Exciting community research continues in the Jasper Place Gateway Foundation (JPGF) area! The beginning of this project (June '99 - June '01) was funded by the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) with the community members as the researchers. This community navigating group wanted to know if, how, and why the JPGF area is a successful community.

Throughout the summer of 1999 Community Capacity Building and Asset Mapping© workshops were held in each of the six communities that make up the Jasper Place Gateway Foundation. Over 65 community people took part in these workshops.

RIFF RAFF

In May of 2000 the first navigating group was held. This group, now called RIFF-RAFF (Residents Involved in Family Futures-Relationships Action Food and Fun) was established with the focus on answering the question: What will tell us JPGF is successful? This group gathers monthly for a potluck dinner to have fun, eat, visit, get to know each other and work on JPGF's own CIP. New people are encouraged to come at anytime so RIFF-RAFF can attain feedback and input from a broad range of the JPGF population. The group can range in number from 10 to 40 people and those that cannot attend the gatherings share their feedback and ideas by email or phone.

Some RIFF RAFFer's hard a work!!

Where are we now?
Almost 200 potential indicators in 14 different topic areas of interest have been named:

• Building community through communication
• Children and Youth Connections
• Environmentally conscious
• Friendly neighbourhood
• Health & Well-being/Citizen Economic Well-being
• Housing
• Life long learning
• More participation
• Positive image
• Safe community
• Self-sustaining
• Thriving local business community
• Visual appeal
  

The list of indicators for each of these areas of interest was developed using the following steps.

1. Indicator ideas were brainsailed in small groups and then shared with the larger group. Ideas of indicators were written down on individual index cards.
2. At the next gathering the RIFF-RAFF taped each index card to the wall so that all indicators could be seen. The group then proceeded to group the indicators into similar ideas, areas of interest or topics.
3. After all of the index cards were grouped a name was created for that topic area, which best described what was represented by the proposed indicators.
4. RIFF-RAFF examine over twenty examples of CIP's from across North America that the researcher had collected. This was done to see if there were any new ideas the group could use to build on to JPGF's indicator list. This resulted in a few more indicators being written on index cards and put into the appropriate area.
5. The big task of narrowing down the list of indicators has been completed, 14 different topic areas of interest were named.
6. The RIFF RAFF team has created an in-person survey and a plan of how to gather the other measures for the indicators. March and June are the measurement months.
7. In May, 2001 the group pieced all the information together, wrote up the activities of RIFF RAFF in a report, and created the baseline data.

The group shared their progress with the larger community by presenting information and updates in the community newspaper, (which goes to over 10,000 households) and at the various community gatherings, to both inform and gain feedback. The RIFF-RAFF also presented their work at conferences in June, 2001.

• The Community Research and Action Conference in Atlanta, Georgia - USA.
• Alberta Public Health Association Conference in Red Deer, Alberta - Canada

Contact Information:

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