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Hannah MacDonald

Hannah MacDonald
Hannah is a Community Animator, supporting Vibrant Communities members and online learning community in both Cities Reducing Poverty and Cities Deepening Community. Hannah recently received her Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management, with a specialization in Development Studies from Carleton University.

Recent Posts

Caring is Contagious

Posted by Hannah MacDonald on August 7, 2019

During the ABCD: Healthy Neighbourhoods, Healthy Cities conference this year,I got the chance to sit in on an intimate workshop hosted by Al Etmanski and Vickie Cammack on the visibility of natural care. We had a discussion on what natural caring really is, and it opened my eyes to the natural caring that exists around me. I hadn’t fully realized just how prevalent natural caring was in my every day life.

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Involving Government in Deepening Community

Posted by Hannah MacDonald on April 16, 2019

Community and individual well-being are important contributors to deepening a sense of community in order to promote community change led by those who live in the community. Community members’ feelings of safety and support is intrinsically connected to the community’s strength and success. Until recently, community plans on safety and well-being operated on a community-by-community basis in Ontario.

On January 1, 2019, the Government of Ontario mandated new legislative requirements under the police services act for municipalities to work in partnership with the community to develop and adopt community safety and well-being plans.

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Informing the Renewal Process with Lessons from the Past

Posted by Hannah MacDonald on February 21, 2019

Getting all parties to commit to a strategy targeted at reducing poverty is a challenging task.  Many poverty reduction strategies are limited to a period of a few years.  So, what happens when that time is up but poverty persists? How can your collaborative use their learnings from the first cycle to better inform the next iteration?

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Balancing Doing the Work Fast and Doing the Work Right

Posted by Hannah MacDonald on February 7, 2019
Relentless incrementalism is the key to social change. There are many
external influences that, despite how hard we work, will push progress back or catapult it forward. Particularly, the social, economic, and political climate significantly shape the ebb and flow of our work. Making social change sustainable, first requires investing in widespread community engagement to raise awareness of unique local issues and to involve everyone in the solutions.
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