Beverley Kirby
Community Education Network Director




Community Education Network

Bev is the director of the Community Education Network and administrator of the Sharing Our Future pilot project. From September to December, 2000, Bev also acted as interim community communications facilitator in the Stephenville area. Sharing Our Future was kicked off for youth during the CEN anniversary meeting in September. The next big event for Sharing Our Future in the Stephenville area happened during the Youth, the Environment and the Economy conference in the Stephenville Lions Club at the end of November. In December, Sharing our Future sponsored a Communities In Schools Christmas show from the College of the North Atlantic. Thanks to partners Stephenville Lions and College of the North Atlantic, Sharing Our Future now has access to two community television studios in the area. Stephenville community television reaches from Stephenville Crossing to Piccadilly on the Port au Port Peninsula.

Bev received her Master's from St. FX at the fall convocation, 2000. Her thesis, Developing Participatory Practice: Grassroots Leadership in Family Resource Programs, can be read online.

SHARING OUR FUTURE
Quarterly Report submitted by Bev Kirby, January 2001

My role in Sharing Our Future has been defined to a great extent by my position with the Community Education Network (CEN). CEN has identified Participatory Communications as one of its six strategic directions within its work plan. To quote from Fred, "the common ground between learning within a community education context and the methodology of participatory communications is respect for local knowledge and local ways of doing things. In both education and communications, learners and facilitators are peers in a long process of self development and social awareness. The process mobilizes individuals to analyze and plan for their own future and the future of their communities". This quote reaffirms the linkage between community education and participatory communications and why CEN is involved with Sharing Our Future.

Although I took responsibility for the Community Communication Facilitators position in Stephenville, for this first quarter my duties, in relation to this project, have been primarily organizational in nature. I played an administrative role with the pilot phase start-up and, along with Fred, have provided support and encouragement to the newly hired Community Communication Facilitators. Other activities include:

Liaison with partnering groups

- letter to partners re. approval of pilot phase
- meetings with partners and local committees including Burgeo Committee, Area Development Association Committee, Bay St. George South, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, and Marine and Mountain Development Corporation
- communication with others, particularly the Ramea Committee ( a site visit and meeting are planned for the new year)
- liaison with the College of the North Atlantic and the Stephenville Lions Club for access to and use of college studio and regional cable system
- liaison with the Community Access Program (CAP) and organization related to the CAP training in Gander

Start-up activities

- financial management of the project
- steering committee formation and meetings
- hiring of Community Communications Facilitators in conjunction with local committees (Port aux Basques, Port au Port, Bay St. George South, Ramea, Stephenville
- facilitated orientation for Communication Facilitators
- maintained communication with facilitators
- provided encouragement for facilitators as they began to define their roles in their communities
- facilitated cross and inter-project connections between Sharing Our Future and other CEN projects
- supported community TV programs in Lourdes and Stephenville