Building Community Solutions - Phase Three

Mobilizing the Community to Action

The third phase of the Building Community Solutions project  began in February of 2004. The focus of Phase Three is on building and strengthening the community vision, while mobilizing the community to take action on the three identified areas of concern: youth, poverty and building a healthy community. 

The Building Community Solutions Steering Committee chose as a major priority for Phase Three, to follow through and elaborate on, the neighbourhood action strategies identified by the Study Circles in Phase Two.

The Steering Committee identified three main goals for Phase Three including:

• To create a community where all members are connected and involved in community life.

• To strengthen leadership abilities within the community and create a community that mentors, encourages and creates opportunities for community members to develop as community leaders.

• To develop a common understanding of what a sustainable, healthy community is and to work with community leaders to develop strategies to create a sustainable, healthy community.

Members of the Steering Committee from the community at large took on a huge role as stewards of the project ultimately accomplishing the three main goals.  The true sense of building capacity within the community became an intrinsic outcome of the natural progression of moving the focus from an agency-based organization to individuals, neighbourhoods and to the community at large.

Phase Three was kicked off with a Conversation Cafe hosted by the Steering Committee on April 1, 2004.   Conversation Café is an open, hosted, drop-in conversation among diverse groups of people. They were developed in Seattle as a response to 9/11. The Conversation Café will re-start the discussion about community and possibly engender connections that will lead to action. 

Participants included Study Circle participants as well as other community members.  The Cafe was designed to kick off the "action" element of Phase Three by focusing attention on the action theme of "people in the neighbourhoods getting to know each other and becoming more involved in community life."

Click here to learn more about Conversation Cafés.

Specific outcomes of Phase Three included:

• Adopted a revised version of the Greater Vancouver Regional District Social Sustainability Framework to meet the unique needs of Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, and Katzie Communities as a means of defining Neighbourhood Quality of Life principles;

• Assessed Neighbourhood Quality of Life Action Planning processes and adopted the Chicago Neighbourhood Quality of Life planning model to guide Post-Phase III activities;

• Selected two distinct neighbourhoods in Maple Ridge to act as pilot projects for Post-Phase Three Neighbourhood Quality of Life Action planning.

Click here to read more about Post-Phase Three activities.

To learn more about Building Community Solutions activities or to get involved, contact the Building Community Solutions Coordinator at 604 467 7433 or by email.