Sylvan Lake's MSP Youth Forum

Sylvan Lake has just completed their Youth Forum regarding youth input into the town's upcoming Municipal Sustainability Plan. The Sylvan Lake ACE committee also used the forum to tap into what the youth think about in terms of a potential ACE initiative in their community.

The youth who attended the forum expressed a need for items like: better transportation, an embracing of their lake culture, mentorship opportunities, multi-cultural events, and more youth engagement in the realm of arts, culture, and recreation.

They also expressed pride in their activities to promote an active and healthy approach to maintaining the Lake through greener activities and advocacy. Great work, Sylvan Lake! We are excited to see what your youth leaders will accomplish.

Didsbury's Community Cafe

Didsbury had a coffee and dessert Community Cafe this month as part of their ACE Scanning Tool activities. 32 participants showing very broad representation of the population attended including a range from new residents, long time residents, volunteers with lots of experience and people new to volunteering as well as youth and seniors.

The purpose of the Community Cafe was to use the ACE Community Scanning Tool to gain residents’ opinions on the strengths of the community, areas to work upon, and initiatives that the Didsbury ACE Committee could undertake.

By the end of the workshop, participants had:

· Indicated what direction they as citizens of Didsbury and District want the ACE initiative to take

· Identified some of the community’s strengths and areas that need improvement

· Expressed ideas for the top three priorities for the ACE community to work upon

· Indicated their interest in contributing and being involved with ACE.

Good work, Didsbury! We can't wait to see the results in action.

Communicating via Blogging

A Kitscoty leader took the challenge and started to blog for the community of Kitscoty. What Diane uses the blog for is a communication tool. The focus is having a calendar of events so residents can look at a glance to discover what is happening in the community. Or, residents can look ahead to find out future events. If you look at the site you will notice that there is a lot happening! Check it out at kitscoty.blogspot.com Rural communities are busy!

I actually went on-line to find out the definition of a blog. It is one of those words that I know what it means, but where does it come from? Blog stems from "web log" and is a blend of the two words. In essence, it is a website where a person can add content in the form of a calendar, stories, pictures, and other relevant material. What a fantastic way to share what is happening in a community!

Blogging- what a creative, yet practical way to communicate to others in a community.

Newsworthy Vulcan

Check out this article in the Vulcan Advocate about the Ignite Event in Vulcan. Vulcan had an amazing day where the ACE team spent time in the high school as well as with the public at large. The Vulcan ACE Committee has already followed up with their scanning tool workshop so Vulcan is well on their way in their planning as an ACE Community. We are also in the midst of working with both the Vulcan Advocate and the local high school on our new Youth Reporter Initiative.

See this link for more info on the news in Vulcan: http://www.vulcanadvocate.com/

And here is the article links: http://docs.google.com/a/aceleaders.ca/fileview?id=0B3pKQajHE5jJY2NlZmVjMGMtNmUzYi00YzZkLTljZTQtYjM1ZGYwZmUyYTZl&hl=en

and

http://docs.google.com/a/aceleaders.ca/fileview?id=0B3pKQajHE5jJZWQ4YTdhNDEtZmI1Ni00MWY2LTgzOWMtNWZiYzA4MDk0OWVk&hl=en

The Olympic Spirit in Irricana

It's the Olympic Spirit in Irricana! Irricana was one of the lucky communities to have the Olympic torch to come through on its way to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. Attached is a photo of the torch bearer, Jake Parker. Jake was a member of SOGO and had a successful year with the group as a youth volunteer. Great job Irricana!