Introducing myself

Posted by Malcolm R Shookner on Jan 30, 2006; 2:38pm
URL: http://civicaccess.416.s1.nabble.com/Introducing-myself-tp199.html

I've just joined the civic access list at the invitation of Tracey
Lauriault. Tracy and I met when I was working for the Ontario Social
Development Council and with the Social Planning Network of Ontario. At
that time (the late '90s), OSDC and SPNO were reporting on the quality
of life in communities, using the Quality of Life Index (QLI)
http://www.spno.ca/qli.html .

When I moved to Halifax in 2000, I discovered the Newfoundland and
Labrador Community Accounts, a unique system of making data about
communities publicly accessible through a website
www.communityaccounts.ca .
Alton Hollett and Doug May had developed this model and website as part
of Newfoundland and Labrador's Strategic Social Plan. I also met Dennis
Pilkey in Nova Scotia, who was interested in developing a Nova Scotia
version of Community Accounts. It took three years or  more to get the
site up and running. As of Jan 2005, it became publicly accessible at
www.ns.gov.ca/finance/communitycounts .

During that time (2002-2005), I began working with rural communities in
Nova Scotia to use social science research to influence policies that
affect the health and sustainability of rural communities -
www.ruralnovascotia.ca .We provided training and student interns to
help in this work. The results have been amazing!

Dennis, Alton, Doug and I are now working together to extend the
Community Accounts model to PEI and New Brunswick. Doug and I are also
involved in the Canadian Index of Well-being, a new project supported by
the Altkinson Foundation, with Roy Romanow being the lead spokesperson.
Ron Coleman, from GPI Atlantic, is coordinating this work.

I have just started a new job in January 2006 at Voluntary Planning,
Nova Scotia's Citizens' Policy Forum http://www.gov.ns.ca/vp/. As the
Community Development Project Director, I will be facilitating the
creation of a vision for the future of Nova Scotia's communities that
will provide a framework for future development. This is part of a new
Community Development Policy that was approved in December 2004 and is
now rolling out over the next 5 years. The thrust of this policy is to
recognize that communities should be leading their own development with
government playing a support role. For more on this policy, see
http://www.gov.ns.ca/econ/cdpolicy/default.asp.

My challenge over the next two years is to work with people and
community groups across Nova Scotia to develop their vision for a
sustainable future and to promote Community Accounts as an important
tool for communities to use in that development.

That's it for now.

Malcolm Shookner
January 30, 2006


Malcolm Shookner
Voluntary Planning - Nova Scotia's Citizens' Policy Forum
Suite 600, Joseph Howe Building
1690 Hollis Street, Halifax
Nova Scotia, Canada, B3J 3J9
Tel: [phone]
Cell: [phone]
Toll Free 1 866 858-5850
Fax: [phone]
[hidden email]
www.gov.ns.ca/vp