“Beyond Economic Survival – 97 Ways Small Communities Can Thrive – A Guide to Community Vitality” Released

More Needed to Survive in a Post-Recession Economy - Economist

ALSO ATTACHED – MINI COMMUNITY VITALITY INDEX – How Does Your Community Rate?

Nelson, BC - Does your community believe in itself? Do women consider it safe to walk alone downtown at night? Do young adults 25-34 consider your community a desirable place to live?

“If you’re not asking yourself these things you are not likely to have a viable community in the long run” says economist Mike Stolte, co-author of a just-published free guide to community vitality.

“Beyond Economic Survival – 97 Ways Small Communities Can Thrive – A Guide to Community Vitality” was released on the web this week by the Centre for Innovative & Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL – pronounced ‘see – elle’ meaning sky in French – www.theCIEL.com), a Nelson, BC-based organization that has worked with communities in Canada, the US, Australia & New Zealand.

The guide comes about after four years of development. “We looked at more than 60 studies from around the world, had a blue ribbon national advisory committee, and have now worked closely with 50 communities in four countries to produce this guide,” says Bill Metcalfe, the report’s other co-author.

Stolte, CIEL’s Executive Director, says that most of the 97 indicators rely on perceptions - things like newcomers being welcome in the community or the community having a festival that generates a feeling of magic and excitement. “These important perceptions are often ignored in communities because they are hard to measure,” states Stolte.

The CIEL team devised a method of measuring the perceptions on a 100 point scale allowing for an important comparison to other communities (a reference group) in developing the Community Vitality Initiative (CVI) for small communities in Quebec. “Like humans, communities need to know where they stand relative to others on important matters. We might think we’re doing poorly but compared to others, we’re not doing so badly.”

CIEL has combined the CVI indicators with statistics to take the temperature (the general health of the community) in communities across Canada, including Huntsville, Ontario (site of next year’s G8 Summit) to give the communities a starting point for getting the community focused and kick-started for taking strategic action, something Stolte argues is more important than ever in an economic downturn.

“Armed with information and freed by technology, people choose their communities much more carefully than ever before. Therefore, communities must be savvy in the retention and attraction of people. In fact, if communities don’t inspire their citizens they run the risk of becoming failed communities.”

The free Guide to Community Vitality offers communities a checklist of 97 important indicators, explains why they’re important and cites the indicator research origins. The guide is available for download at www.theCIEL.com

The Centre for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL – www.theCIEL.com) strengthens communities by helping them become more entrepreneurial, vital and sustainable. In addition to developing a community leadership program for small communities for the Government of Canada, CIEL also has worked with communities using the Business Vitality Initiative (business friendliness), the Community Vitality Initiative (vitality), Community Check-up, the Communities Matrix (readiness), and the Green Light Check-Up (sustainability), all tools and processes to assess and strengthen communities. CIEL also provides technical assistance, training and custom solutions for communities.

Mini-Bio of Co-Authors

• Mike Stolte, in addition to being the founder and Executive Director of CIEL, is also the Chair of the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) and writes as the Happy Economist (http://happy-economist.blogspot.com/). Mike’s work has been featured on CBC Radio, Canadian Living and the Australian Broadcasting Company.

• Bill Metcalfe is Bill Metcalfe is a writer and researcher for CIEL. In addition, he works as a broadcaster and freelance writer. Bill co-manages Kootenay Co-op Radio in Nelson, BC. He also produces occasional pieces for CBC radio about the arts in Nelson, and writes freelance articles. He is a published fiction writer.

For more information contact:

• Mike Stolte 250-352-9192 x 222 w, 250-354-3737 Cell
• Bill Metcalfe 250-352-9192 x 224 w

How Does Your Community Rate?

Take the MINI COMMUNITY VITALITY INDEX

To see how your community rates, ask yourself these questions:

• you can strongly agree (score 4), mildly agree (3), neither agree nor disagree (2), mildly disagree (1), or strongly disagree (score 0) – add your score to see how you’re doing

A score of 60 or better – you’ve got a super community

A score of 51-60 – you’ve got some vitality and have much potential

A score of 41-50 – lots of work needed

A score 40 or below – you’re in jeopardy of losing chunks of your population.

1. Local middle-income earners can afford to buy a house in the community.
2. Women consider it safe to walk alone downtown at night.
3. For newcomers to the community and those who wish to, there are meaningful opportunities to get involved and make a difference in the community.
4. This town believes in itself. We think that with enough support, we can do anything.
5. This community cooperates with its neighbouring communities.
6. There is a good balance between new ideas and a respect for tradition and history.
7. On divisive community issues, there is civilized debate, a good flow of information, and inclusive, respectful consultation.
8. The community considers environmental sustainability in its community planning.
9. We celebrate the arts and support local artists.
10. We have at least one public festival that generates a feeling of magic and excitement.
11. We have identified something positive that is unique to this community, and we promote it well.
12. Most people know the individuals in at least three neighbouring households by name.
13. Newcomers are welcome in the community.
14. Young adults age 25-34 consider the community to be a desirable place to live.
15. This community has an optimistic spirit.
16. Businesses in the community/region market their products and services as a group.
17. The community has a distinctive or unique brand or marketing image.
18. People prefer to purchase local products & services before those from out of the area.
19. There are friendly public spaces where a variety of kinds of people feel welcome: parks, squares, fountains, outdoor cafes, benches, playgrounds.
20. There is a vibrant town centre or community core.

If you want more, please go to CIEL’s web-site (www.theCIEL.com) to download the full guide with all 97 indicators.

The Incredible Case of Plessisville, PQ - Nurture the Youth and...

The higest rate of Millinneum Scholarships in Canada, no youth vandalism, 90% youth voter turnout - Read about a Quebec community that listened & empowered their youth

From The Nova Scotian

By Silver Donald Cameron

DARRELL DEXTER wants to keep young people here by creating a province where they can make a living, and where they will also want to live. Me, too. So I’d like to take him to Plessisville, Que.

Plessisville, pop. 9,000, is the home of La Samare, the remarkable little rural high school that has won more Millennium Excellence scholarships than any other public high school in Canada. It’s surrounded by smaller communities which provide about half the students of La Samare. And those small communities have given rise to a remarkable organization designed to "foster independence, initiative and a sense of responsibility among young people of 12-18 years."

Read the rest of the article in The Nova Scotian

Using Technology for Grassroots Movements - Final Event Draws Almost 50

The final CIEL 100 Mile Diet Speaker Series event was held at Oso Negro in Nelson, BC last night.

Four panelists - Michelle Laurie. Tom Clegg. Bill Metcalfe & Delyse Sylvester - stimulated rich conversation on Technology & Social Movements.

The crowd of 50 broke into groups of 5 using an Open Space format to discuss the questions:

• Are on-line technologies increasing or decreasing hierarchies in society?
• How can we improve the pace at which social groups and movements embrace social technologies?

Please check the CIEL web-site in the coming months for podcasts of the presentations and the discussion from this and the other four events.

Recommended: Don Tapscott's TV Ontario podcast on Growing Up Digital: How the Net is Changing Everything. Tapscott argues that young people today are in a more powerful position than ever before because of their tech savviness. The older generation would be wise to set up reverse mentoring netowrks and embrace the expertise of the younger set's technological fluency.

Community Success Stories- we want to hear them!

In order to inspire communities to move forward and have fun with it, we often describe actions that other communities have taken. We want to expand our knowledge base of success stories, and you can help us! If you have an inspiring story of innovative, entrepreneurial steps your community has taken, please send them to: info@theciel.com

Media Frenzy at CIEL

Now we know how Brad & Angelina feel. Several aspiring radio personalties from Kootenay Co-op Summer Youth Radio Camp stopped by CIEL`s Nelson, BC office to ask Mike Stolte a few questions today.

`What do you do?` had to do be the toughest question Mike said later. `Try explaining helping communities or getting communities going (from constipated) to some curious, young minds.`

Mike was also asked some other toughies:

• What`s your favourite food? chocolate (no surprise here)
• What`s your favourite animal? dogs
• What`s your favourite colour? blue - no green - no purple (Mike couldn`t decide)
• Where are you going this summer? Ontario & Alberta
• What else are you doing this summer? biking, mountain biking, kayaking, making 2 films with my kids for the film festival

CIEL`s Anna Planedin, former radio camp co-ordinator, reported the kids were impressed with Mike`s answers (whew!).

CIEL CVI community to host next G8 Summit

Community Vitality Initiative (CVI) community to host G8 Summit - Huntsville, Ontario will host the G8 Summit next June. Huntsville participated in the CVI last year, helping it with its community planning process.

For more on the CVI

Click to download the Huntsville CVI report (in pdf):

Phase I - Assessment

Phase I - Summary

CIEL Announces Winners of Youth Artwork Competition

NELSON- This spring, the Centre for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL) hosted a community vitality artwork competition for youth ages 8-15. The competition was part of the 100 Mile Ideas Diet series of conversation cafés taking place at Oso Negro.

“The artwork competition is part of getting the community thinking and talking about what makes it thrive,” said Mike Stolte, Executive Director of CIEL. “Through art and artwork, we were able to engage with youth in the broader community.”

In order to de-mystify the concept of community vitality, CIEL Communications Coordinator Anna Planedin visited several schools in District 8 and gave interactive presentations on the topic. After questioning youth about what they thought the words “vital,” “community,” and “thrive” mean to them, she shared the nine indicators of community vitality that CIEL considers in its community-led development work.

“When I asked youth what they thought the nine indicators were, they listed almost all of them. It was a delight to see that Nelson and area youth are highly knowledgeable about the concept of community vitality,” said Planedin.

There were a number of significant prizes to be won, thanks to community sponsors Otter Books, the Columbia Basin Trust, and the Nelson and District Credit Union. In two age categories, first place was $100 in cash and a $50 gift certificate to Otter Books, second place was $75 and third place was $50. The six youth who received a prize are Yu Jeong Kang, Daisy Morrison, Alecia Maslechko, Amanda Eady, Reece Boulanger, and Seth Clark. All of the artwork was displayed at Touchstones last month and will continue to be displayed at CIEL until the end of the summer.

Most of the designs either featured a beautiful landscape or some sort of art/cultural depiction. Six of the submissions contained the orange bridge. Everyone who is interested in viewing the prize-winning artwork can stop by CIEL’s office on 604 B Ward Street during business hours. To learn more about the last 100 Mile Ideas Diet conversation café on technological advances in grassroots social movements, contact Anna Planedin at (250) 352-9192 ext. 221