In This Issue
Measuring Rural Vitality and Community Resilience
Our session on Measuring Rural Vitality on June 1 was attended by more than 40 people representing a number of agencies in the region. HCIA has received funding from the Rural Ontario Institute to work on a measurement project over the next year, and June 1 was the official cheque handover and kickoff to the project. The chief project manager Karen Hutchinson was on hand to illustrate where HCIA is in its Community Well-Being refresh project and how it connects with this effort. The foundations of a healthy community were part of the original Well-Being report, and have now matured to include community resilience. What does a resilient community mean? “Recognizing community assets/capital as natural and built/financial and human/social, and sustainable development and management of assets”.
Our key presenter for the day was Bryan Smale from the Canadian Index of Well being to explain how Community Vitality is one of the key domains of the index and which indicators make up that domain. Everyone attending understood how our overall health and happiness is not just guided by the economy, but rather social indicators. See Measuring Rural Vitality for the days’ presentations. We extend a huge thank you to our partners in this project: Mark Cassidy and Norm Ragetlie from ROI for their presentation and for bringing a big cheque for the official presentation and of course for this project. Outputs from this session available on our site.
HFFA Web Launch and Farmers' Market Visit
The HFFA team was at it again at the June 4 Farmers Market in Orangeville. The groups’ presence at the market was twofold: to bring attention to local food week (and we had lots of handouts on food and nutrition), and to officially launch the ever growing HFFA website. Lots of visitors came by to see us and many were already familiar with the Farm to School programs. Keep an eye on the ever-happening HFFA.ca site as we bring more information to it all the time. Many thanks to ELA co-chair Bob Megens, HUB member Marci Lipman, ELA and Access member Kathryn MacDonald and our pal Freggie from Public Health for making the day a super success!
headwatersfoodandfarming.ca is a platform created to bring together the Headwaters community - residents, businesses, and community groups. Learn about what is going on with local food suppliers, growers, farmers, educators.
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DC Moves on the move again
Calling all human service agencies in Dufferin County! DC Moves is moving forward into a next phase of data and feedback gathering. After inviting agencies for the initial kickoff meeting to share experiences and benefits of collaboration, we move into action with our second meeting which will strive to start the collection of meaningful data that will support the identification of priorities and shared concerns.
If you are with a human service organization and have not done so yet, we invite you to take a couple of minutes and participate in the following survey. This valuable input will be the foundation of the topics of discussion at the next DC MOVES Forum on June 21, 2016. DC MOVES is an initiative of the Dufferin County Community Services Department, in partnership with Headwaters Communities in Action (HCIA), who are collaborating with agencies throughout Dufferin County to uncover opportunities to identify and develop innovative and /or collaborative solutions to local issues. The association is designed to foster a "Made in Dufferin" agency integration model.
Not on the DC Moves distribution list? Need more information? The DC MOVES landing spot can be found here: www.dcmoves.org For any questions, or to be added to the DC Moves or HCIA mailing list: action@headwaterscommunities.org
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Communities in Bloom
Last year we told you about a wonderful community garden project that happened at a garden plot located at and donated by Dufferin Garden Centre. This year our good friends there are involved with the Communities in Bloom initiative and have asked us to help spread the word on the competition.
If you have a winning garden you can enter it in this year’s Best Bloomin’ Garden Event! Everyone is welcome to enter and gardens will be judged by the Orangeville Horticultural Society and Orangeville Communities in Bloom committee members. Our outdoor spaces and connection to all things growing is a big part of what people love about Dufferin County according to past and current Community Well-Being reports. Gardens are just another way that people express that love and connection to both the land and each other. It’s beautiful community engagement! Entry forms can be picked up at Orangeville Home Hardware, Dufferin Garden Centre, Parsons Florists and MYFM or visit the Communities in Bloom site.
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