Post by Michael Yue on May 15, 2007 9:38:28 GMT -5
Meet and Greet Initiative
1. Background of the Network
(review our Terms of Reference for details of our purpose and principles)
· The Network was an idea generated out of a Civic Engagement Forum held in September 2005 by the Civic Education Society (www.civiceducationsociety.ca), with support from the Richmond Intercultural Advisory Committee.
· The Network aims at bringing Richmond residents together to deal with issues in their local communities through active participation. As a result, it is a grass root, voluntary organization.
· The Network will remain non-partisan; its role is to facilitate exchanges, dialogues, mutual learning, networking, etc. between residents who are interested in civic participation.
· The Network is a cross-sectoral, cross-issue, cross-organizational hub, where residents come together to share their public involvement experience and help one another in their further participation. They may support difference causes due to their own values and beliefs, but the Network is a place where these differences give way to the “common interest” in community involvement.
2. Work Progress
· The Network met five times in 2006 to determine its mandate, purpose and operational principles, as well as possible activities. A draft Terms of Reference were developed during this time. The Network also facilitated the conversation between a group of Arabic language teachers and the Richmond School Board.
· At one point, we decided that formal meetings or even forums were not the best way to get people involved. We would like to try something slightly different. We came up with the idea of using Meet and Greet events to bring people together.
3. Meet and Greet Initiative
The Network intends to organize ongoing M&G events (3-4 times a year) for Richmond residents who may be interested in the overarching topic of “civic engagement”. We believe that M&G is a better venue for learning and exchange than traditional, formal, events such as forums.
We need support from Richmond’s own community organizations and groups to make these events possible and valuable for the participants. The format of each M&G may look like the following:
· Each M&G will have a theme so that participants can focus their dialogue and sharing.
· Participants may be the general public or members/clients of community organizations and groups.
· The Network will try to invite “resource persons” (from relevant community organizations and groups) to participate in each M&G. They may directly respond to some of the questions from the participants (again, theme-specific) or provide information about other resources that the participants can access after the event.
· At each M&G, there will networking time, small group exchange (perhaps facilitated), resource persons’ Q&A time, etc.
· Each M&G should not be too big. A size of 20-30 is probably the most optimal for quality interaction.
4. Beyond Meet and Greet
· Participants of the M&G are encouraged to join the Network and involve in the development and planning of new initiatives. Their own actions in the local communities are not a part of the Network, but it is expected that they can learn from one another’s experience through the Network’s dialogue and exchange mechanism.
· The Network may develop other dialogue and exchange tools beyond M&G. For now, however, we want to focus on the M&G to get things started.
5. Next Network meeting: March 29, 2007 (6:00 – 7:30 pm) – planning the first M&G
· In previous meetings, it was suggested that the theme for the first M&G can be “Immigrant Women and their Community Involvement”. We hope that the first M&G will happen around mid-May this year.
· To help plan this first event, we would like to invite members/clients from a small group of community organizations/groups to the next meeting. This small group may include Family Services of Greater Vancouver, Richmond Multicultural Concerns Society, Volunteer Richmond, SUCCESS, Multicultural Helping House Society, and Civic Education Society.
· We will try to invite 2-3 members/clients from each of the above organizations/groups by working directly with representatives from these organizations/groups.
1. Background of the Network
(review our Terms of Reference for details of our purpose and principles)
· The Network was an idea generated out of a Civic Engagement Forum held in September 2005 by the Civic Education Society (www.civiceducationsociety.ca), with support from the Richmond Intercultural Advisory Committee.
· The Network aims at bringing Richmond residents together to deal with issues in their local communities through active participation. As a result, it is a grass root, voluntary organization.
· The Network will remain non-partisan; its role is to facilitate exchanges, dialogues, mutual learning, networking, etc. between residents who are interested in civic participation.
· The Network is a cross-sectoral, cross-issue, cross-organizational hub, where residents come together to share their public involvement experience and help one another in their further participation. They may support difference causes due to their own values and beliefs, but the Network is a place where these differences give way to the “common interest” in community involvement.
2. Work Progress
· The Network met five times in 2006 to determine its mandate, purpose and operational principles, as well as possible activities. A draft Terms of Reference were developed during this time. The Network also facilitated the conversation between a group of Arabic language teachers and the Richmond School Board.
· At one point, we decided that formal meetings or even forums were not the best way to get people involved. We would like to try something slightly different. We came up with the idea of using Meet and Greet events to bring people together.
3. Meet and Greet Initiative
The Network intends to organize ongoing M&G events (3-4 times a year) for Richmond residents who may be interested in the overarching topic of “civic engagement”. We believe that M&G is a better venue for learning and exchange than traditional, formal, events such as forums.
We need support from Richmond’s own community organizations and groups to make these events possible and valuable for the participants. The format of each M&G may look like the following:
· Each M&G will have a theme so that participants can focus their dialogue and sharing.
· Participants may be the general public or members/clients of community organizations and groups.
· The Network will try to invite “resource persons” (from relevant community organizations and groups) to participate in each M&G. They may directly respond to some of the questions from the participants (again, theme-specific) or provide information about other resources that the participants can access after the event.
· At each M&G, there will networking time, small group exchange (perhaps facilitated), resource persons’ Q&A time, etc.
· Each M&G should not be too big. A size of 20-30 is probably the most optimal for quality interaction.
4. Beyond Meet and Greet
· Participants of the M&G are encouraged to join the Network and involve in the development and planning of new initiatives. Their own actions in the local communities are not a part of the Network, but it is expected that they can learn from one another’s experience through the Network’s dialogue and exchange mechanism.
· The Network may develop other dialogue and exchange tools beyond M&G. For now, however, we want to focus on the M&G to get things started.
5. Next Network meeting: March 29, 2007 (6:00 – 7:30 pm) – planning the first M&G
· In previous meetings, it was suggested that the theme for the first M&G can be “Immigrant Women and their Community Involvement”. We hope that the first M&G will happen around mid-May this year.
· To help plan this first event, we would like to invite members/clients from a small group of community organizations/groups to the next meeting. This small group may include Family Services of Greater Vancouver, Richmond Multicultural Concerns Society, Volunteer Richmond, SUCCESS, Multicultural Helping House Society, and Civic Education Society.
· We will try to invite 2-3 members/clients from each of the above organizations/groups by working directly with representatives from these organizations/groups.