A Place Based Renaissance on the Horizon
I had the opportunity to attend an announcement this week. By all standards, it was a good one; the near-completion of the Fundy Trail Parkway. An epic project that has the potential to transform the local economy of a rural region. It has seen the collaboration of all levels of government of all political stripes with amazing visionaries who kept pushing to see it through.
There were great speeches, tons of praise to go around, and the acknowledgement of many others who weren’t there that day who made great contributions.
One of those people is former MLA Stuart Jamieson. What is different about Stuart and his contribution to the Trail is that in addition to securing financial resources to build the Trail infrastructure and seeing the potential it held, Stuart also understood from the very beginning that the people of the area needed to be part of its creation. Stuart understood that people were making sacrifices of land, traditions, and secret spots they had long considered their own for the greater good.
Stuart knew that this project needed to make a direct and significant impact on people’s lives. He spent as much time lobbying his own government for funding to put people to work as he did for the infrastructure itself. As a result, there are hundreds of people in the area who are now co-creators of the dream. We need them to help us move forward.
The next step in the process is to leverage this magnificent parkway the way Stuart envisioned. To use it as an anchor for community led innovation that will improve the lives of New Brunswickers.
Dr. Nathalie Slawinski from Memorial University studied rural revitalization and came up with a framework that may serve as an excellent guide for our region as we move forward. It’s appropriately named PLACE and is meant as a platform to work through the push and pull of community interests to come up with a plan.
The P is for identifying and promoting community champions. People like Stuart who really care and want to make an impact. These champions aren’t always your elected officials. They can be the people who roll up there sleeves and take on specific projets or those who we turn to for advice when the going gets tough.
The L in PLACE is for linking insiders and outsiders. It’s about sharing the deep knowledge and history of the community with those who visit and then listening to those fresh ears to discover new opportunities.
Assessing Assets that are unique in individual communities is part of the process. What makes St. Martins unique from Souris, PEI? Why are both different than Lunenburg, NS and how do each capitalize on those unique assets so that we aren’t all directly competing when the richness of unique opportunities is abundant.
Then are the Compelling stories every community has that act as anchors. Imagine the power of a community that comes together to understand the adversities they have and are working through together and the positive energy and pride that comes from that.
The final E is for engaging. It is about moving past the either/or and getting to the and/and. How do we acheive two goals at once even when they seem to be conflicting. How do we keep it authentic and attractive to urban visitors or investors. This is where real innovation happens.
As I continue my journey and follow my passion for rural community building, I get so excited when I learn about tools like these and realize that the people making a real impact in rural communities are the people who inherently got it before they knew what it was called.
There is real work ahead for communities who want to take it to the next level but there are roadmaps and guides to an attainable renaissance. A renaissance that lies in the hearts of the communities not in an office in the provincial or national capital. Stuart knew that 20 years ago.
