Building a Winning Community:

On April 5, 2001, over 200 community leaders met to discuss priorities for building a winning community in the new City of Hamilton. The report documents what was learned at the "Building a Winning Community" conference on April 5. The report contains key findings, based on input provided by conference delegates and speakers from the public, private and voluntary sectors. The report is intended to serve as a resource for the ongoing process of building a winning community in the newly amalgamated city of Hamilton.

When asked what is needed to build a winning community in the new City of Hamilton, delegates identified their most important priorities in three broad areas:

• Leadership
• Multisectoral Collaboration
• Civic Engagement

When asked to consider possible strategies for building a winning community, delegates identified issues and potential opportunities with respect to the following themes:

• Resolving shared problems
• Engaging local government
• Supporting the voluntary sector
• Creating stronger links with business
• Promoting diversity
• Celebrating community

The report contains recommendations for broadly based initiatives to further develop the priorities and strategies listed above. These initiatives would assemble two leadership teams for the purposes of developing multisectoral collaboration and civic engagement in the new City of Hamilton. The leadership teams would be composed of diverse representation from the private, public and voluntary sectors.

The report is a call to action. It is intended primarily for leaders, from the private, public and voluntary sectors, who are working toward the prosperity of Hamilton's communities.

It casts light on what could be useful, next steps in building a winning community in the new City of Hamilton. As such, the report is a starting point for further inquiry about what makes a winning community, as well as how to arrive there. It is intended to encourage dialogue and collaboration, across sectors, about possible, new ways of working together. Building a community through mutisectoral initiatives is a difficult but rewarding process, requiring vision, time and patience. The conference demonstrated that there is a strong will, from all sectors, to explore new approaches and opportunities for building winning communities in the new City of Hamilton.

At the end of "Building a Winning Community", many delegates left with the question - "What's next?" It is a question that resonates in the report's conclusions. Indeed, the question is critical to making the conference the catalyst that it was intended to be. The question points to the importance of expanding the conference initiative with concrete actions in the community. Without such action, the conference initiative could end, with the report, rather than being a starting point for the work required to expand multisectoral collaboration and civic engagement, as the report recommends.

The planning committee set out to plan and hold a conference that would help to illuminate what is needed to build a winning community in the new City of Hamilton. In this regard, the conference was successful, identifying important priorities, based on input provided by over 200 community leaders. The conference was not intended to provide an exhaustive account of the community's priorities, but rather a map with some useful signposts. It was also not intended to create a detailed plan for further community action. That work is yet to be done. Reporting the conference outcomes represents the completion of the planning committee's original goal for to this initiative. The conference, therefore, could be considered the first phase of a larger and longer project to build a winning community in the new City of Hamilton. The question - "What next?" is one that community leaders, from all sectors, must now work together to answer.

Are you interested in becoming involved in developing community actions as next steps for Building a Winning Community? If so, please indicate your interest below.

Yes, please contact me. ______

Name: __________________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________

Organization: ____________________________________________________

Phone #: _________________ Email: _______________________________

Please return this sheet by Friday, August 31 to the SPRC at fax: 905-522-9124 or mail: 255 West Avenue North, Hamilton, ON L8L 5C8