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Heather Keam

Heather Keam
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.

Recent Posts

The Holiday Season Brings out the Best in Our Communities

Posted by Heather Keam on November 24, 2022

We are all on this learning journey together to help our communities to be the best they can be. It's the support, knowledge and capacities that you all have that will create the change that we want to see and the change that needs to happen in 2023.  As we begin to think about that next year has to offer, we need to reflect on how we grew and what we learned together. Here is an overview of how we supported you in 2022 to make community essential:

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Four Stories that Build Community Resilience Using Social Capital

Posted by Heather Keam on November 26, 2021

As COVID-19 cases start to go down, mass vaccinations are happening and communities are starting to think about the future and open, up we find ourselves at a crossroad. COVID has affected our jobs and families, shut down communities and created social disconnection. As we move to developing community recovery plans, we need to consider what we have learned from the last year and think about how to we build back better.

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Building a Movement: How the Deepening Community Network went from Momentum to Movement

Posted by Heather Keam on September 1, 2021

Over the last 5 years, the Deepening Community network has been a timely and powerful response to the growing social isolation, loneliness, and disconnection occurring across Canada. This is a network where citizens and leaders are exploring the unique role that communities and neighbours play in creating positive futures. Together, we are discovering the power of community as an essential driver of social change. The foundation of the Deepening Community movement is based on the four pillars of deepening community established in Paul Born’s best-selling book Deepening Community: Finding Joy Together in Chaotic Times.

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Let's Make Community Essential

Posted by Heather Keam on July 8, 2021

We all have spent the past 14 months social distancing, with the vital components of what is at the heart of community shut down such as parks, trails, cafes, community centres, events and social gatherings. We find ourselves at a unique crossroads, working hard to find solutions to a problem whose scope is beyond anything we’ve ever encountered before and the effects are deep. The pandemic has affected our jobs, our families, and our communities. However, it is in communities that we will find the strength to not only persevere but to emerge stronger and more resilient than ever.

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Youth Loneliness: Is it a youth problem or a community problem?

Posted by Heather Keam on March 31, 2021

Pre-COVID, there was growing evidence that loneliness was becoming a problem across all populations across Canada. It was being recognized as a public health issue.

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Building Democracy “with” Community

Posted by Heather Keam on March 29, 2021

Over the past three decades there has been a fundamental shift in informal social ties, tolerance and trust, political and civic engagement in our communities. Evidence shows that our actual experiences of being involved in a community has been steadily declining since the 1960s. This decline is evident if we look at the Canadian voting rates. We have an average of 63% of Canadians voting in the last 4 elections and in Ontario an average of 52%. Why are 40-50% of the population not voting? Is it lack of trust? Do people feel like they cannot make a difference?

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