An organization that supports people-serving non-profits in northeast Edmonton has launched a podcast series on community belonging as it considers what to do next with its sizable land.
Across three episodes of The Bosco Neighbourhood Podcast, hosts Soni Dasmohapatra and Darine Moukhaiber help tell the stories of the people who bring communities together at the John Bosco Child and Family Services Foundation.
"We chose voices that are not usually at the centre of conversations about city planning or neighbourhood revitalization," Bosco Foundation CEO Shelley Sabo told Taproot. "We have a lot of groups (at Bosco) that already work collectively, and I think there's a lot that our neighbours can learn. Our common theme is that we are an abundant community; we have many assets to build on."
The organization offers support services such as volunteer recruitment, bursaries, and fundraising assistance. But it primarily provides affordable space to groups that serve individuals and families at its 50,000-square-foot complex on 3.5 acres at 6770 129 Avenue NW, near the boundary of Balwin and Belvedere.
"If we want neighbourhood development to build social equity, we need to turn up the volume on their stories," Sabo said of the podcast's guests, who are supported at Bosco.
Building social equity involves 1.5 acres of unused land on the Bosco property, she said. It is zoned for a seniors' affordable housing project, and there are seven housing sites within a six-block radius. Sabo said she wants to make sure whatever Bosco builds falls into "the continuum of what already exists." So the foundation is exploring what serves the neighbourhood best. A $25,000 grant from the Edmonton Community Foundation is funding that work, which entails six to eight months of "learning our way forward," Sabo said.
Bosco is not alone in this quest. Activating the land that not-for-profits own is among the topics to be explored this week at the Housing Forward summit on affordable housing.
This communal garden is a subject of The Bosco Foundation Podcast, a three-part series about community belonging, Indigenous leadership, and community revitalization in northeast Edmonton. (Supplied)
Each episode of The Bosco Neighbourhood Podcast features a conversation on a different theme emerging from the "rich web of cooperation" within the community.
Episode 1 takes a look at the Indigenous-led early childhood programs from the Amiskwaciy Cultural Society and Aboriginal Head Start, which give children a grounding in their culture and identity, while preparing them for school.
"When you're sitting and playing with the kids and something really clever or something really amazing comes out of the play, we'll say, 'You're smart; Indigenous people are smart,'" cultural coordinator Felice Gladue said on Episode 1. "We're scripting their thoughts so that when they are older — and I'm not talking about 30 or 40, I'm talking about Grade 1 — and they're going into their classrooms, they are already Indigenous leaders, and they're just going to build on that, and build on that, and build on that."
Elsewhere in Episode 1, Sabo detailed further ways that Bosco draws people together. For example, there are benches built by the Southeast YEG Men's Shed; there's a sewing circle in the garage; Sahaba Mosque offers K-8 programs there; and Sihle Sizwe fills Bosco with marimba music, which is also featured on the podcast.
"Everyone is welcome, and we want to engage our neighbours to share ideas on what else might be possible here," Sabo said during the show.
A key gathering space is the community garden. Episode 2 spotlights the Sinkunia Community Development Organization and its work serving Edmonton's African diaspora.
Sinkunia partnered with Bosco and others to create the garden after teaching youth remotely during the pandemic lockdowns. While gardening together on Zoom helped ease isolation, a real-life gathering space offers truly deep connections.
"It is a space that is not just about a garden — our kids meet there, they dance, they drum, they do everything," Sinkunia program manager Agnes Yaa Serwaa Somuah said in the episode. "We have a new immigrant that came here in May, and everything is new to her. But for her to see her own people, dance with them, joke with them, it helped her overcome the separation trauma that most of us (have experienced)."
The third episode features Cheryl Whiskeyjack of Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society on neighbourhood revitalization, alongside City of Edmonton planner Cory Sousa. Whiskeyjack said building relationships the way that Bosco does shapes the future of a place, while Sousa said he wants to hear from the Bosco communities as revitalization planning moves forward.
As Bosco explores the future of its space, Sabo said the organization will continue to follow principles from two cultures in its ecosystem.
"Two words guide us: wahkohtowin, the Cree teaching about facing each other as relatives, and Ubuntu, the South African teaching that a person is a person through other persons," she wrote in an email. "Both are about living well together."