Every week, for one year, you can relieve an inspirational message that often has very practical ideas for deepening community.
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What a year 2019 has been! With all the news around the growing epidemic of loneliness, communities have been leaning into each other, seeking to foster social connection among residents and neighbours. This momentum has catalyzed a Deepening Community movement. Fifteen cities across Canada are leading this movement as founding members of our newly launched Cities Deepening Community membership. We have gleaned numerous insights from our members and our learning community over the course of the year. There was so much great work that was done this year that we wanted to give you our top 10;
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This famous holiday song brings back so many memories and instantly puts one into a joyful seasonal mood. How much has changed since the song was released in 1945? In the last few years the weather has been bringing up fear as thoughts of climate change permeate our thoughts. Happy holidays! That well-regarded greeting seems harder to share as we recognize the need for less excess – a simpler future.
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For twenty-seven years the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition (OHCC) supported Healthy Communities initiatives across Ontario and beyond. Following the loss of provincial funding in 2018, after careful consideration the OHCC Board of Directors concluded that the work of OHCC had largely been accomplished. On October 19, 2019, OHCC held it final Annual General Meeting at which members unanimously voted to dissolve the corporation and transfer OHCC’s remaining assets to Green Communities Foundation. While all were saddened by this decision, the mood of the event was very positive as members reflected on OHCC’s accomplishments and confirmed their ongoing commitment to Healthy Communities.
I am taking part in my first book club and we are reading John McKnight and Peter Block’s book, The Abundant Community, Awakening the Power of Families and Neighbourhoods. A few chapters in and I have gone from confusion to amazement in my thinking process.
When we are born, we start our lives as citizens of our family and community, and slowly become consumers of products, services and systems that lead us to believe we are better off and safer. When we think like a system we tend to identify the problem by labeling a specific target - for example, the ‘youth problem’ - however, John and Peter point out that it is not the youth with the problem but the neighbourhood and community.
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