Print
/
News
/ Local News
/
Community shared ideas at ACE meeting
About 40 Carstairs residents helped to identify priorities for the town, during an Active, Creative, Engaged (ACE) meeting held on January 11 at the curling rink.
ACE facilitator Barb Pederson guided community members through a variety of activities that brought ideas and suggestions forward.
“It’s wonderful to do these scanning tools with the community,” Pederson said. “Community really starts with you and this is quite an opportunity for you to celebrate Carstairs.”
During one of the evening’s activities, Pederson asked each participant to write three things they liked about Carstairs and to map it on a communal poster. Answers ranged from the walking trails, the Mountain View Music Fest, the people and the community spirit.
“What does diversity mean to you?” was another question she posed to the group.
She then had participants fill out a scanning tool, which informally assessed the community’s progress and was intended to take a pulse as well as initiate discussion.
“There was a lot of good discussion and great ideas from each table,” said Terri Sperle, director of community development for the Town of Carstairs. “There were up to five main projects and ideas from each table that were posted on the wall to analyze.
“From those discussions, we saw some themes and commonalities occurring. Barb wrote our most common themes and asked for people to sign up to work on them.”
The common themes that emerged were: 1) leisure time/activities, 2) volunteer data base/organization, 3) communication, 4) new residents.
“Many of the attendees signed up for the projects that they were passionate about,” Sperle added.
ACE Communities is an initiative of the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA) and is designed to engage residents and strengthen community leadership.
“ACE Communities contribute to the creation of places, spaces, connections and a culture that enables wide participation,” said Sperle.
Comments
Be the FIRST to comment!