Love this roundup. The transitonal housing partnership with Reception House caught my eye because most cities treat refugee housing as purely a federal problem. Waterloo's approach of pairing municpal land with grants shows how local action can fill gaps way faster than waiting for higher levels of government. I saw similar delays in my own town where nothing moved until local nonprofits stepped in.
So much good news in one place! I especially loved the street-banner program and bike-shelter-decoration project. The work of local artists brightens every commute and stroll.
I'm also checking out Alex Kinsella's recommended book, The Joy Experiments, asap. Thanks!
That's terrific! I find the 'Upside' posts really are my favourite ones to write - we all need to be reminded of the many good things happening every day in our communities.
I’m super inspired to try a Nepean/west-end Ottawa version. Hope you don’t mind? What you’ve done here is so energizing. (And takes the edge off the endless snow and tough-news days. ;)
Thanks! I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been working with a 2:1 grim-to-hopeful news-reading ratio this month. (I may need to move to 1:1 if the grim levels stay as they are.) A grab-bag of cheering local stories could be a handy collection to come back to. ;)
Love this roundup. The transitonal housing partnership with Reception House caught my eye because most cities treat refugee housing as purely a federal problem. Waterloo's approach of pairing municpal land with grants shows how local action can fill gaps way faster than waiting for higher levels of government. I saw similar delays in my own town where nothing moved until local nonprofits stepped in.
So much good news in one place! I especially loved the street-banner program and bike-shelter-decoration project. The work of local artists brightens every commute and stroll.
I'm also checking out Alex Kinsella's recommended book, The Joy Experiments, asap. Thanks!
That's terrific! I find the 'Upside' posts really are my favourite ones to write - we all need to be reminded of the many good things happening every day in our communities.
I’m super inspired to try a Nepean/west-end Ottawa version. Hope you don’t mind? What you’ve done here is so energizing. (And takes the edge off the endless snow and tough-news days. ;)
Yes, yes, please! We need all the good news we can get. Happy to see others run with that idea.
Thanks! I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been working with a 2:1 grim-to-hopeful news-reading ratio this month. (I may need to move to 1:1 if the grim levels stay as they are.) A grab-bag of cheering local stories could be a handy collection to come back to. ;)
I look forward to reading it!
Thanks for including Union Co-operative in this roundup alongside so many local groups that inspire us! Melissa, you're the best :-)
Always happy to highlight the good work that Union is doing!
Thank you, Melissa! We need to know about these good stories even more these days, to give us hope and a reason to keep fighting for this world.
It does feel like these kinds of stories are especially important right now.