Last May, Jasper was named a Diversity Friendly Community. With that distinction comes $10,000 in funding and a number of resources for a community development project.

The Jasper Community Team applied for the status and funding through the provincial government’s Active, Creative, Engaged (ACE) Communities initiative and was among four communities to be recognized last year.

To help the team decide how to spend the money to promote diversity in Jasper, there was a community brainstorming session Feb. 2.

The consensus among the 20 participants was that Jasper is a great place to live, but there is still room for improvement.

Kathleen Waxer, director of community and family services, suggested more work needs to be done to ensure that Jasper is an inclusive community.

“I think that we still see certain cultures living separately and my dream would be to at least have everyone feeling welcome,” she said, suggesting that more cultural events would help everyone feel included.

Waxer pointed to the Community Team’s inaugural diversity event, the International Food Fair held in November, as an example of a positive step forward. She suggested that in the future, maybe Jasper could have an event per month celebrating one of Jasper’s cultural groups.

“So everyone can really learn more about that individual culture.”

There was also a suggestion that there needs to be more events that include people with physical disabilities.

“For people with physical disabilities, there’s not a lot of opportunity in Jasper,” said Cathy Jenkins. “It’s not only hard to get around in the winter time, there’s not a lot of organized activities that can be participated in.”

And when those activities are organized, whether for select groups or the whole community, there needs to be better communication, so that newcomers and long-time Jasperites are aware what’s going on in town.

Participants in the brainstorming session realized this was important when half of the people in the room didn’t know about one thing or another that was offered in Jasper.

“I’m hearing in this room that even we, the 20 that are interested and were invited to come to this, still don’t know what we have,” said Christopher Read. “So how do people find out?”

Communication wasn’t only an issue for events, but also for services and resources in town. For example, the availability of space. It became clear that people didn’t know what space Jasper has, what those spaces are used for, or how to find out if they’re available.

By the end of the meeting, there were four main suggestions: co-ordinate existing space, improve communication, create activities for people with physical disabilities and create more events to bring the whole community together.

Active, Creative, Engaged Communities are described by the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association as those “that contribute to the creation of places, spaces, connections, and a culture that enables wide participation.”

Letisha McFall, Jasper’s ACE community coach, said the next step in the process is for the community team to flesh out each of the areas of focus identified in last week’s meeting. That means determining exactly they want to do and how much money it will cost to do those things. The team will then prepare a two-page proposal that will be sent to ACE. 

“ACE simply wants to ensure there has been ample community and resident involvement in the proposal,” said McFall, noting once that is proven, the funds will be given to the community.

“The community can use the $10,000 as seed money if they wish, or they can use it to complete the agreed upon project,” she said. 

“Some communities have been able to raise as much as $200,000 to $300,000 by leveraging their $10,000,” she added.

To get involved in the initiative or to share your ideas, contact Bob Covey from the Jasper Community Team by emailing jaspercommunityteam@gmail.com.