Headwaters Communities in Action

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Headwaters Communities in Action

• Building A Better Quality of Life Together

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What is Social Prosperity?

• Social Prosperity is a communitys ability to
• Maintain a high quality of life and a good
  standard of living for its citizens.
• Provide access to employment opportunities,
  community services, health care, adequate housing
  and education.

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Social Prosperity Makes Good Sense

• One of the most important magnets in attracting
  and keeping investment and business in todays
  global economy is a communitys ability to bring
  people together to
• define the common good,
• create joint plans and,
• identify strategies that benefit a wide range of
  people and organizations,
• Harvard Business Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter

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The Opportunity

• This project offers residents of the
  Headwaters region the opportunity to
• create a strong, shared vision for the future
• work collectively towards it and
• ensure that our communities remain strong and
  vibrant

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The Goal

• The fundamental goal of Headwaters Communities
  in Action is to strengthen our regions ability
  to foster a culture of engagement, inclusion and
  collaboration its social prosperity. This
  cultural shift is the determining factor behind
  our communitys quality-of-life

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Our Vision

• Vision for Social Prosperity
• Our communities will speak with one voice as we
  establish an integrated mechanism for social,
  economic and environmental planning in a way that
  respects historic continuity, maintains and
  protects the natural environment, coordinates and
  promotes services and establishes a sense of
  community for the residents in the Headwaters
  area, so that we can enhance and celebrate the
  prosperity, health and well-being of the diverse
  citizens of our communities.

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Our Values

• Inclusion and Accessibility - We recognize the
  intrinsic value of all people and are committed
  to engaging all citizens in building social
  prosperity
• Multi-sector Collaboration - We recognize that
  collaborating across various sectors in new ways
  is key to addressing complex community issues
• Sustainability - We are committed to building
  upon existing community strengths and designing
  sustainable initiatives
• Innovation - We will model and nurture creativity
  and innovation throughout the Headwaters area
• Effectiveness - We will monitor our progress,
  continuously learn and apply and share our
  learnings to ensure we are maximizing our
  resources

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The History of The Headwaters Communities in
Action Project

• Headwaters Linkages Committee A group of health
  and social service providers from across Dufferin
  County
• 2002 A Broader Perspective Recognized the
  need to mobilize a broader cross-section of
  perspectives from across the community to plan
  together for the future
• 2006 Re-Branding In order to more clearly and
  simply state what we are trying to do, and
  reflect our commitment to be inclusive, our
  project has chosen a new name Headwaters
  Communities in Action

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Our Formal Beginnings

• Project initiated background research and an
  environmental scan highlighting trends in
  Dufferin County
• Held 1st Community Forum with 54 community
  leaders in November 2004

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What We Have Done Already?

• Made presentations to Dufferin County Council and
  at the 8 Local Councils
• Hosted public meetings throughout the community
  reaching more than 150 people across Dufferin
  County to test and ultimately affirm our Vision
• Secured seed funding for our Project through a
  number of committed community organizations
  within Dufferin County.

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What We Have Done Already?

• Used feedback from community meetings to identify
  strategic directions, goals and values to shape
  the Community Plan for achieving our vision
• Established 3 Working Groups to create a
  volunteer infrastructure to move our project
  forward
• Recently secured grants from both The Ontario
  Trillium Foundation and ServiceCanada which
  together provide a solid base of funding for our
  work in the coming year

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What We Have Learned So FarOur Assets

• Our region has many assets including
• An impressive array of services for a region of
  its size
• A small-town feel but close to urban centres
  the best of both worlds
• A high quality hospital and health services
• A history of successful collaborations within
  many sectors

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What We Have Learned So FarOur Challenges

• Our regions challenges include
• Having one of the fastest population growth rates
  in Ontario and many of the social pressures
  associated with larger cities
• No overall regional plan
• Becoming a bedroom community as residential
  growth outpaces industrial growth and local job
  creation.
• Needing a health and social services
  infrastructure to meet the demands of a growing,
  aging and changing population

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What We Have Learned So FarA New Approach is
Needed

• Our regions most complex issues and challenges
  cannot be solved with quick-fix solutions.
• No one sector can be effective addressing these
  issues in isolation. Fragmented thinking and
  action will only produce fragmented, partial
  solutions
• To have the kind of strategic impact we need on
  our regions quality-of-life we need to find new,
  innovative and comprehensive ways of working
  together

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Sustainable Communities
Best Quality of Life
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Strategic Focuses

• Community Health
• Environmental Well-being
• Economic Prosperity

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Strategic Focus

• Community Health
• Strengthening our health and social services to
  reflect our communities changing needs

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Strategic Focus

• Environmental Well being
• Protecting and responsibly growing the use of our
  environmental assets

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Strategic Focus

• Economic Prosperity
• Ensuring a vibrant economy that offers
  sustainable wages and the opportunity for
  everyone to reach his or her potential

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Imagine

• A Community that comes together across sectors to
  identify issues and generate solutions
• A shared plan for the future of this region that
  identifies
• The industries we want to attract
• The services we need and,
• The natural assets we want to protect
• A Community Foundation that provides funding and
  information to support needed local projects that
  enhance economic prosperity, community health
  well-being and environmental viability

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Imagine

• A regional network of recreational trails that is
  used by residents and draws tourists to the area
• A youth summit that engages young people in
  identifying issues, creating solutions and
  sharing their vision for the future of the region
• Adequate and affordable housing being available
  to each and every individual and or family.
• Citizens being aware of and engaged in
  discussions about key issues related to economic,
  social and environmental well being or the
  Headwaters area.

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What Next?

• Incorporate new ideas from focused conversations
  into draft community plan
• Host and continue conversations as needed
• Build partnership commitment to the draft
  community plan
• Launch and implement the plan in Fall 2006