Hello, Calgary!

The question we’re all asking is: How do we build the kind of Calgary we want for ourselves and our children?

We intend to answer it at CivicCamp.

CivicCamp is a daylong intensive session dedicated to creating a more powerful and enduring voice for the citizens of Calgary and its municipal neighbors in the decision-making processes shaping our city and our region. It is a sort of training camp for turning great ideas into real action. We urge you to join us.

When: Saturday, 18 April 2009, 9am to 3pm
Where: Knox United Church, 506 4th St. SW, Calgary
How: Registration is mandatory but free of charge. Go to our EventBrite page to register and follow the simple instructions. Once you’re registered, you’ll receive further background and updates as necessary. Unfortunately, the event is now full and we’re working to try and get people in from the wait list. Questions about CivicCamp and queries about volunteering for a more active role in the event can be sent to civiccamp@gmail.com.

First – why CivicCamp?
This is a pivotal time for the City of Calgary and southern Alberta, a time of new long-term plans and land-use bylaws, ring roads and LRT lines and bold new urban redevelopment projects. Climate change, energy scarcity and sustainable living dominate the headlines and occupy agendas at community association meetings, conferences and citizens’ forums.

Until now, though, there has been no permanent platform for the citizens of Calgary to express their united vision of a sustainable, livable city in an effective way that inspires real, lasting action. CivicCamp intends to build that platform.

CivicCamp will fill a significant void in the region’s landscape by creating sufficient political capital and influence so that decision-makers at every level of government place sustainability goals ahead of short-term gain. Modeled on the 1000 Friends of Oregon, which transformed Portland into a city that routinely ranks among North America’s most livable cities, CivicCamp is the launching pad for a new era in politics
in Calgary and beyond.

CivicCamp is citizen-led, citizen-driven, nonpartisan and inclusive. It is a forum for ideas but not doctrine, the building of community over the elevation of special interests. We urge you to become a part of it and make it your own.

And finally – what about how?
CivicCamp will be an open forum structured primarily by its participants, an “unconference” designed to build its agenda and achieve its goals from the grassroots up. A team of experienced facilitators, led by Dave Robertson of ThoughtWorks, will keep the proceedings on track without dictating their content. The morning session will begin with brief welcoming addresses by the organizers, which will include a short presentation by Chris Turner (author of the national bestseller The Geography of Hope) and an overview of Portland’s successes and Calgary’s challenges by Byron Miller (director of the urban studies program at the University of Calgary).

The rest of the morning will be given over to breakout sessions on specific themes and topics, with the intention of formulating the core principles and priorities of a new civic action group. Bag lunches have been generously donated by Brown Bagging it for Calgary Kids. Afternoon sessions will expand upon the work accomplished in the morning. A final assembly at the day’s end will feature the official launch of a permanent citizens’ group structured by the CivicCamp attendees themselves.