ReDesign Rupert launched with much more engagement to come

They were looking to the future on Thursday at the Third Avenue offices of Community Futures of the Pacific Northwest, with the debut of a new initiative on the North Coast that will look at the future of Prince Rupert as an Open House to launch the Redesign Rupert program provided a glimpse of what may be ahead.

The three hour drop in session provided residents with some background on what the program is all about and how community engagement will make up a good portion of how the project moves forward over the months to come.

Redesign Rupert is a project that combines Community Futures, the City of Prince Rupert and the Community Development Institute from UNBC who will be embarking on an eighteen month project to create a vision for the community.

Prince Rupert based Team members Amanda Brown and Lindsey Stinson will be guiding the process with three key elements providing the blue print of what they hope to achieve, those main focus points include:

Identify opportunities and challenges that will emerge with the different stages of development and growth.

Develop strategies to proactively prepare for and take advantage of opportunities and address challenges.

Support the community as it moves the strategies into action.

Community Futures of the Pacific NorthWest
is the home base for Redesign Rupert

As the project moves forward, making use of the past work of some of the projects from UNBC will help provide for some starting points when it comes to discussion and exploration of themes for change on the North Coast.

Using a number of community stakeholders as part of their process, organizers note that community engagement will be the focus when it comes to project development and creating a sense of community ownership and commitment to action.

Towards that goal, as they move ahead with the Redesign Rupert concept they will be organizing Community Priority Action Groups, looking for participation from the community to develop the vision and follow the direction that residents wish to see.

While still in its early stages, you can learn a bit more about what the project is all about from the Redesign Rupert website that launched with yesterday's debut event.

More background on notes from Prince Rupert City Council can be found from our archive page.