Swimming in Parallel Lanes
Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash
This is a post from Debra Jakubec (Project Manager for ACE) and Sue Holdsworth (Project Manager for RECOVER)
This is the story of two City initiatives that are sort of like swimmers in parallel lanes. They aren’t competing, but swimming in the same pool, trying to get to similar points. These swimmers are Abundant Community Edmonton (ACE) and RECOVER. They are working hard in the same swimming pool, together raising the water level, making waves and leaving wakes that might help propel others to get where they need to go. Like geese flying in V formation, the currents from each other's wings lift each other up and hopefully improve the flight paths for all.
Abundant Community Edmonton is a grassroots initiative fostering neighbour to neighbour relationships. The goal - to cultivate a culture of care and connection, increased sense of belonging and inclusion, and ultimately create a healthier and more livable city - one block at a time.
These are ACE resources available online that help neighbours to foster relationships
Sound familiar? If you have had the opportunity to poke around the RECOVER website, then you know that this is very closely aligned with what RECOVER is about. “One block at a time” is different. Perhaps, RECOVER is more about one prototype at a time.
Social isolation is its own pandemic. ACE began as a pilot in 2014, in part, to address social isolation. Source: Angus Reid Institute
Both initiatives are about inclusion. For ACE, with the nature of the block, building or cul-de-sac - everyone who lives there is included, while RECOVER focuses on including those who are often left behind. ACE is about having neighbours see what is within their power to change and to reclaim responsibility for health & well-being, safety, caring for the environment, local food production, nurturing the local economy, raising children and community care in their neighbourhoods. These neighbourhood necessities (John McKnight, 2013) are all also areas that RECOVER prototypes have dabbled in.
“Now more than ever, the importance of connection and its link to wellbeing should be at the forefront of discussions for government, institutions, non-profits, neighbourhoods and individuals. ”
These are the connections at the heart of RECOVER’s wellbeing framework
Also, consider the goals for ACE - cultivating a culture of care and connection. For RECOVER, wellbeing is all about connection; our target outcomes are six kinds of connection, and the RECOVER team sees their work as supporting a wellbeing culture that places connection at the core. Both prioritize belonging and inclusion. Now more than ever, the importance of connection and its link to wellbeing should be at the forefront of discussions for government, institutions, non-profits, neighbourhoods and individuals.
Both are asset based, capacity building. Both focus on the gifts that each person has to offer, on the strengths within communities, and both seek to support and amplify them.
“Both are about being less dependent on formal supports, on professional services.”
Both are about being less dependent on formal supports, on professional services. (Feel free to check out this blog post from Cormac Russell for more on this!) Both focus on community-involved solutions at the grassroots level. Both seek to involve people/neighbours in ways that go far beyond the charity model - far beyond volunteering and donating stuff; more in nurturing healthy reciprocal relationships or neighbourliness.
These are some of the key shifts that underpin RECOVER’s approach. They are not expressed in the same way for ACE, but they resonate for both initiatives.
If you are unfamiliar with either ACE or RECOVER, we encourage you to check them out. Our city is more than the sum of its parts. Together, we can accomplish so much more.
ACE and RECOVER both encourage you to think about where you live and how you can better connect with your neighbours (to find out how to connect your block, attend Creating a Neighbourly Vibe with ACE). Which connections might you nurture in your neighbourhood?