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Headwaters Communities in Action Building A Better Quality of Life Together.

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Presentation on theme: "Headwaters Communities in Action Building A Better Quality of Life Together."— Presentation transcript:

1 Headwaters Communities in Action Building A Better Quality of Life Together

2 What is Social Prosperity? Social Prosperity is a community’s ability to:  Maintain a high quality of life and a good standard of living for its citizens.  Provide access to employment opportunities, community services, health care, adequate housing and education.

3 Social Prosperity Makes Good Sense One of “the most important magnets in attracting and keeping investment and business” in today’s global economy is a community’s ability to bring people together to:  define the common good,  create joint plans; and,  identify strategies that benefit a wide range of people and organizations, Harvard Business Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter

4 The Opportunity This project offers residents of the Headwaters region the opportunity to:  create a strong, shared vision for the future;  work collectively towards it; and  ensure that our communities remain strong and vibrant

5 The Goal The fundamental goal of Headwaters Communities in Action is to strengthen our region’s ability to foster a culture of engagement, inclusion and collaboration – its social prosperity. This cultural shift is the determining factor behind our community’s quality-of-life

6 Our Vision Vision for Social Prosperity Our communities will speak with one voice as we establish an integrated mechanism for social, economic and environmental planning in a way that respects historic continuity, maintains and protects the natural environment, coordinates and promotes services and establishes a sense of community for the residents in the Headwaters area, so that we can enhance and celebrate the prosperity, health and well-being of the diverse citizens of our communities.

7 Our Values  Inclusion and Accessibility - We recognize the intrinsic value of all people and are committed to engaging all citizens in building social prosperity  Multi-sector Collaboration - We recognize that collaborating across various sectors in new ways is key to addressing complex community issues  Sustainability - We are committed to building upon existing community strengths and designing sustainable initiatives  Innovation - We will model and nurture creativity and innovation throughout the Headwaters area  Effectiveness - We will monitor our progress, continuously learn and apply and share our learnings to ensure we are maximizing our resources

8 The History of The Headwaters Communities in Action Project  Headwaters Linkages Committee – A group of health and social service providers from across Dufferin County  2002: A Broader Perspective – Recognized the need to mobilize a broader cross-section of perspectives from across the community to plan together for the future  2006: Re-Branding – In order to more clearly and simply state what we are trying to do, and reflect our commitment to be inclusive, our project has chosen a new name: Headwaters Communities in Action

9 Our Formal Beginnings  Project initiated background research and an environmental scan highlighting trends in Dufferin County  Held 1 st Community Forum with 54 community leaders in November 2004

10 What We Have Done Already?  Made presentations to Dufferin County Council and at the 8 Local Councils  Hosted public meetings throughout the community reaching more than 150 people across Dufferin County to test and ultimately affirm our Vision  Secured “seed funding” for our Project through a number of committed community organizations within Dufferin County.

11 What We Have Done Already?  Used feedback from community meetings to identify strategic directions, goals and values to shape the Community Plan for achieving our vision  Established 3 Working Groups to create a volunteer infrastructure to move our project forward  Recently secured grants from both The Ontario Trillium Foundation and ServiceCanada which together provide a solid base of funding for our work in the coming year

12 What We Have Learned So Far: Our Assets Our region has many assets including:  An impressive array of services for a region of its size  A small-town feel but close to urban centres – the best of both worlds  A high quality hospital and health services  A history of successful collaborations within many sectors

13 What We Have Learned So Far: Our Challenges Our region’s challenges include:  Having one of the fastest population growth rates in Ontario and many of the social pressures associated with larger cities  No overall regional plan  Becoming a “bedroom community” as residential growth outpaces industrial growth and local job creation.  Needing a health and social services infrastructure to meet the demands of a growing, aging and changing population

14 What We Have Learned So Far: A New Approach is Needed  Our region’s most complex issues and challenges cannot be solved with “quick- fix” solutions.  No one sector can be effective addressing these issues in isolation. Fragmented thinking and action will only produce fragmented, partial solutions  To have the kind of strategic impact we need on our region’s quality-of-life we need to find new, innovative and comprehensive ways of working together

15 Sustainable Communities Economic Prosperity Environmental Viability Community Health Best Quality of Life

16 Strategic Focuses  Community Health  Environmental Well-being  Economic Prosperity

17 Strategic Focus Community Health:  Strengthening our health and social services to reflect our communities’ changing needs

18 Strategic Focus Environmental Well being:  Protecting and responsibly growing the use of our environmental assets

19 Strategic Focus Economic Prosperity:  Ensuring a vibrant economy that offers sustainable wages and the opportunity for everyone to reach his or her potential

20 Imagine…  A Community that comes together across sectors to identify issues and generate solutions  A shared plan for the future of this region that identifies:  The industries we want to attract  The services we need; and,  The natural assets we want to protect  A Community Foundation that provides funding and information to support needed local projects that enhance economic prosperity, community health & well-being and environmental viability

21 Imagine…  A regional network of recreational trails that is used by residents and draws tourists to the area  A youth summit that engages young people in identifying issues, creating solutions and sharing their vision for the future of the region  Adequate and affordable housing being available to each and every individual and or family.  Citizens being aware of and engaged in discussions about key issues related to economic, social and environmental well being or the Headwaters area.

22 What Next?  Incorporate new ideas from focused conversations into draft community plan  Host and continue conversations as needed  Build partnership commitment to the draft community plan  Launch and implement the plan in Fall 2006


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