Stories provided by Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition
West End Community Ventures is facilitating a community economic development approach to food security for the Ottawa-Carleton region and eastern Ontario, Harvesting for a Hungry Market. Eastern Ontario growers, local food action representatives, retailers and buyers, and health and nutrition professionals came together in workshops, seminars, and structured deal-making sessions to define and address shared issues of getting locally produced food to local consumers-end user consumers, institutions, commercial outlets. Low income consumers, a huge market, are a priority. The big question at the Harvesting for a Hungry Market conference in Ottawa last November was "Why is it so hard to buy locally grown food? And why is it so hard to sell food to local consumers?" This causes frustration on both sides. Harvesting for a Hungry Market is a continuing dialogue with new events planned for 1999.
Arising from concerns about the health status of Londoners, a working group of sixteen organizations and several individuals came together to work with the London Transit Commission to create the Healthy Community Bus. This group eventually merged with the London Healthy Communities Coalition.
The Healthy Community Bus represents many of the factors that determine the health of a community and its residents. London Transit Commission's purchase of clean and energy-efficient buses powered by natural gas will have a positive impact on London's air quality.
The graphics for the outside of the bus have been designed to illustrate various aspects of community health, such as clean air and water, nutrition, housing and transportation, and the benefits of community involvement. Commercial advertising space on the interior of the bus has been reserved for community groups to publicize special events and provide information in keeping with the theme of the bus. Through a partnership with the United Way, the bus will be available free of charge for community events.
The Child Nutrition Alliance is a coalition of community members, community organizations and business representatives from the counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry who are concerned with children's nutritional health.
Recognizing the impact of nutrition on scholastic achievement, their mandate is to mobilize parents, schools, community members and organizations in order to foster good nutrition pertaining to breakfast, lunch and snacks.
Among the Alliance's objectives are to provide parents with proper tools to help them improve the quality of nutrition for their children, and to create an environment that favors good nutrition within schools through policies affecting cafeteria food services, vending machines and fund-raising products
South Bruce County is working together to explore options in replacing the hundreds of jobs lost in their communities as result of the Hydro cutbacks at the Bruce Nuclear Center.
The Bruce Community Development Center invited the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition to assist them with their community consultation process to explore economic options at the community level and county level. The first of these community meetings was held in Southampton June, 1998. During an exercise, participants symbolically invested their money in community strategies and agreed on general economic directions to explore locally and regionally. Eight communities in total participated in consultations during the summer, 1998.
In June 1998, ninety leaders from across the community gathered in Welland to discuss issues, ideas, and plans for the millennium. The theme of the event was: Making Welland a Better Place to Live, Work, Play and Visit ...Together We're Better.
By using Open Space Technology, an innovative planning technique, twenty meetings were held within a two-hour span. Meeting topics included development of the canal lands and the proposed civic center, revitalizing the downtown core, promoting community involvement, and gardening.
Following the forum the City of Welland renewed its Council resolution in support of Healthy Communities. It states, in part: "That City Council and staff continue to provide leadership and direction in developing multi-sectoral initiatives that: support the concept of a healthy community and its principles; and encourage and empower local citizens to take responsibility for ensuring a stronger, healthier and more vibrant community."
The Task Force on Community Safety submitted their report, Toronto, My City. A Safe City. A Community Safety Strategy for the City of Toronto, to City Council in February 1999. The recommendations build on extensive consultation with over 1,000 Toronto organizations and citizens; programs and policies that have worked in Toronto and in other cities; partnerships between the City of Toronto, other levels of government, the private sector, community organizations, and citizens; and looking at the root causes of crime, and the most vulnerable individuals and neighborhoods, for the most effective interventions.
Recommendations of the Task Force report include: strengthening neighborhoods; investing in children and youth; policing and justice; information; and coordination.
Nakina, in Northwestern Ontario is dealing with the issue of a $2M new saw mill being developed in the community.
The Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition Community Animator worked to bring together two local groups that traditionally had not worked together. The merger brought a social consciousness to economic development.
Instead of just looking at employment, the economic development group also looked at issues of the influx of people, the impact on the municipality, and the integration of the new people to the lifestyle in Nakina.
Through Healthy Communities the social and economic sectors were brought together at the community level. In 1998, Nakina was short-listed for a Trillium Caring Community Award.
In November, the Environment Committee of the Orillia Coalition for a Healthy Community (OCHC) distributed its Pollution Prevention Calendar. Copies were enclosed in each Orillia Today newspaper.
The calendar offers ideas and suggestions to help residents in Orillia make healthier choices. It offers information on composting, reduction, re-use, recycling, healthy eating, alternative transportation, safe lawn care, non-toxic alternative, farming and more. The calendar also includes a directory of important phone numbers in their community. The project was a community effort with businesses supporting through advertising, student and staff at the Park Street Collegiate assisting in calendar production, and local artists contributing to the calendar's cover page.
Councillors of the Municipality of Clarington voted unanimously to endorse the work of the Valleys 2000 Committee. This committee grew out of the Clarington Healthy Communities Committee's vision of protecting and enhancing the Bowmanville Creek valley lands. Made possible with the strong support of local service clubs (most notably the Bowmanville Lions Club) and a variety of community partners, this project will include a trail system which will link downtown Bowmanville to the Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail. The Valleys 2000 Project was officially launched with provincial government funding in spring, 1999. Construction on the project is expected to begin in the summer.
The North Lanark County Community Health Center and the Township of Lanark Highlands are collaborating for the first time on a joint strategic planning project. Some areas of common interest which have been identified are recreation, public safety, rural isolation, environmental health, youth and seniors. Residents will be involved in identifying and prioritizing issues in a grass-roots consultation, which will also provide an opportunity for community education about healthy community issues. The project will help to develop a strong partnership between the community health center and the municipality, as they work towards building a healthier community within north Lanark County.