Welcoming Newcomers in Carstairs

Congrats goes out to the ACE 'Diversity Friendly' Communities (DFC) group in Carstairs.  Their recent application for their $10,000 seed funding for their 'Welcoming Newcomers' initiative has been successful!

The Welcoming Newcomers initiative will help new residents including people of different ethnic groups, income levels, and ages feel welcomed and included in the Carstairs community.

The “welcomers”, called “Carstairs Connectors”, will match new residents, and those that may not feel connected, with more established residents who live in the same neighborhood of town. These volunteers will meet with new and other interested residents; informing them about activities, services, and organizations in Carstairs, answering their questions, and linking them with other residents, if desired.

Welcoming Neighbours extends a personal and individualized welcome to newcomers and other people who may feel excluded.  One-on-one conversations will support inclusion of residents from diverse backgrounds, socio-economic status, family composition, and age.  A friendly face, a welcoming handshake and a conversation over coffee at a kitchen table will help the individuals feel supported and included.

Welcoming Newcomers will build a more inclusive community through the conversations between established and new residents. New residents who have been personally welcomed might be more inclined to support local business, participate in community efforts, contribute to local decision making or welcome new residents in the future.

The Welcoming Newcomers project will also link nicely with the Seniors at Risk program, a Town initiative to support people living alone through Public Works staff and bylaw officers checking in on registered participants of the program.

Carstairs is experiencing an increase in newcomers including more visible minorities and a high commuter population as people move to Carstairs and work in Calgary. Carstairs also has a significant number of lone-parent families.  Welcoming Newcomers will build a more inclusive community through the conversations between established and new residents.  

We at ARPA can't wait to see how this project unfolds.  Great work to the ACE DFC group in Carstairs!

Carstairs evaluates their priorities!

ARPA’s ‘Diversity Friendly’ Communities (DFC) have now entered into the second and final year of their activities.  Sponsored by the Alberta Government’s Human Rights Education and Multiculturalism Fund (HREMF), this group of four communities is working to use recreation as a catalyst to support efforts to foster equality, promote fairness, and encourage the creation of inclusive communities.

Carstairs, Grande Cache, Jasper, and Rocky Mountain House are all working diligently to positively affect the quality of life in their communities. The DFC group in Carstairs, in fact, met recently at an event hosted by Carstairs Connections.  The goal of the meeting: 1) to learn about the State of the Carstairs Community through an update on health, recreation, and culture programs and projects, 2) to give input about what’s important in Carstairs in health, recreation, and culture 3) to give input about one to three priorities to make Carstairs more diversity friendly 4) and to set priorities for the use of their $10,000 Seed funding grant and the next actions of Carstairs Connections.

Participants, under the superb guidance of ACE Coach Barb Pedersen, discussed six theme areas identified at a previous community meeting. These included:

• Improved communication
• New People and Commuters
• Promote Carstairs as a place for business, tourism, a place to live, etc.
• Promote Volunteerism
• Leisure activities
• Engage our youth

After much discussion, ‘Engaging Youth’, ‘Promoting Carstairs’, and ‘Improved Communication’ surfaced as the participants top three general priorities.  The objective for Carstairs now is to dovetail these priorities with the goal of making the community more inclusive and diversity friendly.  We can’t wait to see to the final results!