Category: Blogs

Producerism over Consumerism, Work as Gift, Concluding Thoughts and Your Invitation

Let’s co-create a Working Place in Peterborough — part 3

Work is a charged term. We applaud people for their work ethic, judge our economy by its productivity and even honour work with a national holiday. For many of those who enjoy the ‘privilege’ of having work, there is an ambivalence around it. Work can be drudgery and soul-sucking. The Book of Genesis says work is punishment for Adam’s sin, and many count the days to the following weekend and their next vacation, and see a contented retirement as the only reason for working. Many, perhaps most, see work as a means to something else: making a living, supporting a family, and purchasing the goods that we are indoctrinated to believe we need.
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More Building Blocks for a Community-based Working Place

Let’s co-create a Working Place in Peterborough — part 2

In my first blog, I wrote about the Community Tools Projects at the Working Centre in Kitchener which allow people to become involved in building community. These ‘Community Enterprise Projects’ help support the activities of the Centre, combining social enterprise and community service. They seek to make daily living more affordable and have the added benefit of a co-operative and neighbourhood-like structure so that individuals do not have to work in isolation. They invite people away from isolation to become involved in serving others, to use tools productively and to become part of a group that serves a public need.
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Working Centre an Enduring Social Structure that Builds Community

Let’s co-create a Working Place in Peterborough — part 1

A social venture that has endured and grown exponentially, the Working Centre, was established in the spring of 1982 as a response to unemployment and poverty in downtown Kitchener. The Centre models a way of building community by focusing on providing work and learning opportunities through inviting people’s gifts and talents. Plans are underway to provide our community with the opportunity to learn about this model and to explore the possibility of creating our own Working Place in Peterborough.
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Harper Park: A Splendid Year in Review

This year has been a big one for Harper Park! There are so many wonderful events, people, and stories to share. We started the year with an incredible session hosted by the Peterborough Dialogues where the community collectively created a vision for the future of the park. So many excellent ideas and stories were shared between those who care for the park. It was clear from that point we had quite the special group of people to work with into the future.
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