The Latest

From Presence to Citizenship to Community

"In order to promote meaningful inclusion, we need to build communities that welcome the gifts and contributions of all their members."

Recently, I took part in the From Presence to Citizenship Learning Exchange in Toronto. To be honest, I didn’t want to go because I often find these “developmental services sector” conferences a bit frustrating – they’re full of big ideas and aspirational language, but does it lead to improvement in the lives of the people we support? However, since L’Arche needs to be part of this dialogue, I needed to be there.

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Building A Neighbourhood Strategy From The Outside In

As Cities grow, populations change and become more diverse, new neighbourhoods are built, and older neighbourhoods are being intensified. So, how do you deepen the sense of community? This is the question that the City of Waterloo’s was tasked with when they started to develop their neighbourhood strategy.  The City wanted to build a strategy to help define how to support neighbourhoods, facilitate continued growth, and support community members to be empowered to create strong neighbourhoods.

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Research on the Benefits of Social Connection

The GenWell Project, a global human connection movement, is on a mission to make the world a happier and healthier place by reminding people about the importance of face to face human connection and inspiring them to take action and get connected.

The research on the benefits of social connection is clearer than ever before. Spending time with others face to face can reduce anxiety and depression, increase empathy, compassion and resilience and can even make us live longer. Maybe even more importantly in our daily routines, social connection is the single largest indicator of happiness in our lives. For some this may not be news, but for all of us the importance and the clarity of the message likely is.

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Education Beyond School Walls

What do you do when you have children craving adult attention in a neighbourhood with disconnected adults fearful of ‘trouble-making’ youth? A school in Wisconsin, USA conducted a community survey and learned that the community did not know anything about the school.  What the neighbours did identify in the survey was that there were young people running around the neighbourhood causing trouble. The survey results prompted the school to ask: How do we extend education beyond the walls of the school and utilize the gifts and the assets of the neighbours, organizations and institution in the community?

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New Zealand’s Novel Idea: A Well-Being Budget

Societal well-being is as important as economic well-being. This was the key message from New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, at the 2019 World Economic Forum. This was a bold statement made even more poignant given the announcement that the New Zealand government will present a “well-being budget.” This signals a new decision-making focus, one that ensures impacts on the quality of life for citizens are considered, rather than the traditional focus on just the financial impacts. In practice it means that any decisions made, policies implemented, and money spent by the government will need to demonstrate how they benefit New Zealanders and how they work across ministries and party-lines to ensure ongoing positive impacts. 

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Community Adhesive: A Discussion on the Work of Aristotle and John McKnight

I love reading, unfortunately, I can’t commit to reading one book for an extended period, thus leaving many suspended mid-chapter. Outside of cluttering my nightstand, such a practice allows me to bring a variety of thinkers into unlikely conversation. A recent conversation featured Aristotle and John McKnight. Surprisingly, I found a strange affinity between their work, particularly, Aristotle’s discussion on friendship, and John McKnight’s emphasis on gifts.

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