Letter of Introduction
August, 2003
[name]
[organization]
[street address]
[city, postal code]
Dear ____________:
Over the past year, community leaders from across Central West Ontario participated in four soundings to explore community interest in population health initiatives using a social and economic inclusion framework. The rapid changes communities are undergoing in informal structures, formal systems and local governments have resulted in reduced social support, isolation and citizen involvement for different populations across our region. From the final sounding, the most resounding stories of isolation and social exclusion described youth (between 16 and 24) and seniors (55+) as two of the most socially isolated population groups in our community. These were common concerns regardless of whether one lived in urban or rural areas of our Central West Ontario region.
The Brant Community Social Planning Council, the Social Planning Council of Cambridge and North Dumfries, and the Social Planning Council of Kitchener-Waterloo, as well as several other community “learning partners” in Central West Ontario, have begun work on the next phase of this initiative.
With funding from the Population Health Fund, Population and Public Health Branch of Health Canada, the project will validate what emerged from the initial community discussions by facilitating a process to determine how youth and seniors experience exclusion. We hope to accomplish this through engaging people, such as you, in personal interviews, kitchen table talks with groups of youth and seniors, and local learning forums. Then, our focus will shift to developing tools and resources to both assess and address isolation and barriers. Materials and resources will be available through on-line publications and hands-on workshops in the final stages of the project.
As a person or organization interested in youth or seniors’ issues, we hope that you can provide information on local youth or seniors’ initiatives and resources that you are aware of in our community. To get started, we’d like to connect with you through a brief telephone or face-to-face interview during the month of September. We also hope that you will participate as part of a larger Brant reference group in learning forums that will help shape the future activities of the project, including planning for kitchen table talks with area seniors and youth.
A summary of the Central West Social and Economic Inclusion Project is enclosed. I look forward to following up with you on this exciting new project in September.
Yours truly,
Caroline Ball
Executive Director