November 2022 CD Practitioner Gathering Harvest

By Amanda Palmer

On Wednesday, November 9th we convened as community development practitioners for our monthly peer-based conversations.

You can access the full notes here, or flip through the note taking slides below! Note that we were unfortunately so engrossed in the conversations this month that very little were captured for shared harvest!

We had two breakout room conversation and a chat in the main room. The highlights below were gathered from the group debrief.

Exploring the role for arts and culture when reflecting on how we create a more sustainable future for Calgarians

  • So often sustainability needs to be justified with an economic argument to seem like a valid way forward, but that shouldn’t be the case. Arts and culture are also important.

  • Sometimes the economic arguments made to support action on some of the Sustainable Development Goals actually exacerbate the challenges.

How do we shift approaches to be truly community-led and built with support from organizations and governments?

  • Go back to the communities to hear what they need help with and what supports they would like.

  • Coalitions are a tool that can help us make this shift! (e.g. an early childhood coalition, an older adults coalition, etc.)

  • Personal investment helps increase involvement - figure out peoples’ strengths and use them!

  • Identify key people in your community who are your connectors!