff and volunteers.

Now, for the first time, a selection of prose, poetry, and artwork from the newsletter has been compiled in book form, showcasing the rich variety of views and talents of its contributors. From heartfelt paeans to friends, lovers, parents and children, to heated outbursts against the politics of poverty and ostracism, The Heart of the Community goes beyond stereotypical notions of Downtown Eastside life and those living it.

Paul Taylor has been living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside since 1981 and has been the volunteer editor of The Carnegie Newsletter since 1986. Before moving to Vancouver, Paul lived in the United States, Nepal, India, Western Europe and Central America.