The launch of Gabr’hoods

Greg Blee
Sustainable Gabriola

The Community Hall was buzzing on May 11, with over 70 people cultivating neighbourhood connections at the “Gabr’hoods” event. 

A giant map of Gabriola was laid out in masking tape on the floor, and participants stood at their house location to meet neighbours standing nearby.

Many got down on hands and knees, adding individual streets to the map, along with sticky notes showing where they lived and community assets like farm stands, little free libraries, and bus shelters.

Speakers from four neighbourhoods—Malaspina, Islands View, ‘Seafood’ (Oyster, Clamhell), and McConvey—related what inspired them to organize, what activities they shared, and how they stayed in touch. Jacquie Chan (Emergency Planning Coordinator for the Regional District of Nanaimo) and Shirley Nicholson (Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Program on Gabriola) outlined the considerable safety benefits of neighbourhood organizing.

By end of the day, we’d identified close to 20 Gabr’hoods in various states of organization, from aspiring to mature.

Key take-aways: It helps to have a neighbourhood “champion” to initiate the contact. In many cases, a common cause pulls people in, something like road conditions or safety issues. But the fun factor is equally important, with social events like block parties and broom pulls bringing people together.

Some Gabr’hoods have instituted and circulated contact lists, others have tools-and-skills inventories, check-in protocols, or Facebook groups.

Several folks created informative maps and displays. Thanks to Steve Usher for info on our many water wells, Deb Ferens for three maps on biodiversity and conservation, and Melinda Wilde for loaning her large, watercolour heritage map.

Carol Waldo with the Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department staffed a FireSmart table. Thanks to the Gabriola Island Chamber of Commerce for several Visitor Maps, Gabriola Land and Trails Trust (GaLTT) for trail maps, People for a Healthy Community (PHC) for Thriver Guides, and Nester’s for coffee, tea, and a big bag of cookies.

As the next step, we are creating (with the help of VIU Geography grad Renée Adams) a digital map of established Gabr’hoods, and establishing a contact list, along with a how-to guide for those looking to organize their own neighbourhoods.

The Gabr’hoods project is spearheaded by Climate-12 volunteers. For more information, see SustainableGabriola.ca