Big Idea: Community News

4 minute read

It’s no secret that I have a lot of Big Ideas ™. Some are really dumb, some are less dumb, but not very practical, and some are good! Great even!

And I am not a dragon hoarding her gold. I would love for some of these Big Ideas to get done by someone! So I’m starting this blog series about some of these ideas. And I invite this community to take any and run with them.

Because if I’ve learned anything about my Big Ideas it’s that they are actually stupid if all they do is sit in a doc on the cloud.

This one came out of a walk on December 29, 2024.

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

Should I have waited to reveal my big idea? Perhaps. Despite being a comms volunteer, I’m no good at it 😉

Yet here I am communicating to you about a communications notice board….

Oh dear.

Seems like a bit of a “so what?!” doesn’t it?

Hear me out…

When I was walking through my neighborhood that day, I thought it would be a really cool idea to have bulletin boards in the green space and walking corridor that cuts through the neighbourhood, and links up to the ravine.

The bulletin boards could showcase community related news, events, lost dogs, piano lessons and more. We have very few places in our community for those types of flyers to live – other than on a random light pole that is.

This green space is busy busy, with people cycling, walking their dog or just plain walking. It’s a perfect spot to reach people with community news, and create an opportunity for people to connect while they’re out and about.

BENEFIT

Honestly, I think the benefits of a community bulletin board are vast. While I jotted down a few, I am sure I didn’t even scratch the surface.

• Acts as a gathering place to meet folks in your community.
• Opportunity for casual conversation about the stuff on the board.
• Actually meet your neighbours face to face.
• “Crime” watch aka more eyes and bodies on the street can be a deterrent to folks who want to steal Amazon packages from your doorstep or whatever.
• Social media is a toilet! This is a more human (and humane) version of FB groups or pages.
• It’s a free way to get the word out about community events, which allow for even more community connection.

I spend a fair bit of time postering in my neighbourhood, so I’d like to consider myself a volunteer expert. And I think there is a need for more IRL community news space.

The need stems from the benefits as I listed above. Perhaps I am getting the cart before the horse here, but I am also considering the need to communicate information to neighbours in the wider societal context. Without turning to the anonymity of internet message boards.

Because honestly I am tired of people hiding behind their screens when face-to-face is what’s needed. And I’m tired of constantly hearing news about what’s going on south of the border, when I don’t even know the people who live on my street.

A community bulletin board isn’t going to solve the world’s problems, but it might make help move the needle on building a strong foundation to do so.

WOOP

WOOP – which stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan – is an evidence-based motivational strategy developed by Gabriele Oettingen.

I first heard about WOOP in one of the many many (many) YouTube videos I was watching back in the early grieving days. (Sooooo many). Mostly the advice was general goal setting bull crap, but this caught my attention.

“Imagine what obstacles inside ourselves prevent us from achieving these dreams”, emphasis mine. These aren’t obstacles within me, but I think they are even more relevant!

OBSTACLE NUMBER ONE

City permission and neighbor push back. Plan: volunteers canvass the adjacent neighbours to get their buy-in, explore what we would need to do to get permission from the city using our Neighbourhood Resource Coordinator’s knowledge and expertise.

OBSTACLES NUMBER TWO

Y’all, I don’t know how much giant wood bulletin board cost, but I can’t imagine that it’s “cheap”. Plan: There are a lot of grants out there, maybe one that could apply here. Fundraising is difficult for our community right now (competing priorities), but we could explore a crowd-funding campaign. 

OBSTACLES NUMBER THREE

Who would manage the boards? Plan: Ritchie and Hazeldean Community Leagues.

OBSTACLES NUMBER FOUR

Who would build and install the boards? Plan: We could “hire” the Ritchie Men’s Shed and make it a community learning moment. There is another grassroots group in our neighbourhood that is always looking for learning/gathering ideas.

FURTHER READING AND RESOURCES

I talk about this stuff all the time IRL, but here is the first post about it!

Here is some more info about the WOOP strategy for setting goals and changing habits.