From the Ground Up: Building Healthy Communities in the Waterloo Region and Beyond

History and Overview of From The Ground Up

From the Ground Up is part of the ongoing work, and a continuation of previous events, focussed on creating Healthy Communities in the Waterloo Region. It is an extension of the Stories From The Front events held in previous years in the region, as well as the brown bag lunch series that was organized by the Waterloo Region Healthy Communities (Good Ideas) Group. It is also an extension of the work of organizations such as the Ontario Environmental Network, the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition, the Social Planning Council of K-W and the Community Health Department of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. It has taken an amazing amount of cooperation from a diverse group of individuals and groups to make this project a reality (See Appendix C - “Thank-yous”).

Development Process For From The Ground Up

In late May of 2001, Jackie McMillan attended a Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC) board meeting. She was asked to identify possible Ontario sites for the spring 2002 board meeting. Upon returning to Ontario, she contacted intentional communities, religious retreat centres, and education centres oriented towards sustainability. Of the ones which she identified, she found that either the fees were too high, or the sites were too inaccessible from public transportation. Believing that the FIC skills in communication and decision-making deserved a wider audience she began to explore the option of having the meetings in Waterloo Region as a companion to some local community-building events.

The first evolution of what such an event might look like was three-fold: a skills-building component, an opportunity to build bridges between disparate sustainable actions, and an informal information-sharing with the general public. Since the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair had all of these components, they were contacted and happily sent a copy of their “How to Host a Fair” package. From this were gleaned elements which might be useful and applicable in Waterloo Region.

Having worked previously with Trudy Beaulne (Social Planning Council of K-W) and Marie Morrison (Compass Kitchener) Jackie asked them to join her in her efforts. Trudy stated that if there was broad-based community support for the idea, the Social Planning Council could help. Marie agreed to help envision what the community-building events might look like, and offered City of Kitchener space for meetings. Of the many other people contacted, only a few were willing to assist in the visioning process, the least concrete stage.

By September 11 (yes, that one), a group of people representing Barterworks, the Dandelion Festival, the Waterloo Region Healthy Communities Good Ideas Group, the Ontario Environment Network (OEN), the Social Planning Council of K-W (SPC K-W), and the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition (OHCC) were ready to gather. The Waterloo Public Interest Research Group (WPIRG), The Working Centre, and a number of other local groups asked to be kept informed and possibly participate at a later stage. The two questions explored were: What concerns and needs are not currently being met; and what could a regional event around sustainability look like? From these came the event proposal:

By building on the work and events of existing groups, a coalition event could be created which had two aspects:

In October, Daryl Novak of WPIRG offered to see if he could find volunteers to support the project. On October 17th, the visioning group met to begin a dialogue about specific goals and possible time lines. We began to clarify what the goals of each of the organizations involved might be, in carrying out such events.

Another meeting was held on November 7, just before Jackie’s trip to the next FIC board meeting, so that she could take a proposal for FIC consideration. While the FIC felt that the venture was risky, they liked the idea, and the possible new model for holding events. Full board agreement was given to supporting the event in-kind, and Tree Bressen, Lotus Allen, and Laird Schaub volunteered to take on supporting roles (Lotus’ commitment to being in the region for over 3 weeks was especially helpful).

By the next meeting the 7 Generations Network agreed to hosting the Friday night icebreakers and success stories sharing, and the organizers of the Vegetarian Feast agreed to plan congruent events. In December the K-W Solidarity Network joined us in working on the events.

By the meeting on January 18 we began writing up a clear budget, ironing out site specifications, and generally developing more clarity and specifics. Teams were created, time lines were set, and actions were started to enable better headway, especially in the areas of site selection and fundraising. Prior to this meeting, Heather Cain had joined the team to help us coordinate and stay organized. At this point Erica Wilson, the regional coordinator at the OEN joined the project as well.

By the Feb1 meeting Marc Xuereb of the Region of Waterloo Community Health Department joined the steering committee, and the first pieces of an information package began to come together. A number of new people joined us at this meeting, most of whom joined the Steering Committee. Our new members included: Heike Mertins, Sarah Marsh, Ed Faruzel, Don Stewart, Lou Henry of Anishnabeg Outreach, Sharmila Setaram of WPIRG and the University of Waterloo Department of Environmental Studies, Cristina Manzano-Munguia of World Wide Opportunities for Women and D’Arcy Farlow from the Region of Waterloo Community Safety and Crime Prevention Department.

The Steering Committee for From the Ground Up included:

By this point the committees for Programming and for Site Details were meeting regularly. Later Karin Kliewer agreed to take on food and refreshments for the HC forum and the training, as she was organizing much of this for the Community Feast. Heike Mertins agreed to coordinate a team of health practitioners for the Saturday of the HC Forum.

Heather Cain was a key volunteer that helped to make FGU a reality. She committed many hours in January, February, and March, to keeping the Steering Committee organized and on task, as well as doing much of the administrative work at that time.

On March 14th a Project Coordinator (Ayal Dinner) was hired thanks to the efforts of the Steering Committee and funding from the Region of Waterloo Community Healthy Department.

The resources that were used to create FGU came from a number of sources. Much of the contributions came as in-kind time and resources from the members of the Steering Committee and a few others (see budget Appendix A).

Jackie McMillan spent countless hours envisioning the project, contacting people, getting folks interested, rounding up resources, writing, phoning, emailing, and much more. Most members of the Steering Committee found ways to put in extra hours and effort whenever it was needed (See Appendix C - “Thank-yous”).

The Social Planning Council of K-W agreed to make space and resources available for the coordinator, and this is where much of the administration of FGU was done. The staff at the SPC put in numerous hours to support the project and helped Ayal and Heather whenever they could. Trudy Beaulne supported the project throughout the process.

Lotus Allen was an amazing help joining us for the second half of April and helped the Steering Committee and Ayal to focus, as well as putting in hours on essential activities such as making phone calls, folding pamphlets, typing and taking Ayal out for lunch.

Marc Xuereb, a Health Promotions Officers with the Waterloo Region Community Health Department, put in a number of hours into organizing the budget, programming, and other details.

Marc and Valerie Gennings took on the roles of MC and facilitators for the day on the Saturday of the HC Forum. They helped make it an enjoyable and productive day, and put in a lot of work before the day to pull together the program and many other details.

All of the other volunteers, donors, and supporters helping with the preparations and on the days of the events played important roles in making FGU a success. (See Appendix C - “Thank-yous”)

We received political support from the regional government, the cities and the township. Funding came from a few different sources (See Appendix A). The Region of Waterloo was the lead funding body, contributing funds for the wages of a project coordinator and sponsoring the facilitation training. The cities of Kitchener and Waterloo contributed funds for the overall costs of the events and to ensure that the HC Forum was accessible. Both WPIRG and the Good Neighbours Group contributed financially towards the events.

As previously stated the process of bringing FGU to fruition was a creative and collaborative one. From the challenging process of attempting to balance all of our goals and visions, to the tremendous amounts of energy put into contacting people and encouraging them to attend, everyone involved brought their own important ingredients to the mix. From the Ground Up is one piece in creating healthier communities in the Waterloo Region and beyond, and will hopefully continue to be an important piece in that puzzle.

From the Ground Up “Events at a Glance”

Facilitation training

Saturday, 20 April 2002, 9am to 4pm at St. Mark’s Church - 825 King St. West

Led by Tree Bressen and Lotus Allen of the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC). The FIC’s expertise in facilitation comes from dealing with people who live together and have to deal with each other every day! An all-day training for people at all skill levels of facilitation.

Community Green Energy Workshop

Friday, 3 May 2002, 9am to 5pm

Centre for Core Area Research and Design - 70 King Street E., Kitchener

Facilitators from the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association helped participants develop an understanding of green energy opportunities and issues. Topics included green power aggregation, fundraising, and the fundamentals of wind and micro-hydro generation. For more info contact Cristina 578-9570/wwow@web.net or Mary Jane 744-6583/reep@fes.uwaterloo.ca.

Healthy Communities Forum

Friday, 3 May 2002, 6:30 to 9:00pm at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, 54 Benton St., Kitchener

Saturday, 4 May 2002, 8:30am to 4:30pm - St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 54 Queen St N. Kitchener

Friday evening was hosted by the Seven Generations Network. It was an opportunity to share successes in the community including good news stories, songs, and poems, serving as the starting point for the next day.

Saturday was shaped by the feedback we received from those who registered. We envisioned a day of learning from each others’ skills and experiences, and of working together to form new partnerships and developing strategies for achieving common goals.

Community Vegetarian Feast and Live Auction

Saturday, 4 May 2002, 6:30 to 9:00pm

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church - 54 Queen St N. Kitchener

The third Feast organized by Ebytown Food Co-op. The Feast drew a large crowd of over 200 people to its amazing buffet of vegetarian food and was followed by an exciting live auction with the benefits going to future healthy communities initiatives, the Fellowship for Intentional Community, and The Spot. For more info contact Karin Kliewer at 749-9177

Dandelion Festival

Sunday, 5 May 2002, Noon-5pm in Waterloo Park

This annual event is Waterloo’s celebration of drug-free lawns! A family event with folks sampling dandelion food and drinks, participating in fun activities, and viewing displays of local healthy communities initiatives. More info - Susan Koswan at 578-8508 or lgoerzen@golden.net.

Fellowship for Intentional Community Board Meeting

Thursday-Sunday, 9-12 May 2002, University of Waterloo

A rare opportunity to watch a room full of experienced facilitators running the business of the Fellowship for Intentional Community. The FIC welcomed interested observers to sit in on any part of its four-day Board meeting to watch (and participate) in skilled facilitation in action.

www.waterlooregion.org/healthy