Project Communitas

Funded by Public Safety Canada, the Canadian Council of Muslim Women worked on a two-year project called Project Communitas. Individual and community resilience can take on many forms. This project analyzed the role of young people in building resilience by developing various inter-religious and inter-community initiatives. This project focused on cultural and faith-based groups and organizations.

Project Communitas strengthened individual and community resilience through the development of inner-cultural and inter-faith community-based resilience projects that fostered social interdependence, active citizenship, dialogue and youth leadership.

The project engaged 7 cities (Montreal, Ottawa, the Greater Toronto Area, London, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver) and 300+ diverse youth (18-30) from across Canada in training, knowledge building and community development.

Community advisors were selected across the country to help bring the focus to the particular needs of each city. This process culminated in a national gathering that took place in Toronto on November 7, 8 and 9, 2014. Advisors had the opportunity to build a national network, engage in meaningful discussions on resilience and community building, and develop strategies to build stronger communities in their own cities.

Each city hosted resilience training for young adults. Participants received training in the areas of inter-cultural engagement, community mobilization, resilience (community, individual, existing models and best practices) and challenges, to Canadian public safety.

This was followed by the planning, development and mobilization of a community resilience initiative in each of the 7 cities. Each project reflected the distinctive needs of each particular community. Following the initiative, the youth connected with various community leaders and share their project. A forum took place, which sought to invite professionals from each community to share their vision of a resilient community.

The project culminated in the creation of a final publication which, among other things, provides readers with information on individual and community resilience, overviews of the 7 projects and challenges and strategies for developing a resilience project and engaging in community mobilization.