Action for Healthy Communities

1. What does AHC do?

AHC promote community health and well being using a community development model that involves formal, informal, and experiential learning opportunities. Staff at AHC offer a variety of training workshops for youth, adults, and seniors to increase skills and enhance knowledge in areas such as employment, integration/engagement, computer, English literacy, financial literacy, leadership, etc. A variety of multicultural gatherings and events are organized for people to connect, break isolation, and create new healthy relationships among and across cultures and diversity. Community dialogues are also organized to collectively identify issues affecting community health and well being and create strategies for effective solutions. The AHC approach helps staff collect first hand information about health issues from the people directly affected by these problems, therefore a knowledge base that helps provide specific and focused support to individual communities is updated periodically.

2. What do you mean by Community Capacity Building?

Community Capacity building is the creation of a shared vision of community needs and potential solutions. It also involves creation of readiness on people to break isolation, leave individualism/comfort zone, and form groups to act upon their needs using their own resources and acquiring those they lack from external resources to address issues of common concerns. Staff at AHC facilitates processes where participants collectively increase awareness of their own skills and knowledge, share it with others, and learn new things to create initiatives that improve their community health and well being.

3. What is it a Community Initiative?

A Community Initiative is a mini project initiated by a group of a minimum of three unrelated individuals interested in addressing a specific community issue. People bring community building initiatives to AHC who in turn support the group in building and sustaining relationships with participants and supporters, acquiring new knowledge needed to create and sustain the initiative, facilitating access to resources, and providing a Seed Grant to pay for resources not available to them from other sources.

4. How can we start a Community Initiative?

• Share your idea with your friends or colleagues to see if they want to get involved.
• Bring your idea to a Community Animator at AHC. Come with your group if you have been able to form one, if not, come anyway. Preferable, give us a call before you come to ensure there will be a Community Animator waiting for you.
• The Community Animator will meet you or your work to talk about what you already have and what else you need and would help with:
  • Connecting to potential participants, usually through participating in a Community Dialogue and Multicultural Gatherings.
  • Developing an action plan and a budget, including mentoring support on assessing needs, designing goal s, and planning sources acquisition.
  • Referring you and your group to AHC training opportunities such as Financial Literacy, Computer Training, English Literacy Training, and Leadership Training.
  • Applying for a Seed Grant to Action for Healthy Communities if needed.
  • If Initiative is approved, put ideas into action!
  • Meet on a regular basis with Community Animators to discuss group's successes, challenges and how to move forward.
  • Come to community event to share results.

5. Who is a Community Animator?

A Community Animator is an AHC staff that provides leadership, direction and training to community volunteers creating and running Community Initiatives. His/her role include, but is not limited to train, mentor and support community volunteers in the process of identifying actual and potential barriers and actual and potential solutions as well as community resources and assets that can be use in the community building process. Community Animators can also be named as:

• Culturally Skilled Community Promoters who are bilingual community members that support community volunteers from their own culture to support each other and creatively adapt to the new culture in Canada, using the knowledge, experience and talents brought from their home country.
• Culturally Skilled Community Animators who are natural connectors and facilitators that motivates people in various communities, to understand that they all belong to a broader community where everyone is responsible for a collective well-being.

6. What is a Seed Grant?

AHC develops a variety of fundraising activities to have some dollars available to complement community resources needed to start a Community Initiative. A new group who have a new community building idea would access a Seed Grant of a maximum of $1000 if the group is ready to carry on with a planned and organized Community Initiative that meet AHC community development criteria and lack basic financial resources.

7. What is the Community Development Criteria that a Seed Grant application must comply?

• A Community Initiative (CI) must address health issues as defined by the Ottawa charter of Health Promotion, which includes shelter, education, food, income, a stable ecosystem, sustainable resources, social justice and equity. AHC also adds to other determinants of health such as physical fitness, employment, mutual understanding, togetherness, and food security. An initiative must demonstrate aspect of sustained community building and health promotion.
• The group organizing the CI must
  • demonstrate that they will make effective use of the resources, contribute resources and solicit support from other community stakeholders, and have concrete and measurable outcomes.
  • elect three representatives that are not family related who will be responsible for the project implementation and sign an agreement with AHC.
  • demonstrate initiative and success in generating diverse sources of revenue to sustain a CI and meet the conditions as outlined in the guidelines and Seed Grant police and agreement.
• The Seed Grant
  • can not be used to cover operating costs or to fund ongoing projects or a profit venture; rather they are a resource that is instrumental in getting resident initiatives off the ground.
  • is only for new projects that are not eligible for other financial resources from funders.

8. How can we get a Seed Grant?

Only groups who are already involved in community building activities run by AHC are eligible to Seed Grants, if the following process is followed:

• The group has participated in a Community Dialogue (3 people are considered a basic community) to analyzed issues and reach collective agreement on what to do, how, when and with what resources.
• The group have elected three representatives that are not member of the same family. These three people are the contact person for the Community Initiative, and are liable for any resources received.
• The group have prepare a doable Community Initiative action plan and budget
• The budget should included the Community and participants contribution
• The plan and budget is transferred to a Seed Grant Application form provided by the Community Animator once it is considered that the group is ready.
• The group submit the application to AHC for consideration. The application must meet AHC Community Development Criteria.
• The three Community Initiative representatives come to present the Community Initiative to all participants of a Community Initiatives Gathering if the application is chosen by AHC staff for potential selection.
• The three Community Initiative representatives answer questions raised in the Community Initiative Gathering by participants and the Community Initiatives Team.
• Wait for final Community Initiatives Team resolution which will be mailed or delivered within two weeks after the Community Initiative Gathering.
• The three Community Initiative representatives sign a Seed Grant agreement where they commit to be accountable and submit reports as established in the agreement.
• The three Community Initiatives representatives come to an special community event to share the results.

9. What is a Community Initiatives Team?

The Community Initiatives Team is a group of community volunteer with strong knowledge and experience in community development that reviews and approves Seed Grant applications.

10. What is a Community Initiatives Gathering?

This is an informal and festive event where groups running Community Initiatives meet AHC's staff, members of other community groups who will also be presenting, the Community Initiatives Team and other community members interested in community building. This gatherings are opportunities to share ideas, give and receive feedback and support each other. It is a community building exercise.

11. What is a Seed Grant agreement?

A Seed Grant agreement is a binding document that establish the commitment of each party involved, in this case, of AHC and the representatives of the group receiving the grant to create and develop the Community Initiative.