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Week after week this column aims to bring focus to the ways in which all of us might participate in creating healthy and vibrant communities. We explore stories from around the world, offer new ideas, and reflect on our own postures towards others and the places where we live.
Doug Griffiths, a former provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs, has also been an advocate for building healthy communities here in Alberta. It was through his experiences working with neighbourhoods, towns and municipalities across our province that he wrote “13 Ways to Kill Your Community;” a book about community building.
This book, now in its second edition, was first written in 2010 out of Griffiths’ passion for community development, but the book has its roots well before he entered politics or consulting. Griffiths says that years ago he grew concerned about the future of his own community. He writes, “I found myself sitting in that coffee shop regularly with the other coffee shop regulars lamenting the situation of our community and all other rural communities. I often wondered aloud, ‘When will someone do something to make it better?’ Then I realized, I was somebody…it was going to be my responsibility to find a way to make our rural community stronger.”
For over a decade Griffiths served in various government roles and has had the opportunity to see and experience the challenges faced by other communities across the province. What he discovered was that for all the help that governments can provide, the vitality or stagnation of a community ultimately depends on people who call their neighbourhood home. He writes, “Regardless of the situation, a community’s future truly rests within its own populace and their desire to achieve success…a community that believes it will succeed cannot be stopped by government or money. Conversely, a community that believes it will fail cannot be saved by government or money.”
It was with these fundamental convictions that Griffiths wrote a book that has created an impact in communities across Canada, the United States, and globally. Written with compelling anecdotes and insight from his experiences working with hundreds of communities and their leaders, “13 Ways to Kill your Community” is a delightful upside down approach to discussing those prickly challenges many communities face in preparing for health and growth.
Residents of our own city might want to take notice. Griffiths suggests we can kill our community by shopping elsewhere, disengaging from youth, resisting cooperative projects, putting responsibility on others, and neglecting to care for our seniors. Certainly the book is intended to inspire and persuade civic leaders and neighbours to re-engage with one another and work together to shape the kind of communities that we all hope to have. Doug Griffiths offers a made-in-Alberta perspective on community building that is practical, cogent, and insightful.
To learn more about the book and to order your own copy, visit 13ways.ca.
