Reflections from York Weston Pelham Community Network Ambassador, Bashir Kamugo.
My name is Bashir Kamugo, and I am a Community Network Ambassador for York Weston Pelham. It was a great privilege to attend the Toronto Strong Neighborhoods Strategy Community Network summit. I had the opportunity to interact with various community leaders and partners, including the Toronto Youth Cabinet, Progress Community Place, WCG Employment Ontario, the city’s team, and fellow Ambassadors. Together, we engaged in discussions about resources and information to enhance and innovate the experiences in our neighborhoods.
The atmosphere at the event, from the presentations to the representations, cultivated an inclusive and enriching experience that inspired positive engagement from everyone present. It was powerfully emphasized that for safe and inclusive living, active community participation is essential, paving the way to fulfill the TSNS mission and vision.
The workshops on resident engagement and the toolkit from The TSNS Playbook have provided us with valuable knowledge and skills for engaging our community members. It was an honor to attend the workshop, where I learned effective practices for organizing residents’ meetings and mobilizing community members. We explored various methods to make informed decisions based on real scenarios facing our community.
The toolkit has proven to be an excellent resource and will serve as a fantastic manual to assist us in executing our work as ambassadors.
This summit increased my network. It was the perfect platform to meet community members who are critical elements in advocacy and some who were into implementation and understood the magnitude of all our contributions to every community member’s safety, growth, and well-being. The social responsibility and humanity that we ought to extend to one another and to this great nation.
In the aftermath of the meet and greet, we established contacts that we believe are going to yield relationships and better communication for the residents as we look forward to building resilient connections and a thriving neighborhood in the city.
Lastly, being a diverse and inclusive summit, the beat of the Drum and the entertaining performances from the opening libations by Elder Chris Leonard gave it a vibe to remember and the experience of a lifetime. The opportunity was worth all the time, and I am so grateful for having been a participant in such a diverse yet inclusive summit.
For more information: Toronto.ca/TSNS or ambassadors.tno-toronto.org
Reflections from East York Don Valley, Resident leader, a retired (Ministry of the Attorney General) senior, Joyce Chew.
My Saturday morning started with an Unexpected. As a background, I was invited to the Toronto Strong Neighbourhoods Strategy (TSNS) Community Networks Summit as a substitute for cancelled registrants and due to communication challenges on transportation, I aborted my interest. However, on the morning of the event, while I was still in deep sleep, I received an urgent call that there was a car-pooling spot for me. I jumped up and challenged the approximate 25-minute time frame to be ready at the pick-up point. But the “short notice” call to prepare myself within 25 minutes made me realize that it is possible to break away from my norm when circumstances require such.
The first annual TSNS Community Networks Summit was on November 9, 2024. The Summit commenced with a smudging ceremony by Elder Larry Frost. This is a cultural and spiritual tradition of many First Nations.
It involves the burning of sacred medicines that cleans the air and those within it. The Opening Libation that honors the ancestors was led by Elder Chris Leonard. Although we all have different cultural practices, the fundamentals of blessings and ancestors’ respect are beliefs that we share.
After the sign-in, we could choose our souvenir of a colorful t-shirts, or sweat-shirts with imprints of “Your Voice, Your Community, Your Network”. This was very symbolic as it had a blank slot where participants could express their Unique Voices that encompassed their experiences, impacts, contributions as Community Ambassadors and the expressions were very Inspiring and Motivating.
At the Climate Action session, I developed a deeper understanding of the Climate Action Partners and their community contributions. Among the many presentations, a noteworthy highlight is the City’s public consultation on addressing Climate Change and the process of recruiting Neighborhood Climate Action Champions (NCAC) that empowers residents to become neighborhood climate leaders.
This is part of the City’s ongoing public consultation on addressing climate change and the next Action Plan for the TransformTO Net Zero Strategy.
The Resident Engagement Toolkit session was very dynamic with hands-on questions and suggestions. A big wish list is to have more funding support for grassroots to operate their Resident Engagement. An unusual comment at this session is that it is a good practice to share one’s unique ideas as that opens up new horizons. Often, a conservative thought is that one’s ideas has to be a secret, so as to avoid competition, but this group discussion outlines an opposite perspective. The Resident Engagement Toolkit gift is a valuable takeaway reference tool.
I was car-pooling with Richard and Ammar- 2 professional photographers. During the ride, they were passionately discussing the pros and cons of their photographic experiences and sharing knowledge on the different types of digital tools. Although they were not attending the break-out sessions as they were working, they on their own accord shared their hands-on knowledge between competitors, and coincidentally they practiced the similar “ideas sharing” of above-mentioned session. While sitting behind, I also benefitted from their discussions and at the same time this networking provided me with the opportunity to connect further with these photographic experts.
Initially, I had various discussions on TNO’s collaboration with the City of Toronto to recruit Community Ambassadors, yet I still could not relate to the subject matter. I am indeed glad that I had the opportunity to attend this Summit with hands-on experiences which widened my lens. With the Ambassadors’ outreach and community responses, I am confident that there will be beneficial communication and engagement across equity-deserving population.
