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Building a Strategic Framework: Toward a Terrace Community Council

Presented by the Partners of

Learning Initiatives for Rural

and Northern BC (LIRN BC)

Terrace: April 3, 2008

A LIRN Workshop Summary Report

Presented in collaboration with Terrace Make Children First

SERVICE CANADA CANADA

Canadian Rural Partnership

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1

2. About the partners ..................................................................................................................... 2

About LIRN and the LIRN partners ............................................................................................ 2

About Terrace Make Children First Initiative ............................................................................. 4

3. About the facilitator ................................................................................................................... 5

4. Common characteristics, challenges and benefits of an active community council............. 6

5. Working definitions of a vision, mission, guiding principles and short term goals ............. 7

6. Results of workshop ................................................................................................................... 8

7. Next Steps.................................................................................................................................. 12

8. Appendices ................................................................................................................................ 13

8.1. Evaluation results ............................................................................................................... 13

8.2. Agenda................................................................................................................................ 16

8.3. Resources for community social planning.......................................................................... 18

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1. Introduction

On April 3rd

, 2008, community leaders in Terrace participated in a workshop that aimed to

achieve the following objectives:

• To review the characteristics of community councils and the life cycle of nonprofit

organizations

• To develop a vision, mission, guiding principles and short term goals for the Terrace

Community Council

Terrace Make Children First was the host organization for the workshop, providing dinner and

logistical support and planning. Saša Loggin was the local LIRN Partner who convened workshop

participants and made arrangements for the venue. The facilitation services were provided by

Scott Graham, Researcher and Director of the Community Development Education Program at

SPARC BC.

The Terrace LIRN workshop began with a round of introductions and a team building exercise,

which was followed by a series of exercises to create a vision, mission, guiding principles, and

short term goals for the group. The final portion of the workshop involved a summary of the work

of the group and the establishment of the time, location and objectives of the next meeting.

This report provides a summary of the content and the results of the deliberations in the

workshop. In the next section, we provide descriptions of the LIRN project and each of the

contributing partners. The bio of the facilitator for the Terrace LIRN workshop is then provided.

Next, select features of the content of the workshop are reproduced. The following section

consists of a summary of the results of the group deliberations, which is followed by a brief

statement about next steps. The final section is the appendices, which include the evaluation

results, agenda, participant list and a list of resources on community social planning.

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2. About the partners

In this section, we provide a brief description of each of the partners of the LIRN Terrace

Workshop.

About LIRN and the LIRN partners

LIRN is a collaborative approach to building on the capacities of rural, remote and northern

British Columbian communities. The LIRN process encourages government (municipal,

provincial and federal), First Nations, non-government organizations (community-based, regional

and provincial) and businesses to work together to plan, deliver and evaluate a locally relevant

learning initiative. LIRN is made possible through a partnership of federal and provincial

governments, as well as non-government organizations that recognize the strengths and

challenges of rural, remote and Northern BC communities. The LIRN partners also understand the

importance of local opportunities to learn about and work on current issues, as well as assess,

envision, plan and act for a better future.

As LIRN partners, the BC Rural Network, Canadian Rural Partnership, Service Canada, the Self

Help Resource Association of BC, and the Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC

BC) have combined their expertise and resources in an effort to maximize community capacity

building opportunities for people living in rural, remote, and northern parts of the province. The

objective of the LIRN process is to create a safe space in which community members learn and

work together in a manner that is locally relevant. On the following pages, we provide brief

descriptions of each of the LIRN partners.

BC Rural Network and the Regional Rural Forums

Founded in 2004, the BC Rural Network is a coalition of organizations, communities, and

individuals who share a commitment to enhance the capacity of British Columbia to develop

responses to rural and remote community issues. The BCRN is a non-profit organization whose

members and Board of Directors come from all regions of British Columbia. Our objectives are

to:

• Act as a coordinating body for the dissemination of information, tools, and resources of

importance to rural and remote communities in British Columbia;

• Act as a catalyst to build linkages between communities, rural organizations, and policy-

makers who work on issues of importance to rural and remote communities in British

Columbia;

• Improve awareness of the current work of existing rural groups and organizations in BC

by providing a forum for rural and remote communities and organizations to voice

concerns and issues, and learn from each other.

For more information about the BC Rural Network and the Regional Rural Forums, please visit

our website at www.bcruralnetwork.ca or contact us at info@bcruralnetwork.ca

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Canadian Rural Partnership

Canadian Rural Partnership (CRP) is a federal initiative which supports rural communities by

helping to identify the issues they are facing, by taking collaborative action to address these

issues, and connecting community to community and community to government to share

information on available resources and best practice in rural development. We identify issues by

bringing rural community residents together for dialogue or at conferences. The information from

these gatherings is shared with a federal/provincial Rural Team which can undertake collaborative

action to address these issues and can provide the input toward influencing government policies

and programs with a Rural Lens. We also share information from one community to another and

from government to communities through listservs, newsletters, best practice guides, and program

lists. For more information about the Canadian Rural Partnership, please visit our website at:

http://www.rural.gc.ca/team/bc/bchome_e.phtml

Service Canada and the New Horizons for Seniors Program

Service Canada is becoming the program delivery arm of the federal government. Over a dozen

federal departments are working with Service Canada so it can become a single window of

service and program delivery for the federal government. Service Canada is home to the

Employment Insurance system, labour market programming to help unemployed people return to

work, income support like Old Age Security and Canada Pension. Service Canada also

coordinates the New Horizons for Seniors program, which is a program that provides funding for

community-based projects that aim to encourage seniors to contribute to and become more

engaged in their local communities. Service Canada is interested in strengthening linkages with

communities for more effective delivery of federal programs and services. For more information

about Service Canada and the New Horizons for Seniors program, please visit our website at:

http://www.sdc.gc.ca/en/isp/horizons/toc.shtml

Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC BC) and the

Community Development Education Program

SPARC BC, a registered non-profit society and a federally registered charity, was established in

1966 and is a leader in research, public education and advocacy regarding issues of community

development, accessibility, and income security. SPARC BC is a provincial organization with

over 15,000 members and is governed by a Board of Directors from across BC. Our mission is to

work with communities in building a just and healthy society for all.

The Community Development Education Program is one of our methods for realizing our

mission. The Community Development Education Program aims to empower individuals and

organizations by providing them with learning opportunities to identify local assets and issues,

build local knowledge and develop skills and action-plans that contribute to effecting local

consensus-oriented change. The curriculum resources and facilitation services of the Community

Development Education Program are available to communities through the LIRN BC process. For

more information about SPARC BC and the Community Development Education Program, please

visit our website at www.sparc.bc.ca.

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The Self-Help Resource Association of BC

The Self-Help Resource Association of BC (SHRA) promotes peer support approaches to

community development, building the capacity of individuals and communities to become

healthy, responsive and self-determining. SHRA programs and services focus on the processes of

self-help and peer support, so that people can apply the information to their individual,

organizational or community needs.

SHRA offers:

• Capacity-building workshops on group development and facilitation.

• Consultations, collaborations and partnerships related to peer support and community

development initiatives.

• The Kinex Youth Initiative, a youth driven team supporting social and systemic change

through peer support approaches.

• Information and referral services in the Lower Mainland.

• PeerNetBC.com, an online space for peer support communities.

Find out more about SHRA at www.selfhelpresource.bc.ca or contact us at cheryl.shra@telus.net.

About Terrace Make Children First Initiative

The purpose of the Terrace Make Children First Initiative is to design an integrated and

comprehensive system for early childhood development tailored for the community by

identifying and researching:

• The key community characteristics, cultural practices and traditions and partnerships

needed to support young children and their families;

• Processes to best support communities and service providers to determine their strengths

and needs;

• Processes, resources and supports to build sustainable community partnerships and

coalitions;

• Approaches to facilitate integration and community ownership of service delivery models;

• Processes that engage all families in accessing information, supports and services; and,

• Emerging best practices to bring the strengths and needs together to improve the well

being of young children.

For more information on Terrace Make Children First Initiative, go to www.terracechildren.org.

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3. About the facilitator

Scott Graham

Researcher and Director of Community Development Education Program

Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia

201-221 East 10th

Avenue Vancouver, BC

604.718.8501

sgraham@sparc.bc.ca

Scott Graham is a Researcher and the Director of the Community Development Education

Program at SPARC BC. Scott works collaboratively with over ten rural and Northern BC

communities each year to design and implement community learning initiatives. He is principal

investigator for the Port Moody Interactive Government project, which aims to improve how the

City of Port Moody engages its residents in local decision making processes. He also serves as

principal investigator on a project entitled “The Power of Place: Integrating St’át’imc Knowledge

into Lillooet K-12 school Curricula and Pedagogy”, which is funded through the generous support

of the Canadian Council on Learning.

Recently, Scott worked as a facilitator for the UN-Habitat Regional Urban Observatory at Simon

Fraser University to formulate good governance indicators for Metro Vancouver. He holds a

Master of Arts degree in Theory and Policy Studies in Education from the University of Toronto.

He has published many guidebooks on community development methods and has several

scholarly publications, including a recent publication in Directions: Journal of Educational

Studies, and Policy Futures in Education and a forthcoming publication in the Journal of Applied

Research on Learning.

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4. Common characteristics, challenges and benefits of an active

community council

In this section, we provide a short set of descriptions of the types of activities that are

characteristic of community councils, and outline some of the challenges and benefits of the work

of community councils. In general, there are five major sets of activities of community councils.

• Advocacy: Acting on one's own or others behalf to change a public policy and/or to get

support for action on a specific social issue (i.e. presentations to city council)

• Research and analysis: Developing comparative and critical analyses of local social trends

and formulating recommendations regarding programs & services or their absence (i.e.

local affordability studies)

• Coalition building: helping those affected by a community issue to participate in

developing an action strategy for change (i.e. creating groups of organizations that share

interests)

• Community learning: Facilitating community learning initiatives about issues that affect

community well-being (i.e. sponsoring public presentations on health and poverty, world

cafés, etc.)

• Planning, evaluating and demonstrating: Convening community members to envision a

desirable future, as well as plan and evaluate action strategies for the purpose of effecting

positive change and demonstrating value (i.e. community visioning and action planning

process)

There are several challenges inherent to developing and operating a community council,

including:

• Inspiring people to believe that they can work together to make their community a better

place to live for everyone

• Sustaining the initial momentum of working together

• Finding and using the most appropriate methods of conflict resolution

• Achieving consensus on priority areas and actions among diverse stakeholders

• Raising the required cash contributions for community processes

Along side these types of challenges, there are many benefits to developing and operating a

community council. For instance, effective community councils:

• Facilitate knowledge production about local issues, especially from diverse perspectives

• Encourage integration of knowledge and action

• Consolidate available assets for maximum positive impact on community well being

• Promote cooperation among diverse stakeholders

• Reduce duplication of local initiatives

• Empower agencies and residents to participate in planning processes and local action

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5. Working definitions of a vision, mission, guiding principles and

short term goals

At the LIRN workshop in Terrace, participants were provided brief definitions to assist them in

their effort to develop a vision, mission, guiding principles and short term goals for the Terrace

Community Council. Below, the definitions that the participants used for the workshop are

presented.

• The vision statement should express the ideal state of the community of Terrace.

• The mission statement is a description of the purpose of the organization. It is a statement

that should answer the following questions: What we do? Who we do it for? How and why

we do it?

• The guiding principles are the ideals that underpin the decisions and work of the Council.

They are statements that should answer the following question: What are the

characteristics that we want to be known for?

• Short term goals are the tasks that can be accomplished within one year.

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6. Results of workshop

The participants at the Terrace LIRN workshop developed a vision, mission and started the

process of developing a set of guiding principles and short term goals for the Terrace Community

Council. The process for completing these tasks involved several steps: (a) Participants

brainstormed ideas about a vision, mission, guiding principles and goals and placed all ideas on

the wall; (b) Participants engaged in an affinity exercise whereby they moved all of the

brainstormed ideas into the headings (i.e. vision) that provided the best conceptual fit; (c)

Participants worked with the facilitator to craft a vision and mission statement and loosely

organize the key ideas for a set of guiding principles and short term goals. The textboxes on the

next page feature the descriptions that were agreed to by all participants.

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Terrace Community Council

Vision:

Our vision is a healthy

and inclusive Terrace

and area that is socially

just, environmentally

sustainable, culturally

vibrant and

economically

prosperous.

Terrace Community Council

Mission:

Our mission is to create

opportunities for people

in Terrace and area to

engage in dialogue,

community planning,

research and action.

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In addition to reaching consensus on the vision and mission for the Terrace Community Council,

the group also reached consensus on the key words that will frame their guiding principle

statements. The ‘working’ guiding principles are featured in the text below.

Draft Terrace Community

Council Guiding Principles:

Dignity and respect

Diversity

Honesty and integrity

Action-oriented

Locally-focused

Friendly and fun

Equality

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Although time ran out before the group was able to discuss the details for their short term goals,

the group did manage to brainstorm a series of actionable ideas that could be the starting point for

formulating strategic goals in their next meeting. Here is the complete list of actionable ideas that

the group produced.

Draft Terrace Community

Council Short term goals:

• Establish Terms of Reference

• Facilitate the development of a vision for

the community of Terrace

• Plan and host a multicultural community

festival

• Address the administrative and legal

questions related to forming an organization

• Facilitate a project that revitalizes the

downtown core (i.e. public area, farmers

market, pool, etc.)

• Create an inventory of the many

environmental initiatives in Terrace and

area

• Create a database of volunteers

• Facilitate a project to build a footbridge to

travel across rail tracks to coop

• Facilitate a project that results in the

establishment of a community friendly

complex at coop

• Create a community council website

• Promote more trade and barter to encourage

meaningful exchange of services and reflect

true value of energy

• Advocate for the use of the 13 month lunar

calendar and encourage synchronicity with

universe

• Be a strong presence in the community

• Create a centralized service providers

database

• Recruit more members into the council

• Recruit innovative guest speakers to share

ideas with the community

• Create an initiative that supports art in the

community

• Create a community social crisis response

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7. Next Steps

The group decided to continue developing their strategic framework by hosting another meeting

on May 26th

at the Anti-Poverty Society’s office in Terrace. The group developed two sets of

considerations for their next meetings:

1. At the meeting on May 26th

, the group committed to completing the work that was started

at the LIRN workshop and to widen the invitation list to include other stakeholders. The

specific tasks for the group at the May meeting include: (a) developing statements for each

guiding principle that define what each principle means; (b) articulating additional short

term goals and start the process of identifying mid and long term goals; and (c) if time

permits, discuss potential governance structures for the group. Ideally, in the near future,

the group will have produced their Terms of Reference.

2. With regard to how the group will meet on an ongoing basis, the group identified several

considerations, including: (a) the group will not meet more than once a month, usually on

Mondays between 5:30-8:00; (b) meetings will not be longer than 2.5 hours, whereby the

first 30 minutes can be used for socializing and the last two hours are task-oriented and

facilitated by a chairperson (currently Saša Loggin); (c) Each meeting must have an

agenda and end with clearly articulated actionable goals.

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8. Appendices

8.1. Evaluation results

All participants were asked to complete an evaluation of the LIRN workshop. In this appendix,

we feature the summary of the evaluation results.

Completed by 9 participants

1. Please Indicate the sector(s) in which you work

First Nations - 0

Government - 5

Social and/or Community - 3

Economic - 1

Environment – 0

2. Please indicate how relevant this event was for your community?

Mean: 4.7

Mode: 5

Comments:

Just what we need!

We need more community involvement

We will have a real community council shortly

Great!

3. Please indicate how the LIRN event helped you connect with the people in your

community.

Mean: 4

Mode: 5

Comments:

New people, people I already know, getting closer friends, although a small number in attendance

I knew most of the participants; however, it was good to build relationships with community

members

It’s always great to meet new people at these workshops from my community who care about

their community and bring a different view point

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4. Did the LIRN event increase your interest in exploring new ways to work with people

in your community

Mean: 4.7

Mode: 5

Comments:

Very exciting to think how we can do this together

5. How would you rate the event facilitator?

Mean: 4.9

Mode: 5

Comments:

Exceptional

Awesome

Scott, thank you for being flexible and adjusting the schedule to meet the needs of the group

Scott did an excellent job of keeping us positive and on topic

Great thinking, moving forward, pulling ideas from group, great smile

6. Please indicate the degree to which you found the workshop content helpful.

Mean: 4.7

Mode: 5

Looking forward to the next meeting

It was awesome

The four pillars of sustainability rock

7. What was your favorite part of the workshop?

Defining our vision for the community

Networking

Working vision and mission statements

Working towards a common goal

Networking and brainstorming

Diversity of people

The discussion around out vision, mission, guiding principles and goals - great dialogue

Brainstorming

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8. What was your least favorite part of the workshop?

Not sure if everyone’s voice was heard

The end!!

It was great – not enough time

Late hours

It ran a little late for me

All was useful!

Time it was held

Putting the paper in the circle

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8.2. Agenda

Building a Strategic Framework: Toward a

Terrace Community Council

Objectives of Workshop:

• To review the characteristics of community councils and the life cycle of nonprofit

organizations

• To develop a vision, mission, guiding principles and short term goals for the Terrace

Community Council

5:00 Introducing ourselves

• Who is in the room and what do they do?

5:15 Learning together: Community councils and organizational development

• Scott Graham of SPARC BC will provide an overview of the characteristics of

community councils and the non-profit organization life cycle. The components of an

organizational strategic framework will be discussed, including vision, mission,

guiding principles and short term goals.

5:40 Reviewing the results from the October meeting and adding new ideas

• Participants will review and organize the results of the October meeting, add new

ideas and organize all ideas into one of three categories: vision, mission and guiding

principles.

6:00 Creating a vision statement

• Using the list of ideas, the group will create a vision statement. The vision

statement should express the ideal state of the community of Terrace.

6:30 Creating a mission statement

• The group will create a mission statement. The mission statement should answer

the following questions: What we do? Who we do it for? How and why we do it?

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7:00 Health Break

7:20 Creating a list of guiding principles and developing definitions

• In this exercise, the group will nail down the principles that undergird all of the

groups work.

7:50 Summarizing the draft vision, mission and guiding principles

• The group will reach consensus on the draft vision, mission and guiding principles

for their group.

8:00 Setting some short term goals

8:30 Identifying next steps and who will take them o Participants will identify the next steps and select dates for their completion.

8:45 Evaluate the workshop

9:00 End

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8.3. Resources for community social planning

The following information consists of selected links to websites and publications on topics related

to social planning and community development. For a complete list of SPARC BC publications,

please see www.sparc.bc.ca/publications

Accessibility

� BC Coalition for People with Disabilities www.bccpd.bc.ca

� Parking Permit Program for People with Disabilities (SPARC BC)

www.sparc.bc.ca/parkingpermit

Community Development

� Citizen's Handbook: A Guide to Building Community www.vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook

� Human Resources & Social Development Canada - Community Development, including:

- Partnership Handbook & Facilitators Guide

- Community Development Handbook & Facilitators Guide

www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/gateways/topics/cyd-gxr.shtml

Community Economic Development

� Canadian CED Network www.ccednet-rcdec.ca

� Centre for Community Enterprise www.cedworks.com

� Community Futures of BC www.communityfutures.ca/provincial/bc

� Sharing Stories: CED in BC (BC Working Group on CED)

www.sfu.ca/cscd/gateway/sharing/download.htm

First Nations

� Aboriginal Canada Portal (Government of Canada) www.aboriginalcanada.gc.ca

� Aboriginal Education (Government of BC) www.bced.gov.bc.ca/abed

� BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres www.bcaafc.com

� First Nations Information Project www.johnco.com/firstnat

� Guide to Aboriginal Organizations & Services in British Columbia (Government of BC)

www.mcaws.gov.bc.ca/aboriginal_dir/guide.htm

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Learning Communities – British Columbia

� Coast Cariboo Chilcotin Learning Network www.chilcotin.bc.ca/cccln

� Lillooet Learning Communities Society lillooetlearns.ca

� Monashee Learning & Training Centre www.monashee.com/learning

� Ron Faris Lifelong Learning Communities Homepage members.shaw.ca/rfaris/LL.htm

� Upper Skeena Learning Community www.usdc.bc.ca/learning/project.html

� Vancouver Community Learning Network cln.vcn.bc.ca

� Whistler - Mt. Currie Learning Communities project

www.whistlerchamber.com/learning_network.php

Multicultural Community Organizations

� Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC www.amssa.org

� BC Multicultural, Anti-Racism, Immigrant & Community Service Organizations 2003

(Government of BC) www.mcaws.gov.bc.ca/amip/other?MAISO.htm

Planning

� CivicInfo BC www.civicinfo.bc.ca

� CivicNet BC (Union of British Columbia Municipalities) www.civicnet.bc.ca

� Planning Institute of BC www.pibc.bc.ca

� Social Planning Councils Contact Information (Canadian Council on Social Development)

www.ccsd.ca/subsites/spclist.htm

� Social Planning for BC Communities: A Resource Guide for Local Governments

www.mcaws.gov.bc.ca/lgd/irpd/growth/PUBLICATIONS/social/

Population Health

� BC Coalition for Health Promotion www.vcn.bc.ca/bchpc

� Improving the Health of Canadians (Canadian Institute for Health Information) www.cihi.ca

� Institute for Health Promotion Research (University of British Columbia) www.ihpr.ubc.ca

� Population Health (Health Canada) www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/phdd/

� Social Determinants of Health: the Solid Facts (World Health Organization)

www.who.dk/document/e81384.pdf

Poverty

� Campaign 2000 www.campaign2000.ca

� First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition www.firstcallbc.org

� PovNet www.povnet.org

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Regional Organizations

� Columbia Basin Trust www.cbt.org

� Fraser Basin Council www.fraserbasin.bc.ca

Rural & Northern Community Development

� Canadian Rural Partnership BC Team www.rural.gc.ca/team/bc/bchome_e.phtml

� Pocket Directory of Rural Programs &Services (Government of Canada)

www.rural.gc.ca/pocket

� Sharing Information to Strengthen Rural Communities: Lessons Learned from BC Projects (BC

Rural Team & Fraser Basin Council) www.fraserbasin.bc.ca/publications/documents/2002-

Mar-SharingLL.pdf

Social Indicators

� Centre for Community Enterprise - Oregon Benchmarks

www.cedworks.com/benchmarks.html

� City of Vancouver - FCM Quality of Life Indicators

www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/initiatives/fcm

� Genuine Progress Indicators Atlantic gpiatlantic.org

� Tools for Change: BC Community Indicators Resource Guide (SPARC BC)

www.sparc.bc.ca/publications

Social Policy

� Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives www.policyalternatives.ca

� Canadian Council on Social Development www.ccsd.ca

� Canadian Policy Research Networks www.cprn.com

United Way & Fundraising

� Community Foundations of Canada www.community-fdn.ca

� Non-Profit Survival Kit Part 2: Fundraising (Vancouver Public Library)

www.vpl.ca/branches/LibrarySquare/soc/guides/fundraising.html

� United Way of Canada www.unitedway.ca

Voluntary Sector

� Canadian Centre for Philanthropy www.ccp.ca

� Charity Village www.charityvillage.com

� Voluntary Sector Initiative (Government of Canada) www.vsi-isbc.ca

� Volunteer BC www.volunteerbc.bc.ca

� Volunteer Canada (Government of Canada) www.volunteer.ca