Connecting Communities

Over the last several months I have found myself examining my connection to and involvement in the local community. I have always been or tried to be someone who gives back to the community around me. I like to think that most people are this way; that people are inherently good and that when presented with a clear opportunity to engage and/or give back to the community they will take it. 

This may be an idealistic outlook, but I really do believe that people want to be connected with others in their community and they do want to give back, sometimes getting involved just gets placed on the back burner. I’m sure at some point or another we’ve all been guilty of coming up with a reason why we cannot get involved, I know I have. 

“I can’t afford to contribute/participate right now”

“I don’t have the time to”

“I can’t find anyone to go with me”

“I’ll join later/I’ll go next time”

“I don’t know how to get involved”

“I don’t know anyone else involved”

Life can be incredibly busy and it can be stressful; the thought of adding one or more commitments to an already overloaded schedule can be overwhelming, to the point that it is easier to just do nothing.

According to an article I found on How to Connect with Others in Your Community “, research shows that increased social connections can lower blood pressure and decrease stress levels. People who are more social tend to be sick less and recover more quickly than those that have limited social ties."

 

So if getting involved is good for us and good for the community, the question is what can we do to get people more involved and connected?

COMMUNICATE

One reason people may put off getting involved is a lack of information.

  • Who needs volunteers?
  • Who is accepting new members?
  • What kind of people are wanted?
  • What is the group really about?
  • What is the dynamic of the group?
  • Who is involved?
  • What is the function of the group?
  • How can people contribute?
  • How much of a commitment must be made?

If people are going to add another commitment to their already busy schedule, they want to be sure that they are adding or receiving value from the group that they are joining. Organizations need to be more active in communicating their desire to have volunteers or community involvement. 

People are more likely to get involved if there is an opening to do so. It often takes a special kind of individual to go out and search for or create opportunities to get involved.  I have to say, London is pretty spectacular from that perspective. There are many of these special individuals who see a potential for an opportunity and they work until they make it happen; look for these phenomenal individuals in London. 

 

CARE

At times there have been various groups who have been accused of being apathetic, typically the young adult demographic. If you look closely at your community though you will find that there are young adults (for the sake of this blog we will define young adults as 18 – 35) who do want to be involved, who do want to engage their community, who do want to make a difference. At times though these young people are meeting resistance or the apathy they are accused of having.   

A friend of mine, who is one of those unique individuals who creates opportunities, wrote a blog that I read recently.  One of the thoughts that stuck with me after reading his blog was that powerful/influential people need to care. There are people who are willing work to generate positive opportunities and experiences for our communities, but they need the support, encouragement and help from the people who have the means to do so. Individual voices can only speak so loud, sometimes they need a bigger voice or a helping hand with a megaphone to give life to an idea.

What we offer does not have to be substantial; it can be a fraction of time, or an ounce of support. Silence and apathy are discouraging and we do not want to discourage these unique individuals who are likely to change the world, or at the very least, our communities. 

 

LEADERSHIP

Lead by example; this is something I heard a lot growing up. It is also similar to an idea I’ve read in a number of articles about business management; don’t ask others to do something, you wouldn’t do yourself.  I am thankful that this is the way that the London Convention Centre thinks. This community is important to us and there are many causes and initiatives that we believe deserve support. We understand though that for us to convince others to support these causes and initiatives, we must first support them ourselves. There are many other things that we can do to encourage people to participate, but first we must try to participate ourselves and lead by example.

 

KINDNESS

We need to show kindness to the people joining our groups or volunteering with us. When someone new joins one of your groups, take the time to talk to them and welcome them to the group. Joining a new group can be intimidating; it is really nice when someone makes an effort to make you feel welcome. If you are volunteering or managing volunteers do your best to make the experience of your volunteers a positive one; treat them like equals as much possible. People are donating their time and energy and while volunteering is not always the most glamorous job, it can still be pleasant. 

 

There are many other things that we can do to connect with our communities and to facilitate others connecting with their communities. There are so many great groups, organizations and charities to get involved with in London, Ontario, as I am certain there are in a lot of other cities. Some groups are social, some are professional, and some are charity; all of the groups though offer a lot to the members of the community, either directly or indirectly. The best thing about a lot of these groups is the people who are involved with them.

If you are living in London, Ontario and looking for a place to start checkout londonftw.com or head over to Twitter and add the hashtag #ldnont, someone will surely point you in the right direction.

 

I want to hear from you!

What groups, projects or charities are you involved in?

How did you get involved with the groups you support?

What advice would you give people looking to get involved?

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Hi,
I enjoyed reading your blog. My back ground is in performance. About 9 years ago I decided to initiate an award ceremony aimed at young professionals in performance. I always wanted to help young people in this area because I felt that many of them had the talent but not the contacts. I do the award ceremony to encourage young people from diverse backgrounds and those living in less fortunate circumstances the opportunity to follow their dreams, Money raised from the ceremony help a young person who would like to particiapte in dance/drama the opportunity. I also regualry do performance shows and use the funds raised to do workshops.
I beleive in communities helping each other, and if you want change it must begin with you first.

In reply to by sazz Wanogho-Maud (not verified)

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Thank you very much for your comment! Your award ceremony sounds amazing; I am sure it is very meaningful to all of the people who are involved. It is always great to hear about someone seizing an opportunity to positively impact or change the lives of others. I think it is important that we all remember that change can begin with us. Thank you very much for sharing your story!

Sarah - LdnCC

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My advice, is to just start kicking your feet. Well that's Bilbo Baggins advice, but I like it so I'm stealing it. What I mean is to just swallow your fear and goto an event, talk to someone, this will lead to another event, another conversation, another organization.

I just love meeting people and having conversations about ideas. Ideas lead to more ideas, then you'll find yourself very engaged with no real understanding of how you got there. But the important step to getting anywhere is getting going. So kick your feet, and just try it out.

Steve Jobs who died yesterday has this wicked quote: "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything--all expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what's truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Excellent advice Matt! Joining a new group or attending an event where you know no one can be intimidating or awkward. I think that we as polite Canadians often do not want to interrupt an ongoing conversation, so sometimes we end up playing a bit of hokey pokey. I think there are many reasons we don't want to interrupt or join; a fear of being rude, a fear of rejection, a fear of not knowing what people are talking about and sounding silly. You are right though, we need to swallow our fear and get our there and interact with others.

For those of us who are already out there engaging, we need to realize that there are people with these fears and we need to work to draw in and include those individuals, making them feel welcome and inspired.

Thank you very much for including the quote from Steve Jobs; it is a great quote! It is sad that we lost such a visionary far too soon.

Sarah - LdnCC