Building neighbourly connections
Windsor/West Hants happiness project expands to Stewiacke
If happiness is contagious, Barry Braun is hoping to spread it as far as he can.
The founder of the Happy Communities Project says that he believes people everywhere are looking for ways to revive their neighbourhoods and form closer connections to each other. He says new Happy Community Projects are now springing up in the Town of Stewiacke and the city of
Kolkata, India.
“Windsor has done something different and effective,” he said. “We’re leading in best practices for community development.”
He says his project has developed a toolkit that makes it easy for communities to create a stronger sense of social connectedness, belonging and resiliency. Braun initiated the Happy Communities Project a few years ago in hopes of enhancing the quality of life in his community, by encouraging volunteer projects that could bring people together and build the ties between neighbours through goodwill.
“Most decisions are out of our hands, many things are decided by big business and government,” he said. “But we can decide what kind of community we choose to live in. We have agency to determine the kind of communities we live in. Many people understand this, but we feel helpless to change anything.”
A community breakfast, a community garden, a farmers’ market, a little library, and neighbourhood corn boils are a few of the projects that have brought people together in Windsor and West Hants, he says. These initiatives were suggested by volunteers and supported through Braun’s group’s model.
He says he envisions a world where people rediscover the value of connecting with each other and support each other every day, not just in times of crisis. Two other communities are now adopting the group’s toolkit to introduce their own initiatives, he says.
“The Happy Community Project has not only been transforming the lives of people in Nova Scotia, they have also just completed their first anniversary in Kolkata, India,” he said.
“In India, an energetic group of mostly young people in university have embraced the Happy Community Project toolkit. They have focused on two major initiatives: social and environmental.”
Braun added that his group has chosen to support this initiative as a pilot project to prove the process can be transferable across geography and into different cultures. He says his goal is to eventually make the project available to communities everywhere.
Wendy Robinson, Stewiacke's mayor, said she contacted Braun after hearing about the project in a radio interview. She gathered a core group to meet with him last year and then started a Facebook campaign to bring more people on board with the idea.
“Our community is very good at coming together in the bad times, people will support each other during a disaster, or a storm. But we need to share the good times as well, and develop a greater sense of community belonging,” she said in a phone interview. “It’s nice to know your neighbours and the names of the people who are living around you.”
The core group has been meeting with Braun over the past month and is preparing to officially introduce the Happy Community Project to Stewiacke in March. Robinson said that she hopes enough people will come on board with the project and generate ideas that will help revive the town spirit she remembers from growing up.
“I wanted to help make Stewiacke like it used to be; the place where I grew up, where just about everyone was involved in the community, in one way or another,” she said. ‘I want us to have safe neighbourhoods where children can play outside until the streetlights come on.”
So far, Robinson said she is pleased that her council has chosen to invest $5,000 in the project’s toolkit. Should the $20,000 program move into the next phase, council has already secured a portion of the remaining funding. If the March launch is successful, Robinson said the town will look to raise the remaining $10,000.
The cost of the program covers the costs of the toolkit, training time, coaching support, access to technology and technology support. In a written statement, she endorsed the toolkit as thorough and easy to implement.
“Some folks believe we could have saved our money and accomplished it without the guidance of the HCP organization. I am convinced we could not do this ourselves or we would have done so long ago,” she wrote in her endorsement.
This initiative will be formally launched in March with a public meeting. Robinson says she has a few ideas for projects that she thinks would benefit the town, but she is hoping to see a strong number of new people come forward with their own ideas for community projects.