Cities Deepening Community

Cities across Canada are recognizing the need to invest in the social well-being of citizens who live, work, and play in their communities in order to strengthen a sense of belonging, connection and citizenship leading to happier, healthier, safer and more engaged neighbourhoods.

Vibrant Communities – Cities Deepening Community is a collective impact movement and network aimed at deepening a sense of community in our cities. Through place-based efforts of multi sector roundtables and the alignment of strategies at the municipal, provincial/territorial, and federal levels we are creating a movement that creates the conditions that make deepening community a priority. Cities are joining this growing movement, thereby strengthening our ability to collectively learn from one another and effectively build healthier, safer more vibrant communities.

Become a Member

Local Deepening Community Initiatives have been shown to galvanize untapped community resources; create opportunities to nurture relationships across communities; and, strengthen the social connections that are essential to sustain dynamic neighbourhoods and reslient communities. - See more at: http://deepeningcommunity.ca/blogs/sylvia-cheuy/local-deepening-community-initiatives-tamarack-partnership-opportunity#sthash.qNAWQMrN.dpuf

We are working with communities and organizations across Canada and the United States since 2016 and have built a momentum connecting communities and supporting learning by bringing leaders together who are deepening community resilience and creating the necessary foundation for positive community change.

A Collection of Neighbourhood Strategies

This collection of neighbourhood strategies provides a glimpse into the work of seven cities involved in solutions to enhance community well-being. Cities Deepening Community is a network of people who are partnering with Tamarack Institute to explore the unique role that neighbours, neighbourhoods and communities play in creating positive futures.

Building A Case For Developing a Neighbourhood Strategy

Cities are now developing neighbourhood strategies that help guide the departments, organizations and residents to work together to build healthy vibrant neighbourhoods. This guide is for municipal staff or community groups interested in building the case for the development of a neighbourhood strategy.

Community Engagement for Developing a Neighbourhood Strategy

If you are looking to build a neighbourhood strategy, this guide will provide you with tools and resources to assist you in engaging the community and, ultimately, developing a meaningful, actionable strategy.

A Good Place is Better Than No Place

Over the last couple of years Jonathan Massimi has had the opportunity to work with a number of communities. This work has involved a great deal of listening; giving ear to people’s stories, dreams and laments. As he reflects on these experiences, he has come to see two impulses at work, the nostalgic and the utopic

Welcome to the Party! How to Onboard New Collaborative Partners

If collective impact efforts have any certainties, one surely is the ever-revolving (one might hope ever-evolving) door of community partners coming to the table. Our efforts for inclusivity, the reality that multi-sector coalitions invite instability as people leave jobs and new people come in: it’s inevitable that we will be regularly on-boarding new partners.

Hippocratic Oath for Community Workers

“First, do no harm.” This dictum is frequently but mistakenly associated with the Hippocratic Oath. Although it was disconcerting to learn that our physicians are not guided by this rule, Jim Ders is suggesting that it be adopted by community workers as the basis for our own code of conduct.

Vibrant Communities