Connecting With Your Community Is Easier (and More Powerful) Than You May Think
(Source: Unsplash/Samantha Gades.)
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending my first Strong Towns Local Conversation group, which I believe was the first for Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Steve Snyder spearheaded the event. Steve is a dad and community organizer, and knows his way around a barbeque, thanks to several years of living in Australia—something I discovered when I attended a memorable front-yard barbeque at his place last summer. Steve ran for city council last year and although he didn’t win, he’s still trying every day to make his neighborhood more loveable. Organizing a Strong Towns Local Conversation Group was something Steve had been wanting to do for a long time, and once the dust had settled from his campaign wrap-up, he pitched a date and time.
On a drizzly Thursday evening, my husband and I arrived to find Steve and a few other folks already at the appointed spot. We were meeting at The Forks, which is one of Winnipeg’s very best places. Located centrally where two major rivers join, The Forks is a national historic site and includes a ton of restaurants, museums, shops, public art, and comfy indoor and outdoor spaces to hang out. Steve had chosen the food hall as our meeting place, and, one by one, more people joined our little group, drinks in hand and maybe a little uncertain or shy, but looking happy to be there.
It was a busy night in the food hall, but eventually we found a big table where we could all sit together, and Steve placed a little laminated “Strong Towns” sign on the table so that others could find us. In short order, several more people joined our group, and all told we were a dozen. Steve kicked off a round of introductions, and we all shared our names, what part of town we live in, and what had brought us out to the meeting. Some of us had been invited directly by Steve and others had seen the invitation on Reddit.
Folks had come from all over the city! The group was pretty evenly split between familiar-to-me faces involved in the local urbanism scene, and people for whom “this Strong Towns stuff” was relatively new but very exciting. Among the group there were students, engineers, teachers, public safety folks, and civil servants, and regardless of occupation, everyone seemed to have one thing in common. We all cared about our city and were frustrated with the status quo.
Over the next couple hours, we enjoyed a lively, open, and free-flowing discussion. Between the music and ambient noise, it wasn’t always easy to hear conversation from the other end of the table, but we made do. Over the course of the evening, we had some great conversations.
We made connections.
You live in this neighborhood? You should definitely talk to so-and-so! Let me connect the two of you. Or, you should check out this other group, they’d be right up your alley.
We swapped tips.
One person described how they’d gotten more confident in writing to elected officials. Another shared some tactical urbanism resources.
We commiserated.
We grumbled about how overwhelming it can be to understand city budgets, and how we wished Winnipeg would take a snow-clearing page from the Finnish city Oulu’s book. But people also expressed how refreshing it was to be in a group where everyone wanted to talk about city issues (as it seems many of us have tested the patience of our friends, family and colleagues).
We shared dreams.
Whether it was rapid transit, protected bike lanes, active transportation bridges—game changers in a river city like Winnipeg—everybody had ideas about what kind of infrastructure we should (and shouldn’t be) investing in.
We talked about our neighborhoods.
We described where we live or have lived previously, what we like about our neighborhoods and what needs work—and which streets host great block parties!
We talked about change.
One person remarked that, on one hand, the status quo in our city is very depressing. But on the other hand, they could see that even just two generations ago, things were very different. That gave them hope that within another two generations, things could evolve in a positive way.
Some of us got drink refills. Some of us took notes. Some of us talked more and others listened more. I think we all laughed a lot!
After an hour and a half of good discussion interspersed with the occasional moment of collective despondency, some folks began to head out, needed by their families or to begin the trek back home. Before they left, we picked a date for our next meeting. We thought for our next meeting, we might adopt a little more structure: perhaps we’ll watch a Strong Towns or Not Just Bikes video, and then have discussion afterwards, using the new NJB + ST discussion guide.
Those who stayed moved their chairs closer together. The crowds around us were thinning out a bit, and we could all hear each other better. When we were ready to call it a night, we walked with a couple other people over to the bus stop. The rain had stopped, and I thought about how even though we were waiting on a loud and unpleasant roadside, the conversation and company made the time fly by. The cherry on top of the evening’s cake was when our ride turned out to be one of the cool accordion buses, which are still fairly fun and novel in Winnipeg.
Looking forward to our next local conversation!
IT’S TIME TO MEET YOUR MOVEMENT.
Learn more about how to get the Strong Towns conversation started where you live at the 2023 National Gathering. You’ll hear from our community builder, John Pattison, along with a whole host of other great speakers!
In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck discusses municipal finance with Michel Durand-Wood, a longtime Strong Towns contributor and local budget aficionado.