A Sustainable Living Kid’s Activity
To create a vibrant connected community it is important that people feel a part of what’s going on. A big part of that is making sure that everyone has the opportunity to know what’s happening and share in the events and vibe of their particular community.
This creates great opportunity for young people to take an active part in getting this information out to the community.
Community Newsletter
Why not publish your own community newsletter? If you can get sponsorship or support through your local council or business you could produce a printed version which is delivered to the residents of your neighbourhood. Or you could create an online version, via a blog or Facebook page. Or you could produce both versions to suit the preferences of community members… deliver to those who don’t have access to the internet and allow those who do to access it online.
The newsletter could contain all kinds of things that might be of interest locally such as:
- Articles about important local issues and concerns
- A welcome message for new people coming into the community, including new babies born, and goodbyes to those moving on to other areas
- A calendar of community events such as fairs, fetes & festivals
- Promotion of local theatre productions or guest speakers appearing
- Workshops and classes
- Community markets and swaps
- Community Action section where local community groups, such as community gardens, swap meets, transition town groups etc can write up what they are doing and encourage others to join
- Create your own awards for outstanding members of your community who deserve recognition for what they are doing in the community
- Photos and roundups of local sporting events or other community events, by community members who attended them
- Mention of new shops which are opening locally
- Interviews with local politicians, shop keepers, sports teams etc
- Neighbourhood Watch updates
- Local `green’ events
- Get people to review `green’ products and service
- Free advertising space for local businesses
- Promotions of worthy charities and fund raising events
- Traffic disruptions and roadworks
- A gallery of community photos
- Competitions- can you get some prizes from local businesses? How could you relate competitions to creating a greener future or stronger community?
- Encourage others to submit things such as photographs, artwork, puzzles, stories, articles etc.
Community Website or Blog
This could contain the regularly updated newsletter material, but also have more permanent features that tell people about your community.
Some things you may like to include are:
- Information about local politicians and council members in case people have issues they’d like to raise
- A listing of local community groups, with details
- Local sporting groups listing
- List of regular local events
- Details about local parks- toilets, playgrounds, BBQ’s , dogs allowed etc.
- Write-up about each community initiative or project that is being undertaken
Connecting Through Social Media
These days, so many people are getting involved with the many forms of social media available so it makes sense to take advantage of these free social tools to help keep your community in touch.
- Create a Facebook page. Post about what’s coming up in the community and write about events that have been held. Encourage people to send in photos commemorating the events. Have lively discussions about community issues.
- Make a Twitter account for quick `tweets’ related to your community.
- YouTube is a great way of sharing short videos that people make of events held in the community… or to promote upcoming events.
- Pinterest, Google+, Linked-In plus various others may also be useful for keeping your community in touch.
What other ideas can you come up with for creating a connected community?
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