Sustainability and Scale

Every One Every Day Kjipuktuk-Halifax has the potential to change the way people understand and support one another and move from the ethos of individualism to the collective. This requires endless bouts of communal creativity and dedicated collaborations among neighbours, local businesses and organizations, and strategic partners. It is only by leveraging and championing our collective skills, resources, and relationships that we can build a better tomorrow for everyone, today.

Shaping new narratives around abundance, creativity, and community innovation.

Across the globe, Participatory City and others are demonstrating that with access to the right spaces, equipment, opportunities, and support—people will produce ideas and projects we may never think possible. And that when we design systems to draw upon the ideas and strengths of many different people, we can craft new narratives about each other and the world around us; Narratives that amplify feelings of commonality, and that notion that we have enough. Every One Every Day draws upon an underlying narrative that places abundance over scarcity, and connection over competition. In this way, calling us to see the many gifts that are already present within us and around us, and working together to nurture and grow collective creativity and a shared sense of abundance.

Building neighbourhoods for everyone, with everyone Building neighbourhoods for everyone, with everyone

Abundance Discover, Share and Celebrate

FALL 2022 PROGRAM

Netukulimk

In the Mi’kmaw culture there is a value at the centre of everything we do: netukulimk (pronounced neh-DU-guh-limk). Its teachings—that the human and natural worlds are not separate from each other—are sewn into the fabric of Mi’kmaw identity, celebrated and acknowledged as a guiding principle in how we work, and how we interact with community and the land every day. Netukulimk means to have enough, but not more than enough. It teaches us to use natural bounty for ourselves and community sustenance, without wasting and jeopardizing it for the future. The Mi’kmaq have recognized and practiced this concept for centuries and it has been the foundation for sustaining Mi’kmaq families, communities and society since time immemorial. One of the key practices of Netukulimk is understanding your impact on the natural world, and its life forms, and the future generations which guides us in a way to live and act responsibly in all aspects of our life.

RENEW, REIMAGINE & REDISCOVER SPRING 2022Friendship

Defining the right scale and pace at which to grow.

We are called to consider the balance between value creation and the potential for systems transformation, while managing the complex needs and outputs of the work. Too often we are pushed to grow and replicate initiatives based on external forces and expectations that can undermine critical elements of the process and purpose. As a person-centered and place-based approach, the Every One Every Day platform needs to grow at a speed and scale that can demonstrate very high levels of inclusive participation, while also paying close attention to the range of outcomes that are essential for true success, such as understanding and integrating decolonized practice.

Understanding how the broader ecosystem can be activated within the emerging ecosystem.

Across Halifax North, there is an abundance of supports, services and businesses that already create critical and positive impact across the neighbourhood; Yet a common thread among them is a targeted approach that seeks to build capacity and agency within a certain group of individuals, or across a specific set of opportunities. A critical strategy moving forward will be to understand and leverage how different organizations and businesses can help to connect, weave, and fill in a broader set of opportunities that helps to expand inclusivity of the platform overall.

Illuminating the role of municipalities in reimagining the relationship between residents and local government and cultivating an environment of creativity and innovation in city-building.

Our work to date uncovers an essential need to work closely with our local municipality to remove barriers, champion public-private partnerships, and leverage municipal assets of all kinds. To date the active involvement of Halifax Regional Municipality hinges on a few visionary people who understand the approach and its essential role in today’s era of city-building. If we are to grow the platform in ways that are meaningful and sustainable long-term, we require a deeper relationship with local government that embodies a commitment to shifting existing power structures, fostering new relationshiops with resdients that prioritize self-determination, and a sense of trust and belonging for all.

Clear and Compelling Story-Telling.

The Every One Every Day platform exists to not only harness the power of connection and co-creation, but also foster the emergence of stories and story-telling; Stories that illuminate the voices of many different residents and can inform our collective beliefs around who lives in our communities, what they value, and ultimately, who belongs. An important part of our work is to illuminate these stories and the potential that can be realized when the well-being of people and the planet are placed at the heart of neighborhood and city building.

Opportunities to expand the platform in mutually beneficial ways: Every One Every Day Community Build Trailer

The Community-Build Trailer began with an emerging relationship with a local participatory design firm called OSO planning + design and a way to grow the Every One Every Day platform to create mutually beneficial connections with emerging ecosystem actors.

The trailer is being designed with residents to support a range of projects across the North End and inspire fresh ideas around how local people can work together to shape different spaces in their own neighbourhoods. This specialized piece of infrastructure will be equipped to build a multitude of resident-inspired projects, and facilitate skills building and sharing through small to medium-sized builds that benefit the neighbourhood. An important component of its’ development is working closely with Halifax Regional Municipality to identify opportunities to station the trailer on different public properties as a means to facilitate new connections with local residents. Thinking longer-term, it presents opportunities for social enterprise and offers a tangible example of how public, private and social sector partnerships can be fostered to create positive change at the neighbourhood level.

The Community-Build Trailer will also serve as a highly visible vehicle for communications—helping to spread awareness and excitement of the opportunities that exist through Every One Every Day while also building new ideas about what projects can be brought to life across different parts of the neighbourhood.

FELIX ATENCIO-GONZALES