The Hamptons Abundant Communities Initiative
What is Abundant Communities?
How does my block get included? Contact: The Hamptons Neighbourhood Connector, Lynda Sherman: AbundantCommunities@TheHamptonsCommunityLeague.com
Learn more about Abundant Communities by listening to an interview on CHED with Karen Wilk, Anne Harvey and Howard Lawrence who are all involved with Edmonton’s Abundant Communities Initiative.
Where are we now?
Download: Abundant-Communities-in-The-Hamptons Slide Show (Power Point Presentation)
The purpose of The Abundant Community Initiative…
is to advance the development of neighbourhood well-being in Edmonton neighborhoods following the principles and practices recommended by Peter Block and John McKnight in their book The Abundant Community.
Imagine…
- Your ideas about the neighbourhood joining other ideas to help our Community League lead into the future.
- Finding others in the neighbourhood who also enjoy what you or your kids do (e.g. ball hockey, walking, guitar, knitting, stamping, etc.).
- Using your abilities to – care for seniors, garden, coach, babysit, etc. – in order to help each other out and make our neighbourhood an even better place to live!
At the heart of the initiative…
is a neighbour or two on each block who will initiate a casual conversation with each household on their block/cul-de-sac/building floor, about their:
- Vision for their neighbourhood,
- Activities and interests that they can do together, and the
- Skills, gifts or abilities they are willing to share with their neighbours or the whole neighbourhood.
The process…
Work with community leagues or community groups/organizations to find a Neighbourhood Connector who will:
- Identify, enlist and organize approximately 50 Block Connectors,
- Facilitate and encourage the Block Connector’s conversation process, and
- Collate/group the information from the conversations on behalf of the neighbourhood and the organizing community league or community group/organization.
The benefits…
- Initiates a momentum of household connection within each block/cul-de-sac/building floor and the neighbourhood.
- Shapes neighbourhood life according to residents’ vision of their neighbourhood.
- Facilitates relationships through the formation of new groups/associations of shared interests within the neighbourhood.
- Connects the gifts, skills and abilities of neighbours to other neighbours and the neighbourhood.
- Connects block/cul-de-sac/building floor neighbours together through a relationship with their Block Connector.
Contact The Hamptons Neighbourhood Connector, Lynda Sherman at AbundantCommunities@TheHamptonsCommunityLeague.com.
Hello Lynda,
I am contacting you on behalf of the Westend Seniors Activity Centre. We are currently offering our Home Supports Program to seniors in the community which give them access to vetted Service Providers who can do snow shovelling, yard maintenance, house keeping and minor home repairs. We are having difficulties in finding low cost/no cost options for low income seniors and I am wondering if you currently have any volunteers who are offering snow shovelling to seniors in The Hamptons community through the Abundant Communities initiative. I am trying to connect up with as many leagues in the west end as possible so that we have other options to offer to seniors who cannot afford to pay $25 to $30 per hour for snow removal. Do you offer this service and if so, what would be the best way for a senior in The Hamptons to connect up with someone who will help them? Thank you for you time and I look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Heather – We don’t have any system in place for this currently – but would be willing to look into it – if you have a format that other community leagues follow – that perhaps we could more easily adopt. NOTE: your note (I think) is on our website – which is difficult for me to see/access – it would be easier for me to connect with you through the e-mail: abundantcommunities@TheHamptonsCommunityLeague.com Thanks