Neighbourhoods Program

The Neighbourhoods Program focuses on strengthening neighbourhoods across Windsor-Essex County that are experiencing a poorer quality of life. The program recognizes that neighbourhoods play an important role in the quality of life and shaping the human experience. Neighbourhoods are the places where residents live, work, play and age. The Neighbourhoods Program invests in selected priority neighbourhoods across Windsor-Essex County known as Community Service Areas (CSAs). The program aims to improve the local conditions within CSAs by strengthening connections between and among residents, community organizations, businesses and municipal departments.

Program Goals

To build resilient neighbourhoods and to improve residents’ quality of life. 

Key Neighbourhood Objectives 

  • Activate resources 
  • Empower residents 
  • Generate social capital 

Connected Community Approach 

The Neighbourhoods Program embraces and supports the important work of change-makers across Windsor-Essex County, including residents, community organizations, community leaders, businesses and municipal departments. The program adopts the connected community approach (CCA). CCA focuses on strengthening the connections within a community as the groundwork for making transformative change. CCA puts residents at the forefront of change-making, where residents play an important role in improving their local community.

The connected community approach includes the following elements: 

  • Community-based facilitator/community backbone organization (CBO) 
  • Neighbourhoods spaces 
  • A framework of ten (10) principles for unlocking a community’s potential: 
    1. Let values lead 
    2. Facilitate collaborative processes 
    3. Create connected communities from inside out 
    4. Learn together 
    5. Embrace the messiness 
    6. Prioritize equity and power-sharing 
    7. Build on everyone’s strengths 
    8. Work at multiple scales 
    9. Make community building visual 
    10. Build creative infrastructure 

To learn further about the connected community approach, please visit the following resources: