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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:

Working for a Kinder Future

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Improving a Sense of Well-being

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Increasing the Propinquity in your Neighbourhood

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Growing a Sense of Belonging

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Celebrating More Inclusivity

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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.

Summer Job Positions open, 8 weeks, 35 hours per week, at 15.50/hr, between June 5th – Sept. 1st Are you outgoing, diligent, wanting to learn, and like people? The Social Development Centre Waterloo Region and Festival of Neighbourhoods have openings for youth seeking experience in community organizing and social development. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from all equity seeking groups. Please respond before midnight on June 2nd. See more detail in the job posting describing the two positions and get in touch with heather@waterlooregion.org if you have any questions.

This will be the first time we are meeting in person in the same physical space for Festival of Neighbourhoods November Celebration since 2019. This year we are meeting the Propinquity Challenge all over the place!

Propinquity is one of the main factors in interpersonal attraction. It refers to the physical or psychological proximity between people. It can mean kinship between people or a similarity in nature between things.

We are through the worst of a global pandemic and things are returning to a more conducive environment for re-establishing a sense of propinquity where we live, work, raise our families, and go to school and celebrate!

We are looking forward to seeing you in person! This is a new beginning for the Festival and we want to celebrate with you together. RSVP here.

This will be the first time we are meeting in person in the same physical space since 2019. What a relief that is!

We also recognize that safety precautions are always good when it comes to public health. Therefore we will have masks and sanitizer available for attendees but you are not required to wear masks. It is suggested if you are concerned. It is always an option and we want to ensure that you are given the tools you need to stay reasonably safe and comfortable in shared spaces especially if you are concerned that contracting any viruses may be of serious consequence to your health.

Book A Table for the This Years Celebration

We are offering information display tables to any of you who would like to be able to showcase and express all you have done this year and over the pandemic to keep propinquity alive and growing. You can share and talk to others who are participating and display images of your events and activities. You can show us the geographic boundaries of your neighbourhoods by exchanging with others who are doing the same. Show us your neighbourhoods attributes, parks, community centres, green spaces, businesses, etc. Show us what’s missing that you wish you had. Will you need access to power? Let us know. 

First come, first served. Email Heather.Majaury@waterlooregion.org.

Join us in the living room space we will be making cozy on Saturday October 14 in front of the City Hall! Heather Majaury, the coordinator of the Festival of Neighbourhoods and David Alton, the facilitator of the Lived Expertise Working Group will be your hosts for the day.

Session 1: 

Spaces, Places, & Faces: Festival of Neighbourhood 
A Lively and interactive facilitated POP UP PARK LIVING ROOM session helping visitors to think outside the box when it comes to park planning. Get Creative & Brainstorm.Have fun considering what park lands and shared living space means to you and your neighbourhoods. What works for one part of the city may not be what works for another? Share ideas about where to go now. Walking Paths, Nature Areas, Food Forests, Playgrounds and other Activities for All Ages. Contemplate our joy, connection, collective health and well-being and the mutil-layered use of shared spaces and conscious places. Consider how to realize more Propinquity in Kitchener Parks now and in the future through a playful approach to good conversation 

LUNCH & LEARN with The Social Development Centre
Bring your lunch and hang out  at the  POP UP PARK LIVING ROOM. This is a casual time to visit our installation and learn about the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region. Sit and chat with hosts David Alton: Coordinator Lived Expertise Working Group and Heather Majaury: Festival of Neighbourhoods Coordinator. They will share interesting anecdotes and share what programs and opportunities there are to get involved with the SDCWR. As we emerge from COVID there are all sorts of ways to benefit from and be a part of the Social Development Centre. It’s a great way to meet people, exchange ideas, connect with change makers and thought leaders throughout the region. Learn about Festival of Neigbourhoods, The Civic Hub, Eviction Prevention, and the Lived Expertise Working Group, Electricity Subsidy Support and most recently our Ride for Refuge.  We are a space where you are invited to find your place. 

Session 2:

Homelessness, Parks & Community

Canada is facing a growing homelessness crisis. What does that mean for our park spaces? You have likely already seen people living in tent communities in parks across the City. Meet Lived Expertise Consultants at the POP UP PARK LIVING ROOM, to ask your questions and learn from the people directly supporting unsheltered communities. Put faces to the homelessness crisis and learn how you can play a role in getting people housed. Parks are shared spaces for all residents of the City, but that doesn’t mean navigating the complexity of this crisis isn’t challenging for us all. This session is a safe space for visitors to ask questions, build understanding, and imagine solutions together. Explore a human rights approach to housing and how unsheltered communities, advocates and city staff are striving to meet it.

Propinquity? How broad and how diverse are your connections to your neighbours? Similarity, difference and attraction. Remain curious and create kinship relationships…

For a taste of 2021, you can watch the Virtual Annual Celebration from November 2021, COVID Comeback Bingo teaser, Neighbourhood Exchange between Auditorium and A Better Tent City Neighbourhoods, and Living Room project in four neighbourhoods in 2021!