Keeping people safe & well

 

Note on a Community Dinner

January 5, 2006

 

Since the President of Banff Community Tenants’ Association (TA) had started working in the evening, community participation as usual was in doubt in the absence of the main coordinating figure was missing. Nevertheless, the rest of the community members showed up, shared the food and participated in an encouraging discussion.

One of the participants raised a thought provoking question, asking if the community was there  just to sit and chat, or there was anything more productive which the participants could do for the community during this time. This question led the group to the very purpose of initiating these activities—an extensive discussion about the role and present state of the TA, the problems it is facing and the role the rest of the community members can play in building TA’s capacity and assisting the office bearers in their activities.

Keeping needs of the community in mind, various activities were suggested, which the participants thought they can jointly undertake in the year ahead.

The participants decided to meet on Saturday, January 7, 2006 at 5 pm—the time of TA’s monthly meeting— for working on these ideas and chalking out an activity plan for 2006. TA will share this plan with Ottawa Community Housing and other partner organisations for possible assistance.

The most encouraging part of the discussions was the participants’ willingness to take all activities, particularly those related to No Community Left Behind (NCLB) Project, in their hand for implementation and monitoring as a capacity building exercise for the Tenant’s Association.

Community members reviewed all activities related to NCLB for possible improvement and course correction on the part of the community. Participants highlighted the need for sowing/craft classes.

For making the Community Dinner activity more fruitful, the community requested presentations and participation from other service providers and partner organization for information sharing on the pattern of Ottawa Police Services. Two police officers had already joined the previous two dinner and chat sessions and the community really appreciated that pattern of outreach for mutual understanding towards community development.

 

© 2005-08 South-East Ottawa Community Health Centre
Centre de Sante Communautaire du Sud Est D'Ottawa

Contact: Abid Jan Tel./ Tél: (613) 737-5115  Fax/Télé: (613) 739-8199

NCLB matters because neighbourhoods matter