About Heather

Heather Keam

Director, Asset-Based Community Development and Belonging

Remote Office: Burford, Ontario

About Heather

Heather works with municipalities and organizations to build strategies that put people at the center using Asset-Based Community Development. With over 22 years of experience in community development, she uses an ABCD approach to center people and belonging in the development of community plans and strategies through coaching and training staff teams, facilitation, and writing about ABCD and Belonging.

She has a passion for the power of people and believes that people and communities are the solutions to local problems. She believes that we need to build a sense of community belonging so that people are connected to their community, and their place within it and get involved in decision-making.  She also believes that municipalities need to shift the way they show up in community from doing “for” to supporting communities to do themselves.  

Heather joined Tamarack in 2015 from the municipal sector where she worked in public health for two rural counties working on the built environment (place-based) and building healthy community plans. Heather has presented at several provincial, national, and international conferences regarding her work on ABCD, belonging, walkable communities, and building healthy communities.

Heather not only does this work professionally, but she also does this personally in her hometown. She wants to make her town the best place to live by volunteering with community groups such as Optimist and Scouts, co-leading community projects such as local youth baseball, building a new skate park, and developing the first town square for her town. 

Area of expertise: 

  • Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)  
  • Asset Mapping 
  • Community Development 
  • Building Community plans 

Heather is a lifelong learner and has just recently got her certificate in Knowledge Mobilization from the University of Guelph and completed a certificate on Communicating for Impact from IDEO U. She also has a Bachelor's Degree in health studies from Brock University, a Graduate Diploma in Nutritional Science from Canberra University, Australia and a Graduate Diploma in Health Promotion from Canadore College. 

Heather headshot 2  July 2021

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