Wednesday, March 30, 2011

What’s been happening with the Active Community Strategy (ACS)?

Framework

A working copy of the ACS Framework continues to evolve as we build and strengthen our knowledge and action in communities, and have discussions with experts and professionals. A new inclusion is an ecological model that links the eight core active areas with different sizes of stakeholder groups from individuals to the global sphere, with community being central for this strategy.

Collective Community Action

All four of the communities that are participating in the Active Community Strategy have engaged community members, organizations and councils to determine priorities in terms of building a more physically active community. Each is at a different stage in developing their strategy goals and outcomes. All have linked their priorities to local Community Sustainability Plan’s and other relevant local plans, the draft Active Alberta Policy, the AUMA “Healthy Alberta Communities: Convention Policy Paper”, and the Coalition for Active Living “Pan-Canadian Physical Activity Strategy.” Identifying the linkages with local, provincial and national efforts afford each community an opportunity to leverage their efforts and build collaborative partnerships.

  • Lethbridge

Lethbridge has numerous programs and facilities both indoor and out that support an active community. They see a need to build an interactive arena for organizations and individuals to interact online. A working committee from the Healthy Communities Association of Lethbridge and Area (HCoLA) has developed four main goals; 1. Promoting opportunities to live a more active lifestyle for all residents, 2. Create a sustainable stakeholder network that encourages community involvement in building initiatives and promoting active living, 3. Support a knowledge based community that has access to information on healthy active living, and 4. Gain support from key governing bodies in promoting healthy active citizens. Ensuring a sustainable approach that is accessible to citizens as well as organizations is top of mind. Expanding the conversation with other interested organizations and citizens is one of the next steps they are working towards.

  • Irricana

Having built a solid plan, with involvement from a wide range of community stakeholders, during their formal ACE Communities tenure, Irricana has focused in on two of the priorities laid out in their plan; a strategy to operationalize their portable flooring for the curling rink and communications. They concentrated on a collaborative partnership with the Ag Society and now have a strategy in place for the flooring. They continue working towards a sustainable communication plan, there is some interest in policy development, and work on a trailhead park and the path system are ongoing. Their upcoming centennial celebrations present an opportunity to collaborate and generate excitement about the ACS.

  • Camrose

The drivers of the Camrose ACS have enlisted involvement from a broad range of community organizations, from City Planners to the accessibility group. Their initial desire to increase communication and collaboration between Health and Recreation has led the way in increasing dialogue and understanding of existing resources and programs, and continues to grow awareness. An overwhelming desire to improve communication and collaboration across sectors is one priority that remains front and centre. Having many existing programs and resources for physical activity, they continue to build collaborative partnerships and increase communication via discussion around goals, potential outcomes and accountability for building a more active community.

  • High Level

A different group of people were inspired to join the ACS discussion around priorities, from new residents to Council members, each came with a commitment to build a more active community. Their top priority reflected the Community Sustainability Plan’s findings, building a sense of community. Using a unique approach to involve youth, the Manga club - an after school art group who draw graphic novel characters, were invited to attend the community sessions and to draw what participants were sharing. The results were poster sized visuals with the youth interpretations of the conversations. Utilizing the strengths and passion of these youth to produce visuals for the ACS proved effective. Future efforts will continue to build on this relationship and involve community members.

Each community has taken steps unique to their situations, and there have been similarities in the process as well. Using the ACE Communities ‘Planning Framework for Community Development’ as a guide, they have all taken the time to engage a variety of partners, built on strengths, and utilized existing knowledge, plans and research to inform priorities. All continue to explore who else should be invited to the table and how to communicate more effectively. The strategies that they are formulating are evolving and being generated by the community members, organizations and businesses. All the communities are thinking about creative ways to use the seed funding in a sustainable way.

Communication

Communication between the four communities and within each community has been important to build relationships and trust. From the beginning of the initiative we have had regular teleconferences, twice a month. Until recently, one was with the entire group and one was with individual communities. Now that the community leaders are more familiar with the process and other leaders, and that community action has heated up, the group decided that it was more time-effective to concentrate on individual community meetings (approximately twice a month), and to call group meetings when necessary. Within each community relationship building through word of mouth, committee meetings and targeted conversations together with traditional advertising were used.

Resources

The Resource Group met in December, discussed the ACS initiative and provided feedback on the draft framework. Resources continue to be added to the ACS database, discussions and connections with other professionals and organizations i.e. AUMA, physical activity guidelines, are sought out and integrated. Continual review and ongoing discussion about the overall process, community progress and deliverables are ongoing within the ARPA, ACE and ACS team.

What’s Next?

This update gives a snapshot of how things are unfolding for the ACS. A second meeting with the resource group is in the works and by mid-April the development of this initiative will be complete. Because the Strategy is evolving and continually improving, it does not mean that the ACS initiative is finished. Communities will have; just begun to look at implementation with a clear picture of moving their community to increased activity, a plan to utilize seed funds, and a strategy and/or initiatives to celebrate, the ARPA will have; a framework, resources and planning tools to share provincially, community stories and process learnings to use as a conversation tool and evidence in support of recreation and parks. This process continues to unfold, more people are getting more active more often.

We invite your feedback, encourage dialogue and anticipate involvement. Thank you and please feel free to contact us.

Karen Driedger – ACS Facilitator: info@fourward.ca

Carol Petersen – ARPA Manager – Recreation and Community Development: cpetersen@aropaoline.ca


Fantastic news for Trochu!

Celebrations are due in TROCHU!!! The Trochu Trails Committee, created through the local ACE Committee, has just received word that their application through the Canadian Heritage Legacy Fund has been successful. This fund aims at building communities through arts and heritage and helps commemorate local historical events, anniversaries, or tributes to local historical personalities.

Trochu has been actively pursuing the creation of heritage trails for their community in celebration of their 100th anniversary and have been received $159,000.00 from the Legacy Fund for their efforts! Way to be creative AND active, Trochu! To learn more about Trochu's activities, see this blog by Trochu ACE Leader Val.

Slyvan Lake's Green Thumb

The SYLVAN LAKE ACE Committee handed out grants to local organizations and schools this month for projects aimed towards growing food and involving the community. Seven different groups received $1000 grants during the recent Growing Green Neighbours Community Supper.

The committee decided to use their $10,000 seed money for community projects that included food and gardening as well as featured an educational component. Each project receiving the funding from the Sylvan Lake ACE Committee had to involve teaching community members about food security, healthy eating and life skills.

Projects ranged from teaching school children about gardening and growing berry patches to one project that saw a school turn their outdoor courtyard into an outdoor classroom garden. The aim of the whole project is active sustainability and building food security structures within the community.

Job creation in Eckville!

Talk about economic impact! As their ACE Communities project, ECKVILLE’s ACE committee has partnered with their local Recreation Board and Community Association to raise enough funds to hire the first-ever Recreation Director for the town.

The Town of Eckville, Conoco Phillips, the Eckville Legion, the Community Development Association, Medicine River Oil Recyclers, Fred’s Trucking, Keyera Energy, and the Lion’s Club all contributed funds towards the creation of this position. An application to Alberta’s Community Initiative Program (CIP) is also pending which could mean an even longer term reach for this new position.

The new Director, Wayne Hazell, has started his job this month. We would like to welcome Wayne and can’t wait to see what else the ACE Committee in Eckville can accomplish!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Vulcan is Rising to Meet Their Challenges

Vulcan Concert Series. Who would have thought that would be a name people would recognize? We started out like a lot of ACE groups do, knowing that we wanted to make a difference in our community but just lacking the direction and combined efforts to make it happen. But ACE got us rising to the challenges we put before ourselves and we have certainly “come a long way baby”.

The words that were banded about the community before were that there is nothing to do in Vulcan, if we want entertainment we need to go to the city. Now it is “Did you see the concert last night it was great, who knew we could get such good entertainment here in Vulcan”. Yes, the tables are turning for Vulcan in entertainment.

We started by finding people who had a passion for the arts and asked them to get involved and boy did they ever. We are very fortunate to have a husband and wife who are part of our community and are very involved with the arts scene. Steve Coffey (Steve Coffey and the Lokels) and Barbara Moore (Past-Prima Ballerina of the Alberta Ballet and now, Barbara Moore Dance Academy) are the ones who have stepped up and have put 110% effort into making our Vulcan Concert Series a go. They have lined up great talent to bring to Vulcan each season and have begun to line up our 3rd season.

Response from the community at large has been great. We have sold out almost every concert. We now have performers contacting the Recreation office to become part of our series. Past performers have commented that they had heard about the concert series before they were asked to be part of it and has said the feedback is very positive. We are very happy that we ACTively pursued the goal of having a visible cultural element in our community. But that is not all the Concert Series has to offer oh no, at each concert different artists are asked to share some of their talents to adorn the wall at the hall in which we host the Concert Series. It truly is a night full of culture for young and old alike.

Also at our first ACE meeting the community wanted to get a community calendar going. This is another area in our ACE adventure that we decided to put some effort after all, if you have fantastic entertainment or events happening that nobody knows about what is the use in doing them. So we put our call out again to anyone who have interest in creating a community calendar to come and meet and plan how our calendar would work. We had some very CREATIVE people come out and give us suggestions. It was great and from there we created our first community calendar. Over the period of a year it has taken on a new look and we have Vulcan Innovation Project who with their tech backgrounds have moved this calendar into what it is today. The Vulcan County Events Calendar ( http://www.vulcancountyevents.com/) has taken off. Many different groups have submitted events for the calendar. We even have spotlights from our concerts that are recorded and put on the site.

Everyone and organization is able to add to the calendar any event that is happening.

These two ACE projects would have never gotten off the ground if we didn’t have great community members who took the time to become ENGAGED in the community. Even though you see only a few names of people and organizations that have helped get things going, it has taken many more people behind the scenes to make these things a success. What had begun as a hope for the community has now become a reality and a jumping off point for other possibilities such as our Fall Fair and New Years Family Events to name two. Thanks to ACE for providing a framework for what is possible when a community talks and acts on their wants and needs.

Bonnie Ellis
Director of Vulcan and District Recreation.