February 2022 CD Practitioner Gathering Harvest
On Wednesday, February 9th we had our second Community Development Practitioner Gathering of the year, and it was another great morning of connecting and learning!
You can access the full notes here, or flip through the note taking slides below!
We had four breakout rooms have conversations on four different topics. We’re sharing the highlights here gathered from the group debrief.
How to launch face-to-face interactions when there is so much concern for safety around COVID-19?
A lot of conversation on experiences with blended programming and the challenges it poses with relationship building and connections, noting that in person/online/blended do not produce the same experience and outcomes. Also the note of challenges with equitability with this approach.
The key is to go SLOWLY. The pandemic still exists whether the government says it does or not.
Community work is already complicated, changing restrictions further complicates things… How does ‘professionalism’ come into play? Be aware of power dynamics, connections, etc.
How can we empower others in our communities to be connectors and increase capacity?
They created a list of important considerations and discussed each in detail: know who you are approaching; find resources; create invitation; define purpose - stay focused; build partnerships; how do we measure?; create a goal.
We need each other, we need meetings like this, we need to know we aren’t alone, and we need to work with others in our community.
Developing a mutual aid conversation resource
Amanda put some notes together on what this might look like, the Anti-Racism & Decolonization Learning and Action Team will continue this work.
The Power of Intergenerational Relationships
Building connections between future communities and past communities creates a strong pathway forward.
There are a lot of boundaries that people aren’t willing to change or step outside of. Youth can create strong environments for seniors to thrive in and show youth possibilities.
Youth have strong technology skills they can share with seniors.