Project Rational: As I wander the streets of downtown I usually feel a deep sense of belonging. This is made possible by the overrepresentation of young professionals living downtown, and through my privileged settler ancestory. However, there are lots of people who live downtown that aren’t young professionals—including families with young children—, an incredible diversity in cultures, and a strong history of Indigenous ways of being. When reflecting upon this, I realized that the elements that foster my sense of belonging in the Downtown community may in fact be preventing others from feeling the same way. I began wondering how many neighbourhood events there are Downtown to connect young families together compared to networking events intended to connect young professionals? Moreover, how many of these events enrich the cultural competence of attendees? With this in mind, I’d like to hold a Meet, Greet and Play Day for the Families of Downtown. Project Goals: 1) Build social capital between parents living Downtown; 2) foster friendships between children living Downtown; 3) expose young people to Indigenous stories related to the land they live on and 4) increase young people’s understanding of Indigenous culture. To accomplish these goals we will do the following: A) Marketing (Goal 1 & 2) – Print flyers and post them on telephone polls and community cork boards Downtown – Create a Facebook page – Flyers will be emailed to Indigenous organizations B) Story telling (Goal 3 & 4) – Hire an Elder to tell youth and their parents stories about Indigenous people Downtown (e.g. the Indigenous people who canoed from what is now called North Vancouver to Crab park to save settlers who were trapped by a terrible fire). Within these stories the Elder will also point out specific cultural practices (e.g. the water chant that was sung as the people canoed across the water). C) Refreshments (Goal 4) – Lunch will be served to community members. The food will be sourced from the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre. D) Community Building Activities – Beach-related activities will be encouraged. Toys such as shovels, buckets, frisbees, kites etc… will be provided. – Indigenous related pictures will be available for children to colour on E) Community Involvement – I will connect with the West End Vancouver Public Library (and others) to see if we can rent books to bring – I will reach out to the Coal Harbour Community Centre (and others) to see if they have any toy sharing/lending programs to source beach activities – I will connect with Aboriginal groups downtown to a) advertise the event, b) source cultural programming and c) elicit refreshments – This event will be organized by residents of Coal Harbour (myself) with support from residents of the West End.
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