Chebucto Connections has recently been awarded funds from New Horizons for Seniors for their Wise Elders in Our Neighbourhood project.

Senior citizens hold a wealth of experience and skills. Wise Elders will encourage seniors and recent retirees, who may or may not have volunteered before, to become enaged in volunteering and other activities in their community.

The project will also encourage young people to volunteer to help seniors in their neighbourhood, and will help to connect senior volunteers with youths volunteering for the first time.

Part of the Wise Elders project will help community groups each develop their own strategies to recruit, support and retain senior volunteers. This will build on the work begun by CCDA this past summer, when Robin Steed interviewed close to 40 groups from Armdale to the Pennants.

Wise Elders will help to create stronger communities. The project will promote volunteering among seniors to contribute their experience, skills and wisdom to make their community better, by connecting senior volunteers to volunteering opportunities in their community.

It will also help reduce the risk of social isolation, by encouraging more connections of seniors with youth volunteers, and exploring ways and communication methods to connect seniors with activities in their community.

If you are interested in becoming involved in the project or as a volunteer in your community, please call Chebucto Connections at 477-0964, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Spryfield Area Family Support Task Force was established to address the lack of coordinated child and youth services in the core of Spryfield. We believe this gap has significant implications on the health, education and employment of the families in this community. Our plan is to develop collaborative, community-based care to serve Spryfield families, and to develop a family-centered, early childhood learning and care HUB in Spryfield.

Strong and healthy families are a predictor of better outcomes for children and youth, and their continued success well into adulthood. Early timing and coordination of a range of neighbourhood-based services is essential for achieving the greatest positive impact on children and creating strong and healthy families. Health promotion and disease prevention efforts for children and their families are particularly important for a healthy future for Spryfield.

In addition, a viable economy contributes to, and requires, strong and healthy families. Freeing up parents’ time through accessible, affordable day care to further their education, develop employment skills, or gain meaningful employment to increase family income, helps to achieve a skilled workforce, a viable and sustainable local economy, and greater family health and well-being.

A family-centred, childhood learning and care HUB would:
- deliver high quality child care and early learning services;
- coordinate and strengthen existing family services and parent resource programs;
- provide an expanded range of family learning and support programs and services;
- enable community involvement in planning and supporting coordinated, neighbourhood-based programs responsive to local priorities.

Through the findings of Action for Neighbourhood Change, and through the research of the Spryfield Family Support Task Force, we know that there is strong support among families as well as agencies for improved and expanded services. We propose the excellent Jasper model in Alberta, which has dedicated staff time to develop and maintain a strong, coordinated, community-driven approach to service delivery.

The Task Force meets the 4th Tuesday of each month at 1:30 pm at the Captain William Spry Community Centre.

Community Forum 2005

Our Community Is On the Go!

On a sunny spring morning in April, 2005, the Board of Directors of the Captain William Spry Community Centre sat down with residents from Spryfield, Armdale, Ketch Harbour, Purcell’s Cove, Duncan’s Cove, Williams Lake, Furguson’s Cove, Herring Cove, Cowie Hill, and Halifax; civil servants from Halifax Regional Municipality, the Province and the Federal Government; and members of local community groups and organizations, for a total of 55 people.

The Board initiated this community forum after HRM reduced its funding. This weakened support for community-building and community coordination activities that covered a broad range of topics and were accountable to local residents. The Board wanted to hear first hand from people if the community still needed these functions or not.

Jim Connolly, Chair of the Board, welcomed everyone, and Marjorie Willison gave a history of the Centre. The consultation was facilitated by Peter Greechan in a World Café style, with people sitting around small tables and discussing their ideas together. Refreshments were served by members of the Urban Farm Museum Society, and several groups set up displays around the room. Here is what people said, in response to three questions.

"For many people in Chebucto West mental health means being able to work well, cope with the normal stresses of life and contribute to their community." - Chebucto West Community Health Board

Capital Health District went through an intensive planning process early in 2005 to reform mental health services. In Halifax Regional Municipality, police and recreation staff say that they often see mental health issues in the course of their work. Mental Health services are a provincial mandate, not a municipal mandate. Chebucto Communities Development Association (CCDA) works to link different levels of government and different institutions to find ways of moving forward. "Anything is possible. Together, we will find a way."

In June, 2005, some agencies and individuals in Spryfield started meeting to talk about what the local priorities are. CCDA is providing staff time to support the group, which is called the Spryfield and District Mental Health Planning Committee. They are committed to making sure that the voices, strengths and priorities of diverse local residents are included in the development of community-based mental health services in this area. Municipal staff, such as police and recreation, need their voices heard, too. CCDA held a community forum in October of 2005 so that different people could talk about mental health for everybody.

In the summer of 2007, some of Capital District's mental health services moved to space in Bayers Mall, and discussions are underway to develop mental health services to serve Spryfield and neighbouring communities. 

Anyone interested in mental health is invited to get involved by calling 477-0964 or e-mailing This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it