PART 1: STARTING

Pick a Thing

Once you have a sense of the types of activities that your community wants and needs to stay healthy at home, it is time to decide which ones you will be able to accomplish as a group. Some requests are going to be too expensive, such as building renovations for greater accessibility, and some are going to require a special skill set that your group might not possess.

Organize the ideas

You might try organizing the ideas into categories: things we can do now, things we can work towards in the future, things we need help with. As a group, decide on the top 2-3 activities that you’d like to pursue first. You may even hold a second community meeting to prioritize as a group what you’d like to start with.

Who can help

For activities that you need help with, brainstorm who you might approach for help. Is this a request that needs to be directed at the building management? Is there a community agency that you might be able to approach to support the request? For example, if there is a desire to get support for caregivers for people with dementia, could you approach the Alzheimer’s Society to come and give a talk to your group?

Start small

If you are stuck or feeling overwhelmed, consider starting with a low-effort activity that will cater to a broad range of interests such as a speaker series to bring in information about health and social services, a movie or games night, or a book exchange program.

The idea bank is a repository of easy to get going in your community.