THE PERTH-ANDOVER COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS INITIATIVE
COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS is an idea that is going to become more familiar to people in Perth-Andover and Surrounding Area over the next year. Over the winter, Francine St.Amand made an offer to the Village Council to organize a series of monthly 2-hr workshops/information sessions – covering topics that have relevance to a community that is still in the grips of recovering from the devastating flood of 2012. St.Amand is doing this on volunteer basis and at no cost to the Village apart from use of space for the sessions, photocopying and assistance by Village Staff to publicize the events on Village website and facebook page. She is committed to doing this for a year (March 2013 – March 2014)
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In her proposal, which was presented to council in January, Francine listed numerous topics that she intended to pursue for these sessions, either by facilitating them herself or making arrangements to have speakers come in. With the Village’s endorsement of the initiative, Mayor and Council will be kept informed and updated on a regular basis, on the planning and results of the sessions as they unfold. The Council would therefore have the final word on what session topics are approved. The council officially endorsed the initiative at the February 11 council meeting.
Francine will be approaching the project planning on a seasonal basis. Sessions will be slated for spring, summer, fall and winter seasons. The spring season is already underway. The Social Enterprise Workshop, held on March 28, was the first workshop held under this Community Conversations initiative. Francine collaborated with Janet Williams from the Carleton Victoria Community Inclusion Network to ensure that this workshop came to Perth-Andover.
Next up is the Rural Revitalization presentation on April 20th. Georgetown Conference organizer, Paul MacNeill, is coming from PEI to speak about the conference which will be held Oct 3-5 in PEI. Francine invited him to come to speak to the community considering the URGENT need for revitalization in the area. She asked him to come at this time so that people interested in attending the conference in October can make plans to go.
In May, Grand Falls Naturopathic Doctor, Marie-Andrée Nowlan will be making a evening presentation, “Introduction to Naturopathic Medicine”, on May 10 at the Civic Centre. During the course of communication with her, she happily agreed to have a booth and put on a workshop for the Woman’s Day event on April 27th.
Asked why she is giving her time and energy freely to take on this initiative Francine says, “The social piece is an area that is usually missing in Municipal business and discussions – and not just here in Perth-Andover. This is a humble attempt to address that void. Planning and organizing these events are not difficult for me. I enjoy it. The challenge is to get people to attend. So I do need help to get the word out. Hopefully, overtime, people will buy into the idea that Community Conversations – be it around a campfire or in a meeting room is very healthy for the growth and progress of a community.”
