EFCL November Board Meeting Notes

It's been very busy getting back into the swing of things as your Londonderry District B representative at the EFCL.

The EFCL November Board meeting was held on Nov. 14 and although the meeting's agenda seemed light the meeting went well on into the evening! 

Download the EFCL November Board Package here.

There are three significant initiatives I am excited about with enormous potential to enliven and enrich the community league movement in Edmonton:

The Winter Cities Council 

Isla Tanaka at the Winter Cities

presentation at the EFCL Leagues

Alive Conference in November.

I sit as an EFCL representative on the Winter Cities Council a hybrid council of the administration and City Council and the idea is quite simply to help us have more fun with winter as a city, as community leagues and as residents of the mostly northerly big city in North America. I also hosted a session by Susan Holdsworth, Winter Cities Coordinator, on Winter Cities at the EFCL Leagues Alive Conference. It was a big hit.

Jason Watt of McLeod at Leagues
Alive.

People from communities are very excited about the idea of upping our game significantly when it comes to winter festivals and the involvement of community leagues in innovative and engaging ideas to rock winter. I and the co-chair of the Winter Cities Life stream that is working on ideas like creating a guide to rocking winter based on best practices from around the world and the idea of combining the community leagues 50-60 winter carnivals with some of the bigger winter events to someday host a massive Edmonton Winter Festival, of which community events are a central component. A number of folks stepped forward to say they want to help. We are working on how to proceed now!

• Check out the WinterCity Strategy Consultation Summary (note the mentions of community leagues!)
• And here is the Winter Festivals & Events Guide

Civic Engagement Strategy On The Agenda For Next General Meeting

Elaine Solez (EFCL planner), Councillor Ben Henderson,
David Gibbens (EFCL past president),
Christine Bremner (director), David Dodge (director)
 and Linda Crosby (EFCL staff) at Leagues Alive.

The EFCL has decided to use a key portion of the Feb. 4 general meeting to discuss the civic engagement practices of the federation and its member leagues.  This would include methods the EFCL uses to gather input from the leagues and how this is subsequently presented to the City of Edmonton or other orders of government.  It will also include methods leagues use to gather input from their members, before taking a position on a particular matter.  Examples of relevant issues would include zoning changes, social housing policies, traffic safety and crime prevention, to name four.

The general meeting will be held in Boyle Street Community League’s new hall at 96 Street and 103 A Avenue downtown. 

The idea of the Civic Engagement strategic planning process is quite simply to find new ways for people in community leagues and the leagues and EFCL to engage members and citizens in new and innovative engagement that gets communities a say in the issues that affect our neighbourhoods and in turn have more of an impact on building a better city. Lofty goals yes, but if we have more of a say, then we will accept more responsibility and we will tackle difficult issues and help build a better city. 

This month the Civic Engagement Committee met with Simon Fairbrother the City Manager, Linda Cochrane the General Manager of Community Services and Gary Klassen, General Manager of Sustainable Development (and planning) with City of Edmonton. These are baby steps. At this meeting we shared our  desire to work with the city to have more of a say and help find better solutions to some of our most vexing issues ranging from bike lanes to infill and other issues.

Abundant Communities Pilot Project Grows

Howard Lawrence presenting the Abundant
Communities Initiative at Leagues Alive.

The third big deal is the Abundant Communities Initiative. I also hosted a session by Howard Lawrence and Anne Harvey (CRC) on this amazing initiative that begins by simply engaging deeply with members of the neighbourhood to ask the question what are you involved in, what would you like to be involved in and what gifts you have to share.

The  Abundant Community Initiative, which has been piloted in the Highlands neighborhood this past year, is coming to Oliver, Bannerman and one other, soon-to-selected neighborhood in 2014.

The program is based on the selection of community connectors, usually one per block, who interview people in their area to get a sense of the activities and neighhborhood improvements they would like to see take place.

The progam director then connects people with like interests together, as well as connecting them with the local community league.  The objective is to help people make friends and get involved in activities with their neighbors, which is exactly what community leagues are all about.

John McKnight, a well-known neighborhood activist who helped started the Abundant Community initiative in the United States, is scheduled to give a talk on the movement at the Santa Maria Goretti Centre at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 3. I will be attending.

More Highlights From the November Board Meeting

Good Turnout For League’s Alive

Mayor Don Iveson at the Leagues Alive Conference.

The EFCL wants to thank all of the league reps who braved the winter storm and attended the League’s Alive Board Development Conference at Grant MacEwan University on Nov. 30.  Despite dangerous road conditions, close to 100 members from 57 leagues attended 17 board development the sessions.  LaPerle Community League, with five delegates, took home the $500 popcorn maker for best attendance from a community league.

Delegates also had an opportunity to mix and mingle over lunch with Edmonton’s new mayor, Don Iveson, and councillors Scott McKeen, Ben Henderson, Andrew Knack and Mike Nickel.

Early reports suggest that delegates quite enjoyed the day and found the development sessions most helpful.  A more comprehensive evaluation will be done over the next couple of weeks, in preparation for next year’s event.

EFCL To Make Another Pitch For Green Shack Funding

The  Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues has decided to make another pitch to the provincial government for funding for the city’s Green Shack program, where children from over 100 community leagues are provided with meaningful day camp experiences over the summer months.

Last year the province eliminated funding for the Summer Temporary Employment Program, which many community leagues were using to help pay for a summer camp leader.  The government subsequently provided $150,000 to help ensure that camps continued in high needs parts of the city.  It has made no commitment for 2014.

In addition, the EFCL will be asking Edmonton City Council to approve a request from the Community Services Department for $275,000 in Green Shack funding in 2014.  This money will help bring the program to more neighborhoods.

EFCL Meets with Members of City Council.

Councillor Scott McKeen at Leagues Alive. 

The EFCL has decided to hold a series of one-on-one meetings with members of Edmonton City Council, to pitch our 2014 budget request and to help develop a positive working relationship.

The EFCL has two financial requests before council.  One is for $40,000, to help cover the cost of preparing the federation’s 2014-2018 business plan.  A key part of this plan will be to examine the civic engagement practises of the federation and its member leagues.

The second request is for $600,000, to help cover the cost of the federation’s 100^th Anniversary Project in Hawrelak Park.  The EFCL intends to ask both the provincial and federal governments for a similar donation, as soon as the city is on board.

EFCL Assembles League Input on Surplus School Sites

The EFCL has collected a good deal of input from its members on the redevelopment of surplus school sites and will be communicating their concerns and suggestions to the City of Edmonton shortly.  The key points include: 

• Finding ways to gather the views of all residents of the community, such as a survey sent to each household. The survey would follow public meetings and would include pros and cons of various options.
• Ensuring community input is sought at all points along the way, including the league’s advice on time, place and format of meetings with the league and community at large.
• Assisting leagues with getting information to community residents and providing a fair, one-person-one-vote process for determining the will of the community before requesting the league motion to consider re-siting the development.
• The possibility of considering more than one alternative location (currently only one alternate site can be considered, which may be divisive in communities).
• Giving appropriate consideration to housing type and to community benefits such as a coffee shop, day care and/or meeting room in the development.
• Finding ways to improve trust between the City and communities on surplus school sites—some communities are still of the view that their site has been declared surplus to park needs.
• As a separate process led by Community Services, the City should offer to work with leagues to identify park impacts and how to address them, including ensuring appropriate transitions between the housing development and the park, appropriate park amenities for new residents, e.g., a seniors complex would likely need accessible walkways and benches with arms. This process should take place as soon as the site and housing type are determined.
• The City has committed to considering the EFCL feedback in finalizing the engagement process that will be piloted with a few surplus school sites in 2014.  Hairsine Community League has already volunteered to be included in the pilot consultation exercise.

New Community League Forming in The Hamptons

The EFCL is pleased to report that a new community league is forming in The Hamptons, a neighborhood in the far west end of the city.

An organizational meeting has been called for Nov. 27, where a group of residents hopes to have the league’s bylaws adopted and an executive elected.

Residents in The Hamptons have been working on the creation of a community league in their area for the past 18 months.  One of the key challenges has been to work out a relationship with the Glastonbury Homeowners Association.  The homeowner association represents residents living in Glastonbury, which is immediately to the north, and in The Hamptons.  To date the association has dealt exclusively with Glastonbury Community League, which has been in business for seven or eight years.

Creation of a new league in The Hamptons will bring the EFCL’s membership to 157, which is an increase of eight leagues in the past six years.

If you have any comments, suggestions or questions please contact me anytime at districtb(at)efcl.org

David Dodge,

Londonderry District B Director

Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues

Edmonton scores 7th on walkability among big Canadian cities

This came to me from Mark Anielski of Strathcona Communtiy League. Ever thought about how walkable your neighbourhood is?

Walkability certainly varies by neighbourhood, but the Top ranked Edmonton neighbourhoods are:

• Downtown (91 points) which is a walking 'paradise', including McCauley and Norwood
• Garneau
• Rossdale
• University of Alberta
• Calgary Trail North
• Old Strathcona

You can check out the walkability scores for all Edmonton neighbourhoods at the Walk Score website.

EFCL 100th Anniversary Park Project - Update

Hi Everyone,

Click to enlarge.

I heard some folks at Area 17 would like an update on the EFCL Community Leagues 100th Anniversary Parks project.

• Kris Morra of the EFCL will come to the Area 17 meeting in March (replacing me) to give a report on the parks project;
• There are regular reports on this project in our board package, newsletter and website:
• Fall newsletter: http://www.efcl.org/news/efclnewsletters/tabid/91/default.aspx
• Webpage on project: http://www.efcl.org/EFCLActivities/100thAnniversaryProject/tabid/414/Default.aspx
• Feb. Board Package: http://www.efcl.org/Default.aspx?TabId=74&xsfid=51
• The project is generally proceeding well.

The main issue that arose was that we had hoped to integrate our community league plaza and stream components with the beach component that the mayor and city are talking about doing. We are disappointed that it does not look like these are being integrated, but regardless of whether the projects are connected, we plan to go ahead with phase 1 (the community plaza) and phase 2 (the stream component) of the EFCL project is going ahead and we are actively working on it. Of course there are many steps in the process as leagues are well aware from their own park projects.

Check out the resources liked above. If you are in Area 17 Kris Morra will be at the next meeting to answer any questions you may have.

David Dodge

EFCL District B (Londonderry) Rep.

Board Orientation Strategies Workshop - Don't Miss It!

Hey District B Community Leagues - get some orientation and inspiration for your board members - check out our upcoming workshop! Get Your Board Into Gear  A well planned orientation is a great way to give new board members a positive direction: New Board members need to feel like they’re an integral part of the Board as soon as possible.  If they don’t feel comfortable voicing their opinions, you’re all losing valuable input!   Information is what will help everybody feel at ease. Board orientation is a process to thoughtfully provide Board members with the precise information they need regarding their role in the organization. Getting Board members comfortable with Board responsibilities and participating in meetings is a key objective.  Not only do the new directors start contributing right away during the meetings, they also develop a good working relationship with the veteran Board members. Attend the Board Orientation Workshop on September 27, 2012,  6-9PM EFCL Offices, 7103 – 105 Street  RSVP Andrea.Sage@efcl.org

Leagues Alive 2012 Conference and Trade Show

The EFCL is pleased to announce that our 3rd trade show, entitled "Leagues Alive 2012 Conference and Trade Show" will feature a series of workshops specially designed for community leagues.

This year’s Trade Show will be taking on an exciting twist with a whole new slate of educational programming which will offer something of interest for everyone on Community League Boards.  To date, confirmed workshops will include education regarding:

Board Governance Basics     Role of the President Consensus Building

Connecting with your Community Volunteer Engagement; and Recruitment      Community Gardening

Crime Prevention Developing Policy Bylaw Review

SAVE THE DATE:
November 3, 2012  at the Mayfield Inn
16615 109 Avenue,     Saturday, 8:30 to 4:30 

Watch the EFCL website for more details as the date approaches.

David Dodge

EFCL President and District B Rep.

June 2012 EFCL Board Package

June EFCL Board Package

Download the EFCL June 2012 Board Package

The solar program includes
five modules, a
eomprehensive energy audit
 and an LED monitor.

5.3 Solar and Energy Conservation Program
As you have probably heard by now about 18 community leagues showed up at the information session for the Solar and Energy Conservation program. In addition I know McLeod passed a motion to apply and I heard Northmount and a few other District Leagues may be interested in this program. See my blog post on the Solar and Energy Conservation program for more information or visit the EFCL website page on the program. You have until July 1 to fill out an application and send that with a cheque for $6000 to the EFCL to qualify for this $22,000 program. If more than 7 leagues apply there will be a draw.


5.4 Community Swim Fees
A motion is before the EFCL board to support the City's plan to not adjust fees for community swims in the middle of the season if a community league drops out of the program or joins the program mid-season. If a league leaves rates will not go up for the leagues still involved and if a league joins the rates will not go down. Rates will only be adjusted once each year depending on how many leagues are involved. This makes sense to me. And it does not affect us in District B that much.


5.5 Make it mandatory for leagues to provide contact information
The EFCL serves as a central contact point for community leagues when people can't find out who to talk to about their area. And the EFCL needs to communicate with leagues to let them know about programs, and all sorts of things that are of interest to leagues. But sometimes it's like pulling teeth the get basic contact information for the leagues. The board is considering an option to require leagues provide contact information as part of their membership payment process each year. It's good for the leagues if we can send people to them and provide them with ongoing information so this seems logical to me - some folks may balk, but I am not sure why since it's in the league's interests to make it possible for folks to contact them. Let me know what you think.


5.6 Associate Memberships
A proposal is coming to the board to ask the EFCL Governance Committee to recommend a strategy for leagues to have people sit on their boards from outside their boundaries. Note we are not deciding on a policy yet, but we are providing guidance to the Governance Committee to look into this. Note I have great personal reservations about policies that make it easy for leagues to attract board members, soccer players or any other folks from outside their boundaries since this almost always causes friction and bad-blood between leagues. It can hurt a league that is already hurting by cannibalizing their volunteers. I am not even sure why Associate Memberships are even required in most cases. Frankly there is little leagues can do to prevent somebody (a soccer coach for example) from volunteering in another community, but most leagues try to respect membership boundaries. In my league you must live in the boundaries to be a member of our league. If a coach wants to coach for Lago Lindo from Kilkenny they should still buy a membership in Kilkenny, shouldn't they? These are the sorts of issues that can really cause problems. THOUGHTS?


5.7 Summer Operations at Community Leagues
The EFCL is simply urging Community Leagues to consider staying as active as they can in the summer months where there are high demands for activities and programs. You can reach many people in the summer!


5:10 City Growth Strategy

The EFCL Planning Committee has recently reviewed the City’s 6th draft of the Growth Coordination Strategy and believes there is much more work to be done before it should go to Council for consideration. Please see the board package for the recommendations and discussion of this topic.


5:11 Neighbourhood-friendly Social Housing

The recommendation coming to the board suggests the EFCL participate in a working group to develop guidelines for neighbourhood-friendly social housing projects. It also recommends the EFCL apply for a research grant to develop some Good Neighbour Guidelines. See board package for details. The recommendations here make sense to me.


7.6 Community Development Officer's Report - Shahriyar Khan
You can read Shahriyar's report on 40 km speed limits, Jackson Heights traffic concerns, Cultural Inclusion Program, Crime Prevention and the Gym User Committee meetings.
However I would mostly like to draw your attention to a comprehensive report that Shahriyar has written on our Cultural Integration Program thus far. The report is being presented to the board for later discussion at our July meeting.


Online Membership Cards

And lastly I purchased my own Community League Membership for 2012-13 online to test out the new system and I did indeed receive a membership card via email from the EFCL, so the new system is working.


That's it. If you have any comments, suggestions and issue you would like me to take to the EFCL please let me know.


David Dodge
EFCL President and District B Representative

December 2011 Board Package

News about Signs


The City has amended it's sign regulations. Community Leagues used to be able to place only two signs per year for two weeks. The new rules allow up to eight placements of portable signs per year for two weeks each for Community Leagues. Each placement requires a $15 permit.
If you own your own sign you need a licence to place signs. The $375 licence is needed by all sign owners, whether they are businesses or community leagues. The licence is good for five years. 


December EFCL Board Package Highlights


Download the EFCL December Board Package


4.2 EFCL Meet with Area Councils – Dwayne Robertson, president of the Area Councils of Edmonton Society has asked for a meeting to discuss a draft EFCL/Area Council MOU. An agreement was drafted some time ago and the Central Area Council of Community Leagues and the Castle Downs Recreation Society have approved the MOU. The idea is to get together and discuss how the two organizations can work together.


4.4 Family-friendly Multi-unit Housing Guidelines – That EFCL adopt and promote the December 2011 version of the Child/Family-Friendly Multi-Unit Housing Guidelines. These draft guidelines attempt to put some clear criteria forward that describe "family friendly" housing in order to ensure that higher density and other new developments are truly family friendly. (see board package for the draft) These guidelines provide 67 key points to assist us in advocating for more family friendly housing. This is a really nice piece. The purpose of the exercise for the EFCL is to help keep children and family friendly facilties in mature neighbourhoods.


6.3 EFCL City Budget Request – After our presentation to City Council in the budget process members of council chose to make motions for two out of our three funding requests. Councillor Ed Gibbons moved and councillor Kerry Diotte seconded the motion to increate the Community League infrastructure budget from $1.5 million to $3 million for 2012. Then Kerry Diotte moved and Kim Krushell seconded the motion for $30,000 in addition funding to match the money that EFCL members agreed to commit to a new community league development program. We also asked that the operating grants be increased again this year, but no motion was made by any councillor. CAUTION - remember these are simply the motions and this means these two funding requests are seriously in the running for approval, but they must still be approved.


6.4 Recreation Facility Review – A joint committee of the EFCL and Edmonton community leagues has been struck to review the city‘s development strategy for constructing major recreation facilities. The committee heard about the plans for the new facilities in Claireview, Stadium, Pilot Sound and the Meadows and Lewis Estates. Each of these facilities is worth about $115 million. The committee is interested in seeing these centres serve more as community hubs. We also discussed community league rinks and wondered out loud why they are not considered part of the City's inventory of recreation facilities. If they were considered and put on all the maps we may be able to come up with better integrated plans for recreation for Edmonton. We brought up covered rinks as a possible way to provide district facilities, and we briefly discussed old rinks that the City wants to close. Mostly we were in information gathering mode at this point. It was very interesting to see the plans laid out. The idea is to advocate for more living local options for recreation and to create a much more integrated system.

Winter Community League Event - Register Now, Get in on the Promos!
There is no time like the present to make a decision about your winter event and to motivate you to make a commitment the EFCL has ReMAX event kits for the first 15 leagues that email to info@efcl.org

Send us the details of your event

• Name of Event
• date and time
• location and address
• type of activities
• contact person

A new online rink map will be released early December and not only displays the location of your rink, but also the rink opening times, and any event any league is having (including those not involving rinks), any date, any theme.

That's all for now!

If you have any comments please email me anytime president(at)efcl.org


David Dodge

Inspiration and Creativity Builds Better Communities in Edmonton

Community League Showcase Awards


Inspiration and Creativity Builds Better Communities in Edmonton

The Community League Showcase was an
evening of inspiration and a tribute to
community leagues in Edmonton. 

A huge thank you goes out to councillors Don Iveson, Ben Henderson, Kerry Diotte and Amarjeet Sohi and EFCL board members  Rob Agostinis, Christine Bremner, Ken Shapka, Lindsay Smith, Veronica Vinge and Alf White and Allan Bolstad and the EFCL staff for helping host a very inspiring Community League Showcase Awards night on Saturday at the Italian Cultural Centre in Edmonton.


When the event was done I had this overwhelming sense that all of the folks in every one of our 154 community leagues needs to hear these stories and become inspired too.


It reminds us that when they are at their best, community leagues are creative, inspiring and amazing agents of change. Where else would a group of people such as the Castle Downs Recreation Society get together to rebuild a playground and end up building a $2.3 million community-inspiring facility and then travel half way around the world to reinstall the used equipment in the Philippines!


Where else but Dunluce would a group of people get together to address security concerns posed by natural forest in a neighbourhood and instead of cutting the woods down create a young environmentally minded group of Play Rangers who wanted to learn about the woods and save the trees instead. 


Where else but North Millbourne would a group of folks from the community get together with a local fitness business called “No more excuses” and get people from their community involved in “Sweat, Hope and Rock-n-Roll fitness event that helped get residents active and it raised $25,000 for inner City schools.


Where else but Duggan would a group of community folks get together to create a new kind of Community League Day event by welcoming immigrants from the entire Bhutanese Community and others from the Chinese community to a day of culture, food and music. And beyond the day, the Bhutanese are now engaged in their new community holding events in the Duggan Community Hall that is theirs too.


Or consider Alberta Avenue. When they recognized the power of the Arts community in their area, they created amazing events like the Deep Freeze Byzantine Winter Festival. Aside from making an amazing video about their event, these new connections ignited a spark of inspiration and a a new kind of engagement in their community.


And finally it’s one thing for a community to work to amass resources to build the amazing Terwilliger Recreation Centre, but it’s quite another thing to build community around it by embedding themselves in the process of building the centre and being open to new partnerships and possibilities. The Southwest Farmer’s market is an unintended consequence of building community. Plopped smack, dab in the parking lot between the high school and the recreation centre the new Farmer’s market is attended by thousands of people and already has a half time staff member. 


Or lastly, consider the Brintnell Park Society in my district of the City. Faced with the absolutely daunting challenge of deciding where to start building community in their neighbourhood, they decided to tackle the problem head on. They quickly became aware of the serious challenges being faced by new communities trying to begin living local and building even the most basic community facilities. Inspired by the impossible, this group entered a national Schneiders Picnic in the Park competition and wound up winning $100,000 that will go towards a playground in their area.


The key ingredient in every single case is the unbridled creativity that comes from true inspiration and community. Thanks to all of the community leagues for the uplifting evening. 

Geo-Domes for Rinks - A very interesting idea!

At the October EFCL Board meeting a consortium of organizations presented a concept for a Geo-Dome cover for skating rinks.

Global Resource Efficiency Services (GRES) brought James Wall affiliated with GRES and representing Sprung structures, and Leigh Bond representing Threshold Energies Corporation and together they presented five options that ranged from a simple cover for a rink to a full blown covered rink, with geothermal ice plant. 

GRES Geo-Dome Brochure,
 click here to download the PDF.

A cover for a community rink presents a number of benefits: There is never any snow on the ice, the wind never blows and the sun never shines on the ice. As most rink folks know, snow can be a pain for outdoor rinks such as it was last year. And sun is the enemy of outdoor rinks because it can prematurely wreck the ice cutting the season short.

The entry level covered rink with no add-ons such as an ice plant or geothermal cooling system would cost from $300-$400K. 

A cover mean a rink is not only better for the skating season, but it would also be available for summer sports, farmer's markets, soccer parties and all sorts of other events.

Adding turf the covered rink further extends its potential use. Depending on the configuration it is possible to get as much as five months of ice.

They also presented a high end version of the rink that features an ice plant and a geothermal cooling system that can be used to keep the ice frozen and heat surrounding buildings at the same time. The deluxe version can cost 1 - 1.6 million dollars. However, if Edmonton were considering a civic policy designed to increase regional ice facilities, the geothermal system is 55% cheaper to operate than a conventional system with an ice plant. This could help bring new life to inefficient complexes and make the addition of more covered rinks a possibility.

The other thing these folks suggested was that projects can be staged in phases. A rink could be covered in phase one and later on a geothermal ice plant system could be added. In the geothermal version of the rink the heat harvested from beneath the ice is used to heat the stands, benches and nearby buildings such as halls or even a swimming pool. The presenters also talked about financing that may be available if it could be backed by hard assets. 

A very interesting proposal. For more information check out www.gresworld.com