Blog #4 - Priorities

Talking with Flames community members about priorities was short and sweet. I spoke to many people this past weekend, having some good conversations with some, others had nothing to say (or didn't know what to say!).
The Flames organzation was willing to commit to the following things:
(According to VP of Sales, VP of Marketing, VP of Ticketing, account represetatives, and security staff)

• Improve sales to a broader target market (Get the Flames brand to smaller town Alberta)
• Build a new arena (To update the brand)
• Be more involved with the community (Public Relations, school readings, etc...)
• Sell out the building every game (To have higher sales revenue)
• Promote "C' of Red (Heritage Classic game Feb.20)

(Of course if anybody has some that YOU think the Flames should focus on, comment on them!)

These committments that came from such high members of the Flames community show the dedication to the success of the team and franchise within Calgary. They want to keep the Flames here in this city by building them a new arena, to update the Calgary brand name (since the Saddledome has been here since 1989!!).

I feel that many values drive this community, including excellent customer service from everybody within the dome! A friendly and sensational experience in the stands. And the ability to take your child to a game, and have fun without anything happening. Also, i believe that the Flames could add corporate support into some of their values as well. The corporate scene is very important to any professional sports team, and without it they wouldn't be successful (look at the teams that have folded before!). If the Flames used corporate sponsors and a tool to drive their community, it would put them into the upper rankings like the Maple Leafs. (If you didn't know, the Leafs are 65% corporate seating/boxes/suites).

Overall if you look at the Flames community, many people are driven to the success of the franchise, and will do anything to help further each other, the players and the fans. Every game night, fans still wear the "C" of Red on their shoulders proudly and enjoy their experience!

The organization will take action on some of the committments mentioned above. But others have been put on the backburner for now (new arena). I believe the Flames are an outstanding community builder, and can bring a whole city together with success!

Blog #3 - Community Group

My Community: Calgary Flames Partnership

For this blog, it was very difficult to choose a community that I was involved in because there are so many. Like baseball, hockey, Hawkwood (where I live), people my age, any of my 3 jobs. Therefore I decided to choose a work community, the Calgary Flames.
I have worked for the Flames for two years now in their customer service/ticketing department. I have seen numerous changes to office staff and internal people. You may not consider the Flames to be a dependant community, but in my eyes they are.
Community within the Flames organization is considered to be very close within its internal staff. Many of the the members i talked to this evening are in close quarters with their collegues and interact with them all day. They also are dependant on each other to get tasks done, kind of like each staff member is their own leader. This type of community is different from a community of random people in a neighbourhood setting, because it shows that people, even when work gets in the way, can still be a place of fun and interacting with others.
Many of the Flames successes are dependant on the performance on the ice, however the staff have their own successes as well. I talked with Shane in Marketing and he was telling me how, when he puts together a promotional plan and proposes it to the Flames Board of Members, it is very rewarding to see his plan come to action. What the Flames have done really well so far is the selling of the brand, "The "c" of Red". They have brought together a whole city and its people to back their hockey team by wearing red and being a "red" city as well. This is a form of community development in its own right. The Flames are engaging others to participate in this activity of wearing red to games and the people who don't feel left out and may think that their quality of life is affected (see level 5 of the community framework we learned in class).
Many plans of the Flames community are to bring in new customers, design a new building for the hockey team, and allow for people to enjoy themselves in a mature and fun nature. These plans are key in building a new base for community. By getting new people/fans to come aboard onto the "bandwagon" so to speak, they will build a city image. Many people come to Calgary to see the tower, or enjoy stampede, but they also have the Flames hockey team in mind. This is how the Flames are building their community by promoting a brand image that sticks with you, an experience.
Opportunities for the Flames organization is within corporate funding. By getting the corporate community to come along to have their own experience is important because without any corporate sponsorships, the team and organization would fail. These corporate opportunities are what make the community, like the Flames still be one of the best in Canada.

Blog #2 - Invictus

Invictus

     The movie Invictus is a very well done movie about the influence that Nelson Mandela had on the country of South Africa. Before his release from prison that day in February, South Africa was a country torn apart by fear, prejudice and crime. Mandela's first action as President was to address his staff and allow them to be themselves within the government. He ensured them that there would be no change and that everyone would get along with each other.
     In relation to community development, Mandela had to overcome the poverty and crime within the citizens of South Africa. He improved the nations pride by involving the sport of rugby. Rugby was sought at by everyone as being disgraceful and "enemies" of past events (they even tried to have the name of the team and emblem changed). Mandela made it known to the country (even when people didn't believe it would work), that this country needed the Springbok emblem and name more than ever now.
    By using rugby as a focal point to his success (As well as the Rugby World Cup being held in South Africa), Mandela was able to create a new sense of community with everyone. Mandela was a person who "enaged others to particpate" if we relate him to the Community Development Framework. He forced people to get along with each other, no matter the color of their skin or the previous fear they had, but not by physical force but by using his words and power. Mandela had a team of people that helped him through this process, giving him information and strengths of his country and other nations. He knew that no matter what rugby was going to be the way his nation was going to turn itself around. It was shown at the end of the movie in the final game of the World Cup, how the whole nation shut down to watch the game. People gathered around that normally in the past wouldn't have gotten together to watch a game (ie. the police outside the stadium and the poverty stricken little boy). A nation came together that day and celebrated their victory with parades and parties on the street.
    What I find the best quote of the whole movie is at the end, when Mandela is driving in his car after the victory of the Springboks and his driver tells him he will be late to a meeting, he responds with, "There's time, lots of time". This just was influencial to me because of the work Mandela put into his nation to become one, that it was time to celebrate, just like a community would according to our framework we looked at in class.
    Therefore, in conclusion the movie Invictus showed that by influencing a whole nation, with words not force, can develop it into a thriving community full of greatness that may have not been possible earlier. The movie puts all the steps of the Community Development Framework into play.

Blog #1

My article is called "Barriers to Citizen Participation: the missing voices of people living with low income" by Frances Ravensbergen and Madine Vanderplaat.
Found on: http://cdj.oxfordjournals.org/content/45/4/389.full

Summary
This article is very educational in the fact that it deals with many different views of low income communities. The authors portray these communities as having no say within their decision-making process. The authors believe that in order to acquire a sense of community, the people within it must speak up and say what they want and what they need. Instead, many governments in North America are taking control of these low income communities and telling them what they need and want. They believe that people in these communities must interact better with government and non-government agencies in order to hear their voice.

Analysis
This article has meaning behind it because it is important for a community to speak its voice and be heard by people of higher power. Community development is more important towards these lower income communties because they desperately need a "confidence boost" so to speak. This mean that they are just following the rules set out by the government to keep them happy, but in reality no one knows if they are happy except the people within the community. Therefore, their voice needs to be spoken.
These communities would definately benefit from using the community development framework. By using the 10 topics, they could possess a very strong community. Assigning people to engage others, interact with outside people (ie. government), celebrating, speaking about their strengths and research would make these lower income areas better. It will give the people empowerment, and as the definition of community development is stated as, "People helping to help themselves" this would work to their advantage.
I feel that after reading this article, these low income areas must incorporate a community advisor, someone that the city or town could hire to help them become a better community. From the article it states that, "Participants talked about their physical marginalization within their communities. For example, not having access to cultural and recreational opportunities because they cannot afford them" this is sad and unfortunate because everybody should have access to a recreation center or even a facility where the community can come together and enjoy themselves (ie. rec center). Therefore by allowing the people to speak their minds it will allow for the community to grow and get stronger as one.
There will be no need for discouragement because they will have had their voice heard and hopefully with have better implications to help their lives in the long run.