True Inclusive Community Development

The Toronto Neighbourhood Centres (TNC) are a network of agencies all over Toronto who work directly with their communities offering a variety of services and programs to help their communities thrive and enable diverse communities to work together to promote justice and a healthy life for all. The TNC has been focussing on a Community Development Renewal Initiative for the last two years.

As members of the TNC, Ralph Thornton Centre has been reviewing the systems we have in place with our organization and how they can be re-vamped to include community development work within all facets of planning and program implementation.

At a recent meeting with the TNC some very interesting ideas were discussed on ways in which agencies may be creating barriers for community involvement in their organizations.

Sometimes the barriers are physical messages subtly telling people they are not important. Like the way space is designated. For example many not for profits tend to mimic the Bay Street model of providing a large office with bright windows to the Executive Director and any other management level staff while other staff work in smaller cramped offices or shared space. Volunteers rarely have permanent space designated to them at all, making it difficult for them to fully participate with in an agency.

Other times the physical barriers are things like a glassed in reception area or a security guard watching clients every step. This can give off the impression that people are not welcome.

We must remember when structuring our agencies that “this is not our place, this is their home” – Ernest Hirschbach

Other ways we send messages are through the way we control information or hold tight to our decision making positions. “For the poor, especially those on the bottom of the economic ladder, it is expected that we take what we can get and be thankful. This adds to the powerlessness in our daily lives” – Pat Capponni

Being transparent and inclusive will help to improve our community development initiatives.

To have a truly integrated community development model the community needs to be involved at every step of decision making. Not only involved but treated as equals. Each person being consulted should have the same opportunity and value as everyone else they are working with. As Michael Creek says in his speech to the TNC “Whether it's from the bottom up or from the top down, to obtain optimal results, community developers must utilize the community's greatest resource... the members of the community .You need to listen and hire or financially compensate community members. You need to provide the tools for communities to be fully engaged”

“To build strong communities people must feel fully engaged. It must be a partnership with flexibility that allows for people and communities to feel valued. When you are chained to poverty and social exclusion it is very difficult to participate. Poor and marginalized people often take heroic steps, to leave their comfort zones, risking possible rejection to feel part of a community.

Only when communities feel empowered will transformation and community development reach its full potential. Communities need and want changes; they must be allowed to dream for themselves. People need and want to be connected to each other. The deprivation of poverty makes it hard and sometimes impossible for communities and people to connect. I know that these chains of poverty can be broken and bring us together.” -- Michael Creek