Our Program and Project's Common Purpose
Discover our neighbourhood - it is not just the collection of the houses, streets and parks...
It is a vibrant community of the diverse neighbours who respect and care!
Your participation is welcomed!
MSNI seeks your engagement as the opportunity for diverse residents to come together and by sharing their knowledge; skills and experiences create the safe and thriving neighbourhood community.It is MSNI program's strategic goal to continually develop the communities of a shared interest between our residents and friends, the local businesses, the community groups and the Municipal government in a spirit of the mutual respect and collaboration.
At doing so, MSNI is dedicated to bridge the divide along the racial, ethnic, religious, gender, economics and professional lines advocating for the enhanced common interest in the neighbourhood's space and place.
Each MSNI project is evaluated based on the indicators that advance the MSNI mission and values of inclusiveness, diversity and innovation and are organized around 3 main areas:
Creative community - Our heritage - Our environment
CREATIVE COMMUNITY
The neighbours are working together for the betterment of the community by facilitating the creative and innovative work.
The MSNI's circle Art in the Hood facilitate the opportunities for community expressions where by neighbourhood's focusing on the process at producing the art, the community story is told as a creation of the ongoing projects:
Neighbourhood's Faces
A sculpture- totem mask art to be produced as a homage to our people from the community's past and present as a collaboration between artists in the community, the residents and the neighborhood's schools.
The Neighbours of Different Feathers
This project is proposed installation of the series of bird's houses at the Eastside Park and around the neighbourhood, including a bird watching workshop. The project goal is to raise an awareness of the urban birds, their needs, diversity and value for a sustainable eco system.
The project builds on the collaborative efforts of the artist, neighbours, and the neighbourhood's schools sharing the knowledge and birding promotion available through Parks Canada.
Growing From Many Roots
It is a sculptural art production that celebrates the community's multicultural roots where the names of the places of origin of our neighbours will be carved into a sculptural leaf forms. Afterwards they will become a part of the public installation of a "growing sculpture" by continuing production of a new resident's leafs.
The project promotes a reality of the community's cultural diversity and artistically encourages crossing the social barriers of the race, age, language by exposing a perception of "us and them" as nonexistent in a reality of a healthy communities that celebrate many roots sustaining healthy growth and development.
Mill Street Neighbourhood - Our Echo
The Mill Street neighbourhood is one of the oldest communities in Leamington that is experiences and reflects all the stressors of the community at large created by the tensions of development from a farming community to jet unclear identity of a diverse society exposed to somewhat undesired changes.
This artistic research and development project creates an opportunity for the participants to push through the fear of judgment in reaching the point of authentic self-expression, which may resonate through the community as a whole and inspire its introspective toward self-reliance and pride.
OUR HERITAGE
Those neighbourhood's projects celebrate and promote a protection of the community heritage.
The Wartime Housing - the Challenges & Opportunities
The neighbours are producing the digital story - a documentary film in collaboration with the Cardinal Carter Secondary School and the Leamington branch of Veterans, and are identifying the heritage significance, value and opportunities embedded in the neighbourhood's area of the wartime housing.
The development is being researched and evaluated based on the contemporary issues relevant for a community urban growth. Those issues are planned to be discussed at a future community panel that will include the inputs of the neighbours, experts and members of the communities of similar experience.
So, That's How We Were..?
An event to be organized at the East Side Park as a re-enactment of 1940 - 1950 eras during July 2014.
Through a collaborative community engagement the event will call to a neighbourhood's mind the community's past social challenges which had been proudly overcome.
By festive atmosphere and enjoyment of the fashion, music and food of the time the event goal is to heighten the neighbourhood's pride and boost its dedication at solving the challenges of our present time.
The Mill Street Neighbourhood - Our Story
This project is evolving as a tasselled photo essay book resulting from many community members' contributions at telling the story of our neighbourhood thorough time.
Your memories and opinions –your story is important!
We would like to hear how your life is a part at weaving an interesting fabric of our Mill Street neighborhood community story. What living in the neighborhood means to you? What inspires you? How the neighborhood left a mark on your life? Come...join us... Let’s our community story inspires our youth!
OUR ENVIRONMENT
These projects involve beautification of the neighbourhood's surroundings and appreciation for a community natural environment.
A group of neighbourhood's gardeners is informally active from 2011 and after several community surveys of interest and membership drives it established itself as project group of Mill Street Neighbourhood Initiative.
The gardeners are consistently active at promoting importance of the physical and psychological benefits of the gardens and gardening, a sustainable food production, a beatification of the community environment and a protection of the natural habitat.
The group animated the neighbourhood and is credited for:
The First Community Garden
MSNI is a member of the Windsor/ Essex County Community Garden Collective - a network of gardeners.
The garden is a successful MSNI project which encourages:
- the innovation and creativity through garden design and management
- an opportunity to produce a fresh food for yourself and others in need
- the neighbourliness, multicultural and inter-generational engagement
- enhances the safety and security in the area by increased people's presents and exchange of the experiences in the garden
The neighbours, students from CCSS, St. Louise Catholic Primary School and Mill Street Primary Public School supported by the neighbourhood friends and partners will once again do a ground work necessary for a successful garden growing season.
The Teaching and Sanctuary Garden at Eastside Park
It is an ongoing project proposal to Municipality of Leamington - for which the group's members developed the landscape design and funding plan in collaboration with the Rotary Club Leamington (1949 founder and long-time caretaker of the Eastside |park), Caldwell First Nation, and Cardinal Carter Secondary School. The group advocates for the Eastside Park's playground and landscape improvements expressed as desired during the neighbourhood's consultations at the park.
An Info Board Structure at the East-side Park
The project aim is to encourage the communication of the events that empower and enrich our neighbourhood. and promote the neighbourhood's past, present and future developments
The project also created the opportunity for the neighbourhood's gardeners youth " Sprouts" to own the East-side Park improvements and to share the responsibilities for the park's space by being able to design and care for a small flowering bad surrounding the board structure.
Sharing an Abundance
The Urban Canopy
The project's goal is a natural environment protection where project's design promotes a stewardship for the canopy of trees at the neighbourhood's streetscape through active community engagement.
2012 Celebrate Culture
The neighbourhood's gardeners designed and decorated the venue at the Caldwell First Nation as group's participation at this community event.