Park People’s Executive Director, Erika Nikolai, has been honoured with the Distinguished Individual Award from World Urban Parks—an international recognition that celebrates her leadership and the growing national movement Park People has helped build here in Canada.
Why are events in parks important? How do grants fit into Park People’s larger goals for creating change in city parks?
The InTO the Ravines Champions program offers people living near ravines training and support to learn, explore, and celebrate Toronto's one-of-a-kind ravines system.
For years, Geri and Gary James drove an hour outside Toronto to find nature — not realizing one of the…
Ready to rally your crew and make a visible difference in your local park? This guide walks you through everything you need to host a successful community clean-up in Toronto
Connect, Support, Influence and Inspire your community parks - Get our newsletter and email updates!
By donating to Park People, you’ll support vibrant parks for everyone.
Ready to rally your crew and make a visible difference in your local park? This guide walks you through everything you need to host a successful community clean-up in Toronto — from choosing your site to what to bring, what to avoid, and how to report your impact.
Follow the steps, gear up, and turn a simple clean-up into a shared moment of care for green spaces and your neighbourhood.
Plan a successful community park clean-up.
Are you currently running your park group with a growing number of volunteers? Is your group getting more ambitious and looking for some direction around governance? The committee model is useful when your group is too large for a leadership team model or if you are looking for ways to share leadership better and move things along more quickly. How the committee model gets applied varies based on the nature of your group and your goals. We asked the Friends of Roxton Road Parks to give you a flavour of what the committee model might mean for your organization.
It’s no surprise that park groups organize themselves differently from not-for-profit organizations with paid staff. For many volunteers, park work is a ‘side-hustle’ on top of work or family responsibilities. Individual responsibilities can range from light to overwhelming, and the governance model that an organization has a lot to do with moderating workload.
Grassroots Growth, a project from Volunteer Toronto, highlights three models of governance common for smaller organizations like most community park groups. The three most common models to consider for your community park group are Strong Leader, Leadership Team and Committee. This article will illustrate the application of the Committee model, as applied by (FoRRP).
According to Grassroots Growth, with the Committee model “members of the governance structure are organized into various committees or working groups. Each committee is responsible for specialized tasks with respect to the group’s activities. All the committees do work that ties back to the organization’s mission and vision.” The Committee model is useful when your group is too large for a Leadership Team model or you are looking for ways to share leadership better and move things along more quickly.
We spoke with Zac Childs, Convenor of FoRRP in Toronto, Ontario, whose organization takes care of three parks in west Toronto: Fred Hamilton Playground, George Ben Park, and the Roxton Road Parkette. The organization came into being in 2011 when a group of eight Ward 19 neighbours responded to a City of Toronto need for local guidance on upgrades to Fred Hamilton Playground. These eight people formed FoRRP, which started out with a Leadership Team governance model: each member had a distinct duty, but all worked together on a common goal. The Leadership Team model spreads the load amongst a number of members.
As the group’s goals quickly became more ambitious, members were struggling to keep up with all of the duties that their positions entailed. A year after it was formed, the loose affiliation of people sharing a common purpose had officially formed the Friends of Roxton Road Parks, comprising a Board of Directors and distinct committees formed to oversee specific aspects of the revitalization of the three adjacent parks along Roxton Road.
FoRRP moved from a Team Leadership to a Committee model in order to tackle more projects more effectively, spreading the workload amongst more people in an organized fashion. Committees consist of several members who tackle one project area, such as ‘history’ or ‘playground’. Each FoRRP committee has a Chair and a Co-Chair to lead committee activities. Committees may also have other regular members, depending on their size. All committees are overseen by the Board of Directors, which decides on the direction that the organization is going to take. Directors may be Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs, but it is not a prerequisite for being a Director.
Committees pursue various initiatives independently and make their own decisions. Major initiatives are typically approved by the Board of Directors before they are initiated, especially if they require funds from the group or municipal approval. If there are multiple options, Directors may decide to hold a vote.
In all, FoRRP has over 50 members including Directors, committee members and peripheral members who mostly come out to events. The organization also maintains an email list of approximately 150 consisting of members and volunteers, neighbours, park users, and anyone else who wishes to follow the group’s activities.
“The more the better,” comments Childs.
“Groups like ours can use all the friends we can get, so we don’t insist on membership to be in the know about what we are doing. In fact, that information encourages people to join.”
FoRRP holds an Annual General Meeting, open to the public, where Board Directors and Chairs of the various committees are nominated and voted in. To keep silos from forming within the group, the organization also has four Steering Committee meetings per year in which they discuss park activities and the progress of the committees. Some members of the broader group also attend these meetings.FoRRP committees currently include:
Since the FoRRP group officially convened in 2011, some City of Toronto funds were procured and allocated for work beginning at Fred Hamilton Park for maintenance and capital upgrades. Significant park levies from a condo development on College Street have provided additional funds for future upgrades as well, but that was not enough. FoRRP applied for a Live Green Toronto grant, for which they had to become an official not-for-profit (NFP) organization. Since FORP already had a board of directors and a more formalized governance structure, they were ahead of the game in that respect.As part of the transition to NFP, FoRRP decided on four key principles to guide their park husbandry, principles designed to align the growing membership on organizational purpose:
Volunteer groups need to build in resilience in order to operate and thrive. The Committee model helps with that. When there is a change in the group or someone in a leadership position leaves, a benefit of the Committee structure is that it enables another member who is already involved in that aspect of FoRRP’s work to step in and fill the shoes of the member who is departing.
Like most all-volunteer groups, FoRRP has had many people join and step away as their interests and obligations changed. In a bid to facilitate such changes, the group has come up with a few practices: asking for advance notice when someone is stepping down, always bringing in new volunteers, keeping good records, and being open to dropping a park initiative if a member resigns.
As Childs says:
“Ultimately, we want our members to keep doing what they’re doing as long as it’s fun. When you get people working together in committees, it increases their ability to step up and fill a void left by a departing committee member. We’re prepared when people come and go.”
If your parks group is taking on more responsibility and has a growing core team, think about the Committee model of governance. It puts control into more hands and can make it easier to divide the workload to achieve more. It’s also a flexible path to creating a more formalized governance structure. This can ease the way to incorporation if that is a group goal.
Because parks are used by different people whose sense of safety may bump up against one another, the topic of safety is very complicated. What makes one group feel safe, may make another feel unsafe and unwelcome. At its core, safety means inhabiting a predictable, orderly world that is somewhat within our control. After our basic physiological needs are met, the need for safety and security is a basic need for everyone.
How do you create safe environments in parks?
Because parks are used by different people whose sense of safety may bump up against one another, the topic of safety is very complicated. What makes one group feel safe, may make another feel unsafe and unwelcome. We spoke to two community park groups who have faced safety challenges and are working hard to make their parks welcoming, inclusive, and safe places. Here’s what we learned.
When a sexual assault happened in Graham Park in September 2017, the community surrounding the St. Clair West Neighbourhood in Toronto was devastated. People retreated from the park and laneway that was a common access point to the park.
The park had experienced mounting safety concerns over many years and the sexual assault catalyzed the community members surrounding Graham Park to move into action. Feeling helpless in addressing this complex topic, their first step was to connect with Metrac, a non-profit that delivers innovative safety services in Toronto, including conducting safety audits for communities. As they describe, the goal of Metrac’s safety audit is to “improve the environment to make it safer, more inclusive and less threatening for users.”
When Julian Back contacted Metrac, they set up a one-day training followed by a safety audit. The audit was open to everyone in the community and to any park users. Key government and park staff were also invited.
The core of Metrac’s safety audit process is a facilitated walk around the entire park, giving everyone a chance to reflect on their experiences and feelings of safety while at specific locations within the park.
As Metrac points out, “lived experience informs the outcome of the audit.”
To this end, Metrac strongly encourages groups to go the extra mile to ensure that people from different ages and backgrounds participate in the audit. This is anything but simple to put into practice. But, they encourage groups to go beyond the general principles of good outreach to ensure a range of perspectives are welcomed and heard. A solid approach is working with community leaders who have the trust of the community. Providing them with some training and key messages to address any concerns will help ensure diverse representation.
Even if there’s not a version of Metrac in your city, it’s critical to have a facilitated discussion about the challenges the park is facing. An experienced facilitator can make sure voices are respectfully heard and that no one group or individual feels like the “target” of the discussion, even if conflicting perspectives of the park emerged.
For example, youth who gather on the picnic benches may justifiably feel unsafe when adults throw accusatory glances or make disparaging comments. On the flip side, the adults may feel unsafe when large groups of youth congregate on park benches. It takes careful facilitation to make it possible to recognize and acknowledge differing and conflicting perceptions of safety, but it is possible.
“The safety audit is an opportunity for the community to learn how to better resolve conflict, together.”
Linda Frempong, Safety Audit Coordinator at Metrac.
Another Toronto park group, Friends of Masaryk Park and Melbourne Parkette formed to help improve conditions in the park which had been neglected for years and was in a horrible state of disrepair, including broken benches and playground equipment, dead trees and broken lights.Masaryk Park is in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood, where people struggling with addiction live alongside the largest concentration of Tibetans outside of Asia. It’s also a community that is quickly gentrifying.
Friends of Masaryk Park and Melbourne Parkette took concrete steps to get input from as many people in the community as possible.
Very quickly, Susan Armstrong, the group’s founder, learned two valuable things:
Approaching the challenges of the park through the lens of safety ensures improvements will move more quickly with the Municipality.
Community members need to participate in the process since they know their park best and are at risk of feeling alienated by the very people who are trying to help.
Armstrong kicked off the new Friends group by launching a petition asking the city to replace a broken-down play structure. The petition included pictures of the structure in a state of disrepair. The petition gave the park group a reason to connect to the community and to make it known that they were actively working to engage the city. They also communicated that a meeting in the park would follow the petition to discuss next steps.
“The truth is, more affluent residents tend to be more vocal and therefore don’t leave a lot of space for the rest of the community,” says Armstrong.
The Friends group addressed this challenge by decentralizing the input process by allowing people to share their views on potential changes in the places where they spent time. A small group of volunteers approached residents one by one to let them know of the potential changes to the park and to get their input. It is a great way for park groups to meet neighbours and to reach out to residents who you might not hear from. They also posted notices of the changes at the library, the community centre, the Community Health Centre, at a series of community meetings and of course, right in the park.
Metrac’s 40-page report on Graham Park highlights numerous recommendations on improved lighting and visibility, the park’s features, the quality of maintenance and access to the park and the beautification of the park to create a space that is engaging and inviting. The report was shared with the Councillor and policeJulian Back knows that it will take time to implement the changes and is confident that key structural changes will happen over time. But he also realized that quick wins would help build momentum for the park.
One of the key recommendations from the report was to make the park entrance much more inviting. Previously, a park sign forced people to enter the park through a narrow, roughly paved entryway that made them feel unsafe. Now, the entrance to the park has been significantly opened up by moving the sign and electrical box and the pathway has been repaved. Because the park’s entrance is ostensibly the doorway to the park, the change made a significant impression on the community.
Another finding was that the alleyway at the back of the park was tagged with graffiti, making the view into the park uninviting and ominous.
With funds from a community-driven crowdfunding campaign and the support of the city, local community members Julian Back and Kim Lesperence engaged with Wall Expressions and Street Art Toronto and 40 walls and garages were painted with vibrant artwork–all in a single weekend. It was a painting blitz which resulted in a vibrant “outdoor art gallery.”
Julian and Kim invited the whole community to join in a celebration in the Graham park while the painting process took place. The celebration helped launch the new murals which brought much-needed vibrancy to the park.
Susan at Masaryk park drives home the importance of small changes.
“Once residents see a few improvements they will take notice and start to view the park differently.”
After the petition was submitted, the park’s play structure was replaced within 6 months. Next, the city removed a fence and dense shrubs and lowered a hill to improve sightlines and make the park feel more open and accessible from the street.Over the next 2 years, broken benches were removed and replaced, and finally, more garbage bins made a huge difference in getting garbage out of the park. A small but mighty way to make a difference.
Susan’s experience has taught her that while it’s important to have a plan for changes to the park, you have to be willing to be flexible.
“Keep asking the City nicely and stress the need for safety” she advises.
Of course, Masaryk park still has a very long wish-list but an iterative process has benefits: people feel the history of the park is respected and they get to see how small changes impact park use.
Safety comes with getting more people to come to the park. Generally, a busy place is a safe place. This goes back to what Jane Jacobs called “eyes on the street.”
Masaryk park has a long history of collaborating with local organizations to animate the park. Greenest City, a local non-profit has a flourishing community garden, called HOPE community garden, in the park and they have partnered with Friends of Masaryk Park to host parties, art projects, potlucks in the park and provide support for the summer/fall Good Food Market.
In addition Friends of Masaryk Park and Melbourne Parkette has collaborated with the local library to host kids book readings, sourced drums from the local Community Health Centre to run community-led drumming lessons, and worked with the Greenest City to host a Good Food Market in the park.
The Friends of Masaryk Park also hosts their own programs in the park-like family pizza parties, a pumpkin parade, the annual 50 Cent kids book sale, movie nights, and splash pad Water fight nights.
Susan’s advice is that it can literally take years for programs like these to catch on, so be patient and give programs time to grow and iterate.
Since changes at Graham Park, Julian has seen more young children using the park and more summer camps use the park for activities. It’s the beginning of a long journey to restore a sense of safety within the community, but it’s already making a difference. also a flexible path to creating a more formalized governance structure. This can ease the way to incorporation if that is a group goal.
How can you make sure the next group of volunteers are well-prepared to step into their roles? Diane Dalkin, President of Calgary’s Friends of Reader Rock Garden Society (FoRRGS) has made a point of planning for the next volunteer board President, long before she’s ready to step away from her role with the non-profit volunteer advisory group. Here’s Diane’s candid advice on succession planning to help your group with volunteer ‘futureproofing.’
From day one, Diane Dalkin, President of Calgary’s Friends of Reader Rock Garden Society (FoRRGS) operated under the principle that her time at FoRRGS is finite. She openly discussed this with the Board of Directors and has used it as a guiding principle in her role. Diane admits that this approach fundamentally changed how her group operates. Built-in succession planning pushed her team to be deliberate about codifying practices and documenting historical information. For example, FoRRGS had a long-standing verbal agreement with the City of Calgary whereby the City provides the group with free access to space and marketing materials and in return, FoRRGS leads educational programs on the site and helps raise funds for the park. Soon after starting, Diane requested that this verbal agreement be formalized with the City and suggested an annual Letter of Understanding with the City, to ensure that future members of the group and City staff could understand and benefit from the mutual agreement, regardless of staffing changes.
Diane believes that leadership potential can come from anywhere in the organization and that welcoming new people is key to succession planning. That’s why she implemented strategies that made it easier for people to join Friends of Reader Rock Garden Society. Here’s her advice:
Diane and her group changed the member structure to allow people to join the Friends of Reader Rock Garden Society without joining the board. This way, new members can ease into the organization, contributing time and talent in small, convenient increments and learn the ropes. This also helped new members fall in love with the purpose of the group, before making the time commitment required of board members. Diane says this strategy has helped attract several new people to the group and has become a gateway to deeper engagement.
FoRRGS has a great story to share about this historical garden park – Diane realized this early on and helped get that story into important marketing platforms like their website. Recognizing that technology is such an important vehicle for today’s communication strategy (i.e. social media), Diane made it a priority to find tech-savvy members to create their website and social media content. Diane believes that the group’s strong online presence featuring the park’s legacy, history, plant life, news and events is essential to attracting a broad range of new audiences.
In the past, the group was predominantly made up of history buffs. Diane and the FORRGS team recognized that there was an opportunity to attract different park users to the group. Diane and her team enlisted plant enthusiasts, educators, photographers, bird-watchers and people who just had a love of the park to become more engaged. Today, the team is comprised of Master Gardeners, retired teachers, engineers, geologists, yoga instructors, artists, communication professionals, financial advisors, and students, to mention but a few. The diversity of the group keeps ideas interesting and helps generate programs that appeal to a wide range of park users.
Diane has put practices in place to ensure that important information exists in more than one person’s institutional memory. For example, team members are encouraged to work in pairs, with a focus on information sharing. This way one member mentors the other in a particular skill. And, if one person can no longer commit to the volunteer group, someone else is prepared to step in and keep projects moving forward. Of course, no one likes to think of endings. But, by building the end into the beginning of your volunteer role, you can make sure that the final chapter is a happy, successful one, for everyone.
This resource will help you join the growing number of people helping improve their local park. It will show you how to get involved with your existing local park group and the step-by-step process you can follow to launch a new one.
By creating a community park group, you are showing that you care about parks and communities and want them to be better. There have been community park groups doing great work in their parks for decades. Park People is helping to grow the number of groups and build a connected network of groups across all of Canada.
Anyone can join a community park group! You can find an up to date list, contact information and links for many community park groups on the website of your city.
Many cities support park stewardship through Adopt-A-Park or Park Ambassador programs. If that’s the case, contact the Adopt-a-Park program coordinator in your city; he or she will be able to tell you if there is already a group in your park. If you’re not sure if you city has any stewardship programs, start by contacting 311.
In most Canadian cities, there is no official process for starting or registering a community park group. In some cities, adopt-a-park or other city-run park stewardship programs provide a formal process for getting involved – call 311 to learn more. While you may not need permission to start a community park group, it is always important to build a good relationship with your local city councillor, park staff and residents.
There are no formal rules or guidelines on how a community park group should be organized and operated. Just as every park is unique, every park group is unique and you will have to find the structure that works best for the members of your group. Here is a list of tips to keep in mind:
When you are starting out, keep it simple and easy. Unless you are getting into significant fundraising or cash flow, there is no need to incorporate as a non-profit.Becoming a legal charity that can issue tax receipts for donations is very time-consuming and expensive. If you are considering doing fundraising for your park, there are far easier alternatives than becoming charitable.Even if you don’t incorporate as a non-profit, your group can get a bank account, sometimes with low fees for community groups.
As citizens, we all have a say and a responsibility for our shared public spaces. Often these spaces are municipally owned parks, but they can also be social housing lands, schoolyards, electric transmission corridors or civic plazas. It’s important, before undertaking any work in the park, to find out who owns the land and who runs the maintenance operations. Connect with your councillor before undertaking any park projects. Your role as a community park group is to:
Ask any local community park group and they will say that one of the keys to their success has been building a constructive relationship with the staff who oversee the park. Find the park staff person whose job it is to monitor and stay on top of all key problems and issues in their assigned parks.Build a relationship with your park staff by:
Your priorities will depend on the needs you identify in your park as well as the talents and interests of the people involved. One person can’t do it all – try assigning key people to specific initiatives. Here are just a few examples:
Fundraising is never easy but it’s a critical way to show that there’s support for your project in your community. Here are a few ideas that have been used by park groups across Canada.
You are not alone and there are many people who want to help you succeed! Park People is here to support and guide you every step of the way. Sign up for our newsletter and check our Facebook and Instagram feed to stay on top of new developments in parks across the country. Attend our in-person or virtual events to meet and learn from other park groups.
We look forward to getting to know you.
“You are the spark! Share your dream for your park space with your closest friends in your neighbourhood and start the fire. Organize a community meeting with your councillor and advertise with flyers in your local paper. Collect emails at the meeting and ask each person on that list to invite one other neighbour to get involved. Set up your park group on Facebook and ask everyone to join. Now you are ablaze! Nothing is impossible!”
Dawn Chapman, Friends of Moncur Park
Working with a charitable trustee is a common, and very important step in your group’s growth. If you’re hoping to raise funds for events or park improvements, you’ll need a charitable trustee to receive funds and provide tax receipts. However, the benefits of having a positive relationship with a charitable trustee far exceed fundraising objectives. When well aligned, a relationship with a trustee will help both groups flourish.
As a small, community-based organization, how do you raise funds to do the things you need to do? You need to bring on new members, undertake projects that may involve hard costs and publicize the events you hold. And when you want to do something ambitious, you really need to get creative about fundraising. Grassroots organizations in Canada can take the form of an Association, a Trusteeship, a Not-for-Profit, or a Charity. Only two of these will enable you to issue donor tax receipts and to apply for most forms of publicly available grants. They are trusteeships and charities. Establishing a charitable trusteeship is the simplest, fastest way to issue tax receipts and access grants. In essence, you align your organization with a charity whose mandate is somewhat similar to yours. Tax receipts are important to donors, especially larger donors, because a portion of funds donated gets deducted from their taxes. We spoke to Julet Allen, Program Director at Delta Family Resource Centre, a grassroots, non-profit, community-based agency in Toronto’s Rexdale community.
The process of signing on a trustee is straightforward.
First, find a registered charity that does something similar to what you do. For example, if your mandate is to take care of and improve a local park, you could align yourself with a charity that has an environmental mandate, even if it’s, for instance, preserving wilderness areas across Canada.
Next, approach one or more organizations with a proposal. You will want to find an advocate within the organization. At some point, you will probably need to explain what you want to do to their senior staff or board of directors.
To establish a charitable trusteeship, you will need a Letter of Agreement that outlines the terms of the partnership and the roles and responsibilities for your group and for the charity. That’s pretty much all you need. There’s a sample letter below.
As far as responsibilities go, your group would typically be responsible for finding and writing grants, managing the deliverables and funding, managing the relationship with the funder and reporting back to them. The trustee would provide legal charitable status, history and credibility that you can mention in future proposals, a bank account and the financial infrastructure to manage money. As a charity, they will have a legal governance structure that likely includes a board of directors, audited financial statements and an annual report. These are things required by most funders.
As Julet emphasizes, being a trustee is a commitment that takes time:
“Ensure that the organization you want to work with has the same vision for you as you do for yourself…and that they have time to work with you.”
The main reason that a potential trustee would take you on is to further their own mandate.If they want to educate the public about wild places while working to preserve them, they may see the value of your mandate to maintain the integrity and enjoyment of a local park. Likewise, if they work to improve living conditions in a high needs neighbourhood, they may understand the important roles a safe, enjoyable park plays in terms of outdoor recreational and mental wellness.Trustees get to further their mandates, but they also get a small portion of funds you raise—typically 10% to 15%. That may seem like a lot for not much, but keep in mind that the charity has infrastructure to maintain, returns to file, cheques to process and bookkeeping to perform. By taking you on, they are also taking on reputational risk.Another kind of risk, legal risk, is something to discuss before signing a partnership agreement. Are you going to be covered under their insurance policy? If so, they will have to contact their insurance representative and may incur additional cost. Or they might ask you to prove that you have liability insurance of your own.
You might be thinking: ‘well, if we register as a charity, we can keep all the money we raise’. You would be correct, but there is a reason why most grassroots organizations progress the way they do. Here are the steps that most groups take:
The reason is that becoming a charity takes years, requires a lawyer and comes with obligations such as forming and keeping a board of directors and filing a charitable tax return every year. Most grassroots organizations find that in the early stages, these are not responsibilities they want to take on.
Any group that is a charity can be your trustee as long as you have something in common with their charitable mandate. We often advise park groups to find local organizations to partner with: if they are local, they can partner on doing things together. So if the charitable organization is having a street festival, you could complement it by putting on a park festival at the same time. As Julet aptly states: “Trusteeship goes beyond the financial. A trustee can provide guidance, like how to plan a budget or get funding. Trustees have resources that you can tap into.”
Not everyone knows where to find local charitable organizations. The best place to start is with precedents: park groups are often trusteed by local community health organizations, church groups and other neighbourhood organizations.
Before you enter into an agreement, it’s important to find the right fit. Part of that involves having clear conversations with a potential trustee about your mandates, your planned activities and your goals. It’s a good idea to document those conversations through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or a Letter of Agreement, also called a Partnership Agreement.
A trusteeship is hands-down the best way for a smaller organization to gain the important advantages of a charity without all of the work and up-front cost. If you choose to go down that path, we wish you the best of luck in your quest! We’re looking forward to seeing you grow.
Click here to see a sample of trustee agreement.
Are you considering a community garden for your community? Chloe Sanchez is working on one for her Community Housing residence and her experience and insights can help you get started.
Chloe Sanchez believes that green spaces “unlock the parts of people that allow them to expand and grow.” This belief has fuelled Chloe’s work on a community garden that will bring the healing power of plants to the people in her neighbourhood. Chloe lives at Toronto’s 415 Willowdale, a Toronto Community Housing community in the inner suburb of North York. The community is made up of 280 units with very little access to green spaces. Chloe is 415 Willowdale’s tenant representative and has been working for three years to realize her vision of a healing, outdoor space for the people living in her community, and beyond.
Two years ago, a grant offered through Park People and TD Bank helped Chloe begin envisioning and planning her greening project. She quickly discovered that the property she wanted to use to create a community garden was not, in fact, owned by Toronto Community Housing, but by the City of Toronto. This unexpected learning added complexity and extended the timeline for the project. Chloe maintained a positive attitude and pivoted, giving her focus to animating the vacant green space with events to deepen the community’s engagement in the concept of growing healing and medicinal plants. Now, Chloe is moving forward her community’s vision for a greenhouse that features plants that heal.
Here’s how she did it.
Chloe’s advice is simple: start with your city councillor.
“It’s critical to develop a relationship with your councillor, but it’s not as easy as it sounds, because they’re often so busy.”
When first meeting your councillor, Chloe advises bringing your proposal, project plan and blueprints. Because they were so well prepared, Chloe and her group had a positive response from their councillor and were able to develop further plans that addressed their questions and concerns. One of the concerns was related to vandalism and theft that has occurred in several other community gardens. To address this concern, Chloe worked with the city on the concept of a greenhouse.Chloe also advises that groups work hand in hand with their funders, who can offer much more than financial support for projects. She credits TD FEF with providing practical advice and feedback on both the initial vision for the garden and the greenhouse.
“They’ve worked on so many projects. It’s a good idea to connect with funders like TD FEF for advice and insight to make the project succeed. You both have a vested interested in making the project a success.”
Chloe knows alot about medicinal plants, but she also knows that there are a number of people who have more specialized expertise than her:
“If I don’t know something, I don’t know it. But, that’s okay, because other people are around who can help me.”Chloe and her group have consulted with numerous experts including Indigenous leaders, horticulturalists, naturalists and educators. In fact, experts have led many public events at the site, including nature walks and the making of natural treats like jams, herbal teas and natural skin salves. These events help community members get engaged in the idea of the community garden and see the direct benefits. Chloe advises groups to provide an honorarium to people providing their expertise wherever possible, “paying people a small amount shows them that you value their time and knowledge.”The group also worked with numerous professionals including the architects, planners and city officials who are helping make the greenhouse a reality. Chloe advises that choosing the right people to work with is critical for your project’s success, so take your time in selecting the pros you want on your team. and valued? Discuss amongst yourselves after the first meeting. Chances are high that your instinctive reaction is the correct one.
Chloe is working with a team of ten volunteers. When it’s busy, the team meets weekly. During the colder months, they meet monthly. The group has divided up responsibilities in areas like volunteer engagement, outreach and workshop coordination. This volunteer team will also oversee the final plans for the greenhouse and its building. “It’s important to have a diverse team. You need people with different skills like experience working with funders, the city, w participants and with planting. Be open to everyone,” suggests Chloe
The North York community, in which Chloe lives, is incredibly diverse. The group has actively created ways for many of the ethnic and cultural communities to engage in the healing garden and greenhouse. Programming such as making tea and hosting an Iranian tea ceremony helps encourage the local Iranian community to get engaged in the garden. The group has also fostered a relationship with their local Chinese community through regular activities like Tai Chi and Chinese medicine workshops. Indigenous communities have been engaged through nature walks and programming, featuring the many uses for herbs such as sweetgrass and sage.Chloe advises that when you’re choosing what to grow in the garden, be sure to have fan favourites like lavender and bergamot, but also consult people of a range of cultural backgrounds and consider ethnic crops that can grow locally.
One point that Chloe wants to emphasize is, “breathe, this is going to take a while.” The process of securing the permits for the greenhouse took the 415 Willowdale group more than two years. However, Chole emphasizes that going slowly has its benefits. “At every stage,” Chloe says, “I’ve learned something that will make this project better.” The greenhouse is set to be built in 2019. It’s been a three year journey, but one that will make a world of impact in her community.
Partnerships can be fruitful, but finding and building the right partnership can also be challenging and time-consuming. If the organization you want to work with is not on the same page, a partnership can even be counterproductive. The key to any worthwhile partnership is sharing the same vision and building trust.
Building partnerships with other groups in the community can help you achieve your goals more quickly and effectively. We spoke to Shahina Sayani, a Community Planner with the City of Toronto who shared her insider tips for making community partnerships work.
Does the local community organization you want to team up with share your vision? Start by clearly articulating your vision as an organization and your vision of the project on which you want to collaborate. If you don’t have your vision quite clear in your mind, don’t hesitate to say so. Some of the most successful partnerships are built when organizations start with an idea and build a vision and a plan together.Insider Tip: If the group you want to work with has a website or other materials, read up on the organization to see whether their focus and vision dovetails with yours. If it appears to, clearly articulate your vision for the project in your first meeting and gauge the other party’s reaction.
Trust takes time to build. In a true partnership, both parties have to be able to invest time in working together. If you can both commit sufficient resources, you’ve cleared the second hurdle.
The next part of trust is respect: all partners have to have an equal seat at the table. Yours may be a small, informal grassroots organization composed of dedicated volunteers. Now, imagine that you are entering into partnership with a local church group, a Rotary club or other established community organization. Will you have an equal say in the project on which you wish to collaborate? Partnerships that work best are built on an equal playing field.As Shahina says:
“Successful partnerships are built on an even playing field. Be committed to creating an equitable platform for collaboration.”
Equity in the relationship percolates down to things like education, volunteerism (versus professionalism), race, age and gender. How do both parties deal with the diversity at the table? Is it valued? Are a volunteer’s in-the-trenches lived experiences considered as valuable as academic achievement or professional experience? It is imperative that everyone feels comfortable, that everyone is heard and valued, and that the process is inclusive.
Insider Tip: Trust is something that you feel, so engage your “spidey senses” as soon as you start interacting with a local community organization. Are your ideas embraced? Do you and your colleagues feel empowered and valued? Discuss amongst yourselves after the first meeting. Chances are high that your instinctive reaction is the correct one.
It goes without saying that effective partnership includes clear communication. People on all sides of the table need to know up front what expectations are regarding:
Insider Tip: Be clear about this part of your vision early on in the process. Communicate how you see roles being allocated, what your timeline is and what would constitute success for you. Also be clear about the need for regular meetings and other communication, and who is going to be the communication point person on each side!
Milestones tell you whether you and your partners are on track. Shahina makes an important point when she says: “Clarity is critical. Make sure that everyone knows up front what expectations are on all sides.”
If you are building a flower bed, for example, milestones might be:
Insider Tip: Draw up a list of milestones, put them into a timeline and secure partner commitment on checking in regularly to ensure that each milestone—no matter whose responsibility it is—gets met.
Did your project succeed? What did you learn from each other? Recognizing cross-learnings are both critical and exciting when you’re partnering. And coming together to celebrate your achievement is uplifting—it’s the cement that solidifies a partnership and makes future joint actions a happy prospect.Insider Tip: Either meet with partners at project completion to celebrate your joint achievement on the spot, or meet up afterwards to evaluate how well it went, what you learned from each other and how the project could have been improved. Don’t forget to express your thanks! That can mean anything from bringing muffins to the meeting to sending a formal letter of appreciation and acknowledgement, to presenting the results of the project to your community organization partner’s members.
Every great community park project starts with a big idea—and often, a little extra funding to bring it to life.
If your park group has dreams of building a new pollinator garden, organizing a community arts festival, or even hiring a new staff person to keep everything organized, grants can be a powerful tool to achieve and sustain your vision. Navigating grant applications can feel a little overwhelming at first. That’s why we’ve assembled this guide to walk you through the steps, share helpful tips, and offer resources that can make the journey smoother.
Let’s get your park project the support it deserves!
There are several types of organizations that give money to grassroots parks groups:
To find the most relevant opportunities for your group:
Writing grant applications takes time and energy, so you’ll want to be strategic about which ones you apply for. Closely examine the criteria for each grant to make sure that your park group has a chance to be funded (or whether you’re even eligible to apply).
You’ll want to look for:
Every granting organization wants to know that you have a realistic, detailed budget for your project. Your budget should:
Many worthy organizations are vying for every grant that’s available. To stand out from the pack, you’ll want to tell your park group’s story in a compelling way that’s irresistible to funders. Here are our top tips for the writing to persuade:
So you’ve submitted your application and received the bad news—your project hasn’t been selected for a grant. It’s a disappointment for sure, but remember, “no” can often mean “not yet.” If you’re rejected, contact the funder to ask for any feedback they can share about their decision. Perhaps your work is better suited to a different grant they offer, or your application was missing something you can add for the next funding cycle.
Hurray, you’ve been approved! Okay, is it time to break out the bubbly? Not quite. First, you will want to do a few things:
Okay, now go celebrate!
Park events bring our communities to life. Not only do they build a great neighbourhood atmosphere and bring people together outdoors, park events also help people become more engaged and invested in their city parks.
This guide will help you take the necessary steps to host a fabulous event in the park.
When planning an event, it’s actually best to start at the end—ask yourself, what would a successful event achieve for our group? Would it attract new volunteers? Generate new donations for our work? Bring together new community members who haven’t accessed our park before?With a clear sense of your objectives, you’ll be able to choose an event format that meets your goals.For example, if attracting new neighbours is a goal, you may choose a free outdoor family night. If it’s recruiting new volunteers, a park clean-up activity may appeal to community-engaged candidates.Regardless of the theme and format you choose, you’ll want to ensure that your event is accessible to everyone and sustainable for the environment. Read our guides on planning an accessible event and ensuring your activities are zero-waste before diving in deeper.
Depending on the size of your event, it may be helpful to form a small working group. Together, you can determine your work plan and divide responsibilities.Consider how your working group can reflect multiple community interests. For larger events, you could invite local artists, staff from nearby nonprofits, or small business owners to contribute their perspectives and programming ideas. For smaller events, consider inviting your neighbours, local dog walkers, parents, youth, seniors and people who have the kind of skills you’ll need to make your event a success.You can encourage more people to get involved in the group by:
After each meeting, send members the notes and any assigned tasks, and be sure to thank volunteers as they are giving their time to make the park event a great success!
Want more guidance on attracting and retaining volunteers? Read our handy guide.
Municipalities’ rules around permitting vary. In some areas, if you’re bringing more than 25 people together, you’ll need a permit and insurance. Food and live amplified music often require more complex permitting.Consult with your local municipality to determine what permits and insurance you need, and what is and is not permitted in your park. Park permits can take 6 weeks to 4 months to secure, so be sure to plan ahead.
There are many potential costs associated with running an event:
When creating a promotional plan for your event, consider these questions:
Don’t forget about neighbourhood signage boards and the word-of-mouth opportunities they generate. You may want to make a map of the following high-traffic spots to display your posters:
The most successful events have a detailed run-of-show, including all the activities that will happen before, during, and after the event. You’ll want to consider the following:
Park events are a lot of work, but many hands make the difference. To keep your team excited and engaged, make volunteer appreciation a core part of your event plan. You may want to head to a restaurant, a community centre, or someone’s house after your event to thank volunteers and members of the organizing committee.
Acknowledging and celebrating volunteers’ help will ensure that they sign on again in coming years. And besides, everyone needs to decompress—it’s time to trade stories about everything that happened!