Untitled Document

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Recent findings from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) show that newcomers and immigrants are moving away from larger urban centres to more suburban settings such as those found in Peel Region.

This recently-released report from the FCM’s Quality of Life series, "Immigration and Diversity in Canadian Cities and Communities," shines the light once again on the need for collaborative planning for immigrant settlement in suburban communities across the country. And we here at Peel Newcomer Strategy Group (PNSG) couldn’t agree more.

This summer, PSNG will present its report outlining best practices and recommendations to help newcomers settle and integrate into the community and economy of Peel. This two-year development process is in response to the growing recognition and need to improve the integration and settlement of immigrants and newcomers in the region. It is expected that this planning tool will become a blueprint for community planning, organizing and service delivery to newcomers in Peel.

As we move ahead on creating a welcoming community in Peel, we’re eager to make use of one of this region’s best known assets—the spirit of collaboration and partnership that is alive in many sectors, especially in community and human services.

To this end, PNSG is working closely with the Peel Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee to develop a community plan to address poverty in Peel. We are also actively involved in working closely with other neighbourhood development partners to explore innovative new approaches to creating a strong and vibrant Peel.

Our capacity building work is well on its way to being launched, and a series of workshops and learning sessions are being planned for May 2009. We hope you will join us.

Evelyn Myrie
Director

Back to Table of Contents

Engaging
By Paul Born

Paul Born directs Tamarack -- an Institute for Community Engagement. An author of three books, Paul is a motivational, inspiring, informative and often humorous speaker who loves the power of stories. He has extensive experience in helping organizations and communities to develop new and sustainable ideas that motivate people to collaborative action.

Community engagement means people working collaboratively, through inspired action and learning, to create and realize bold visions for their common future.

~ Based on Tamarack Institute’s mission statement

Engagement is the incredible gift that only community conversations, built on trust and listening, can give us. When people get used to thinking together, they build the foundation for working together. They share a common purpose and commitment to the outcome.

I experienced a profound shift in engagement with a leader in a community where I was working. It all started with a conversation.

Frank had recently joined the United Way as executive director. We had not had much success in collaborating with the organization and saw a change in leadership as a good opportunity.

The process started with a series of one-on-one conversations. We then invited him to join a variety of community conversations we were holding.

I could see the change in Frank from one conversation to the next. The group’s ideas and passion slowly began to resonate with him. He started to trust the people and the process.

Beginning to dream, Frank wondered how the goals of collaboration and the United Way’s goals might complement each other. He invited us to speak with his Board about the work we were planning.

One day, after a particularly powerful conversation, he asked, “Paul, can we have lunch soon? I have an idea that I would like to share with you.”

Two months later, Frank launched a city-wide campaign, working with his donor businesses to move two hundred families out of poverty. Then he raised enough money to hire someone to assist a few of the member agencies in creating a social enterprise to find jobs for low-income families.

Frank became engaged not just because we were having a unique conversation but because we were involved in a real discussion. He had practical work to get done and saw that our roundtable of multi-sector leaders could advance his efforts.

Once people engage in the ideas of others and experience authentic and passionate conversation, they begin to move from talking to doing. “What can I do?” they ask. “How can I contribute to this remarkable conversation?”

And that sets up some important expectations.

Expectations Flow from Engagement

Listening to others and joining creative energies to dream of real solutions leads to engagement: the shared commitment to find and implement decisions. As community conversations lead to expectations, they engage people together at a deep level.

A mentor once gave me the gift of this wise advice: “If you are not prepared to do anything about it, do not ask your community ‘What needs to be done?’ ”

In other words, it is important to recognize that community conversations spark expectations.

I learned this first-hand when engaging in dialogue with a leadership round table.

Mary was an incredible volunteer. She was a low-income single parent who had become a member of this round table because she wanted to help those “who were once like me.”

She enjoyed the conversations and understood that conversations could deepen commitment and heighten trust across sectors.

But Mary grew impatient. Frustrated, she said, “I know we need to talk, and I know that building trust takes time, but let’s get on with it! When are we going to change things?” As a leadership round table, we took this to heart. We felt that Mary was expressing the views of more than one person.

We began two processes to address Mary’s concern.

The first process was to document the changes individuals had made as a result of the conversations. We found that they were changing and learning from the conversations they attended with us.

The second was to consider short-term or “quick win” activities that we could tackle together. We knew that these would not address root problems. But we also knew that tackling these issues would help us exercise collective knowledge and power.

Since Listening! creates expectations for action, you might want to consider the following ideas when holding community conversations.

Ask, “Who will affect the system? Who can contribute to or benefit from the solution?” The answers to these questions will tell you who should be part of the conversation. Be strategic when considering those to invite to your conversation.
Recognize that power can be formal, informal, positional, or by association. Engage a broad range of opinions in order to represent the system you desire to change.

Use dialogue techniques so people can hear many points of view.

Ask questions that help people reflect on what they want changed and how they need to change. Examples might be, “Describe a community in which poverty could not exist. Why don’t we live this way now?”

Remember, we need people to be engaged. Ask them what they are able to contribute. Time? Money? Resources?

Take the necessary time to find a path forward. Everyone’s voice is important. The journey’s dynamic should be “What can we do together?”

Whether you are building a collaboration of some sort or trying to gain insights for making policy changes, two things remain true: When holding any type of community conversation, it is important to consider the people in the room and the questions that are being asked. The people you bring together and what you ask them will always create expectations among them, no matter what the purpose of the conversation may be.

This article is taken from Paul’s latest book Community Conversations Mobilizing the Ideas, Skills and Passion of Community organizations, Governments, Business and People. Learn more about how to buy this book on his web site at www.tamarackcommunity.ca or go directly to www.amazon.ca to purchase it.

On behalf of Peel Newcomer Strategy Group, Public Interest Strategy and Communications Inc., a consulting group, has been conducting community consultation sessions as part of the process of development of a coordinated and collaborative strategy for the successful integration of newcomers in the economy and community of Peel. The purpose of the PNSG community consultations is to identify best practices related to settlement and integration of newcomers. PNSG is scheduled to develop and release the strategy by the end of August 2009.

Back to Table of Contents

Moving to Peel Region just got easier thanks to www.immigrationpeel.ca, a web portal focused on the information needs of potential immigrants and recent newcomers to Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon.

The portal provides information newcomers need to help them settle and integrate into the Peel community and economy.
Visit www.immigrationpeel.ca for more information