ACE Communities is aimed at enhancing the quality of life in rural communities by strengthening local community leadership, collaboration and innovation through recreation, parks, arts, and culture.   ACE Communities supports a range of projects, research and activities that effectively engage citizens at the community level.

The Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA) developed this initiative from an earlier project called Alberta Active Communities, which started in Spring 2006. ARPA is a charitable not-for-profit provincial organization made up of members committed to building healthy citizens, communities and environments in Alberta through recreation and parks.

Funding for the ACE Communities initiative comes from Rural Alberta’s Development Fund and corporate sponsors, including EnCana, Cenovus Energy and Canwest Media.

Building Leadership

Early on, the ACE Communities project identified community leadership as a key focus area for building active, creative, engaged communities.

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Brenda Herchmer, ACE Project Director, explains that each ACE Community works hard to encourage all kinds of people to get involved as leaders and volunteers, including community workers, various agencies and people from throughout the community.

Herchmer suggests that the initiative is a practical way for communities to evolve and make positive changes. “We’re talking about a more shared or distributed form of leadership that uses a community development approach, and we think that is a useful concept at any level. It’s about working with others, developing partnerships and collaborations, and using technology to make that easier.”

A range of ACE-related tools and resources are available to communities, such as:

• community leader toolkits
• community building workshops, and
• a public website (http://www.acecommunities.ca/)

Accessing Experts

Ian Hill is an internationally known advocate for quality of life in communities. Many of the ACE Communities have been visited by Hill in order to “ignite” local leaders and community members.

Cathy O’Donoghue, a community leader from Irricana, was impressed with Hill’s method of using “action cards” to help community members determine what they need to do in their local area. She says, “Bringing people like Ian to small communities creates the opportunity to see things a different way and to connect people with many different points of view.”

Local People Play Lead Role

In short, the ACE Communities project is aimed at involving regular people who simply want to make their communities a better place to live, work and play.

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The following testimonials help to demonstrate how the project works in action.

• “We have come a long way. People are beginning to understand that ACE is a community development process. We have started slowly to engage people in discussion and planning at a grassroots level, so when the project is ready for action it is truly community driven and successful.  Hinton is emerging as a community that is innovative and progressive and the energy of our community leaders will take us from a good community to a great one.” – Kate Wright, Hinton
• “As I return from our community’s Family Day Celebrations, I am reflecting on community and how we come together to celebrate, play and have fun.  Today, toddlers, grandparents and community members of all ages were playing Fox and Geese, Snow Golf, enjoying hot dogs roasted over an open fire, horse-drawn sleigh rides and all the while, the small children were playing on our newly constructed playground.  I am appreciative of being part of an ACE Community.” – Carol Ohler, Sangudo

According to Herchmer, the ACE Communities project acts as a catalyst for bringing many community elements together, including business, elected officials, social services, justice, healthcare, education, recreation and parks.

She also notes that the ACE initiative is the type of program that can be “scaled up” for use at a provincial level or “scaled down” for use by specific groups or neighbourhoods within a community.

Staff members at Rural Alberta’s Development Fund suggest that, over time, ACE communities can share their “hands-on” knowledge and experiences with other rural communities, helping to multiply the positive effects of the initiative.

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Learn More:

About ARPA (Alberta Recreation and Parks Association)

About ACE Communities
Provides complete ACE information, a map of involved communities and project news.

Alberta Centre for Active Living – WellSpring article on Healthy Active Communities
A healthy active community involves more than being physically active. It’s about the relationships that bring individuals together to create positive change in their neighbourhood.