Engaging Neighbours
Community Tables Pilot
2011-2012

The United Way of Greater Victoria  (UWGV) piloted the Community Tables: Engaging Neighbours in the neighbourhoods of Gorge Tillicum, North Park and Oaklands. The initiative invited broad-based neighbourhood involvement through engaging local leaders, at resident-based monthly meetings,  through the use of community surveys,  and the development of an asset and vision community map report for each of the neighbourhoods.

The monthly sessions involved group learning and a capacity-building process which helped them explore local challenges, identify assets, and generate neighbourhood focused action connected to United Way’s Impact Areas: All that Kids Can Be;  Healthy People, Strong Communities; and  From Poverty to Possibility.

Goals

• Neighbourhood capacity building

  • Citizen engagement & leadership
  • Building  community assets
  • Community learning & action
  • Community-engaged research
  • Comprehensive, innovative strategies to affect community change

• Regional learning and networking

  • Develop an online Regional Portal of best practices, tools, resources and readings on community development
  • Encourage learning, engagement and collaboration among regional leaders, organizations and citizen groups engaged in asset based community development projects

• United Way capacity building

  • Connecting to local ideas, local action and local solutions 
  • Collaborating in new ways and partnering in community building
  • Building best practices for local and national impact
  • Collaborative leadership & relationships
  • Building  relationships  and direct communications between citizens and the United Way of Greater Victoria
  • Fostering shared leadership on community issues and opportunities
  • Increasing community-university research and learning partnerships

Thank you!

Thanks to all the amazing participants from the Gorge Tillicum, North Park and Oaklands neighbourhoods who volunteered their time by attending the monthly meetings.

January of 2013 will see a new cohort UVic graduate student interns facilitating Community Tables in the Brentwood and Colwood neighbourhoods. View the Community Tables Website for more information.