This past year we established Five Pillars of the Festival of Neighbourhoods. These are the goals we do our best to help neighbourhoods to begin to work on, work toward, or achieve over time. These include:
Winners $20,000 City of Kitchener Capital Improvement Fun Announced at this Year’s 30th Anniversary Gathering
This is the first year since 2019 where Festival of Neighbourhoods was able to hold its draw for the City of Kitchener Capital Improvement Fund. Two lucky neighbourhoods Olde Berlin Town and Mill Park were the happy recipients this year and we are excited to see what projects they are able to realize with this help. But they were not the only winners. Central Frederick Neighbourhood Association won $250 in our Early Bird Draw for making sure they registered their inclusive gatherings before September 15th. The Trudy Beaulne Inclusion Award went to Cedar Hills Community Association this year and there were three neighbourhoods recognized for being Pros of Propinquity: A Better Tent City, Victoria Hills, and Stanley Park. A special thank you goes to our Jury this year which included Joanne Johnson from Paulander, Brad Ullner from the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region Board of Directors and Dan Lajoie from the Independent Living Centre. Of special note, the Paulander Princesses inducted all winners as honorary members of the Paulander Princesses along with Regional Chair Karen Redman and Kitchener Centre MP Mike Morrice.
Celebrating our 30th Anniversary November 19th
Don’t miss this year’s 30th Anniversary Celebration on November 19th from 1-3pm at Kitchener’s City Hall Rotunda. We are so happy to be back in the swing of things to enjoy this milestone with all of our neighbours. You can RSVP for the celebration by clicking on the link on our right sidebar and just fill out the form.
Whether you are a new neighbourhood group just considering how to start your journey with creating more propinquity where you live, or you are a group that’s been around awhile, or you are well-established association this is a time to mingle and get to know each other just a bit better. If you are interested in having a display table to share your journey this year just connect with heather@waterlooregion.org. And she will help you make that happen.
We are thrilled this year to reinstate our draw for two $20,000 capital improvement fund projects. Those neighbourhoods who registered their inclusive gatherings before Halloween are eligible for the draw. We haven’t been able to offer this opportunity since before the pandemic. All you need to do is make sure someone from your neighbourhood attends the gathering and your neighbourhood will be added to the draw. These funds can be put towards all sorts of interesting projects like park benches, picnic tables, accessibility improvements to already existing structures, improvements to green spaces, outdoor fitness equipment, murals and the list goes on. Feel free to talk to us about your ideas if you are eligible to win these funds.
We are also presenting two special cash awards this year. The Trudy Beaulne Inclusion Award and the Pros of Propinquity Honour. Both of these awards support winning neighbourhoods with a gift of $500.00 that can be put toward activities and projects in the next year. Come and celebrate with us. Bring the whole family it will be an amazing time to connect. Kitchener is a great place to live. Let’s make it even better!