Don’t just sit there; do something.
In other words, be participatory. Getting out there and being involved in building your own neighbourhoods and communities is at the heart of a two-day virtual conference happening on consecutive Saturdays, starting this weekend.
“It's about how you build your neighborhood to be what you need, so that you can access things like local food, or maybe a collective kitchen program or childcare," explained Laura Cunningham-Shpeley, the executive director of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues. "How do you not only connect with people that live near you, find out what those needs are, and then use the infrastructure that exists in the neighbourhood to make that happen?”
The EFCL partnered with the City of Edmonton to organize the event. The organization's approach works to engage residents of neighbourhoods and close geographical areas in a city toward more civic activities. The participatory life is a rich one that knits people together as they work toward common grassroots goals, she continued.
The model put forth by Participatory City in the United Kingdom is now crossing the pond as Participatory Canada and is being trialed in a few Canadian cities including Halifax, Montreal and Toronto.
Edmonton is a perfect fit for the model, Cunningham-Shpeley said.
“We have so many programs; we have the physical community infrastructure here in Edmonton. This Participatory City approach could really build off of the programs and the facilities and the amenities that already exist here.”
The conference, emceed by Metro Edmonton Libraries current regional writer in residence Nisha Patel, aims to grow a movement that will see ideas being sparked between people as well as developing pathways toward resources that will help realize those dreams.
“The basis of it is that we empower people at the neighbourhood level to take on participation within their city, so micro-projects and micro-grants,” Patel said.
Cunningham-Shpeley said it will be a modest start to promoting this mindset as the hosts did receive a small grant from the McConnell Foundation.
“If people want to try to build some sort of a community educational garden where people can bring seeds, plan together, grow food together ... it's not so much a formal community garden, but maybe there's a lot that is empty, that they know the owner, and the owner is willing to let that happen,” she said.
“It's around leveraging the existing amenities and services that we have in Edmonton to build back better after COVID. How do we create better, more vibrant local neighbourhoods that meet most of our residents’ needs. That goes to the City of Edmonton's plan, that you will be able to have these 15-minute neighbourhoods that really meet the needs of Edmontonians.”
The EFCL offers more information on its website at efcl.org.
