Prior to Valentines Day, a team I was with hosted a community art/ craft night several years ago. The group made hundreds of homemade Valentines. On Valentines Day we met at a busy transit stop and gave them away and sang love songs. The team had learned about...

A couple of years ago I stopped at Wallace, Idaho, population 784 for gas and food. The town seemed unique from the start as the interstate seemed to built above the small town. The people in the town were so welcoming. I met Ray in line at a grocery store. He...

Welcomed Like a Long Lost Friend Last week after a meeting I explored several shops in an Eastside neighbourhood. Renzullo’s Food Market was one of the places I visited. It is an Italian deli that has fresh sandwiches, full coffee bar, community table, a...

When You Live In A Small Village I live in a big city that can seem like a big city, but at times it also seems like I live in a small village. One of the things I am most thankful for in 2018 is successful hip surgery. I had been in pain for quite […]

The Vital Role of Community Connectors A highlight for me from the recent ABCD Gathering in Chicago was a discussion I facilitated with a passionate group on the vital role of Community Connectors. We talked about the differences between the people who are nat...

Getting Out Of Our Silos For 35 years I have spent time with people with disabilities and their families finding ways that we can each share our uniques gifts and contributions to create caring, supportive and inclusive societies. While sometimes we might feel...

The Living Library Last week I was honoured to be the Emcee and presenter at Making, a conference on Asset Based Community Development held in Brantford, Ontario. The 2 and a half days were full of tours, conversation, youth day, art activities and presen...

On a recent trip in central Ohio,  I met Jim, Mark and Steve from San Diego while having breakfast. I noticed the back of Jim’s shirt as he passed by and was curious if he was currently biking across the country. I learned that he and 2 friends were 700...

Community Questions Good questions can be so valuable. There’s a church I attended when I was in Madison that would start the service with a community question. This was a time to get with 1 or 2 others and respond to a question. Good questions provided ...

Himy Syed is likely to show up almost anywhere in the city studying what is going on and looking for an opportune time and place to bring out his sidewalk chalk and draw a labyrinth. I met him several weeks ago at the Strathcona Street Festival where he had dr...