Panel aims to improve life in city
Claire Ryan’s latest FUSION Saint John article appeared in today’s Telegraph-Journal:
Community engagement. It’s a term we hear a lot. But what does it actually mean? Community engagement is the result of a conscious decision to make a positive contribution in a community beyond the usual obligations of work, school or colleagues. The advantages are endless: meeting new people, learning about your surroundings, applying skills and developing interests while making an investment in your city.
FUSION’s community engagement committee serves as a conduit between interested volunteers and organizations in need, making connections with other local non-profit and charitable organizations to create opportunities for members to become involved.
“Before I even really knew anything about FUSION, I learned about the community engagement committee,” said Shawn Peterson, the chairman of the panel. “I really liked the idea of working to engage people in the community, especially working with other non-profit organizations, to make things better in Saint John.”
The community engagement committee meets monthly; in addition to identifying existing opportunities, it co-ordinates new projects and initiatives. Current projects include a “taking it to go green” campaign – working to encourage vendors in the City Market to use environmentally friendly packaging. Motivated by the success of a similar event in 2007, the committee is also planning Art Connect, which will be a component of the 2009 Volunteer Fair. The committee is working to secure sponsorship from city businesses to purchase pieces of art, which are then assigned to non-profit organizations and auctioned off for volunteer hours in lieu of actual dollars. Volunteers are able to claim their art once their volunteer hours are completed.
“I’ve helped organize other events – always the committee was focused on one event with a specific purpose,” committee member Carolyn Prebble says. “I’m excited about being a part of a committee with no end in sight. Any idea we come up with has the potential to be added to our agenda and improve life in Saint John in some way.”
Being truly engaged in your community is more than just volunteering your time. It implies a deeper sense of connectedness, which is a key ingredient in keeping people in the city, and being committed to seeing it progress and move forward. Having this sense of belonging is just as important for people who have come from away as it is for the people who have spent their entire lives in Saint John.
“I’ve met some great people and get to see at the grassroots level the ideas that our generation is coming up with to make the city a better place to live for everyone,” said Prebble, who joined the committee shortly after moving to Saint John from Ontario late last year. “My work with this committee has helped me feel connected to this city,. I’m starting to make connections with the community that I wouldn’t have otherwise.”
The community engagement committee’s next meeting is tonight at 6:30 p.m. For more information, please visit us online at www.fusionsj.com.
Claire Ryan works with MT&L Public Relations Ltd. and is a member of the FUSION Saint John board. Her column appears on Tuesdays. She can be reached at cryan@mtlpr.ca.
