Projet Impact Collectif (PIC) in the Parc-Extension district
NEIGHBORHOOD WORKING ENVIRONMENT
Parc-Extension’s Projet d’Impact Collectif (PIC) is the main lever behind the creation of the Table de concertation. For over ten years, the neighborhood had lacked a Table de quartier and was going through a difficult period in terms of community concertation. In 2017, the launch of the PIC, funded and supported by Centraide of Greater Montreal, brought new hope to the neighborhood.
The objectives are to :
- Ensure optimal operation of the Table (work team, Board meetings, capacity to act).
- Generate trust between players.
- Initiate group projects.
INVESTMENT RESULTS PIC
Setting up the Table de quartier :
- Founding meeting (June 2018): Adoption of the articles of association and election of a Board of Directors.
- Situation report on the neighborhood and identification of six collective issues.
- Regular PSQ committee meetings (two to three a month).
- Hiring of a PIC work team (liaison, mobilization and communication officers).
Strategic planning process :
From 2018 to 2019: Establishment of the strategic planning committee (PSQ), made up of representatives of community organizations, citizens, institutions, funders and resource people.
- QSP Mandate: To develop collective processes and facilitation methods for an integrated neighborhood plan.
From 2019 to February 2020:
- Identify concrete actions and prioritize major projects.
- Form a working group for the first neighborhood project.
- Clarify roles and responsibilities (Table team, PSQ committee, working group).
- Develop game plans for the QSP and the working group.
- Mobilize players from all networks, including the general public.
- Contract interpreting and security services to facilitate stakeholder involvement.
Planning process (June 2018 to September 2020)
| Period | Contents |
|---|---|
| June 2018 | – Situation report – List of six issues – Creation of the Neighborhood Table |
| See you in April 2019 | – Vision of the future – Outline of the plan – 5 changes – 5 values – 42 actions |
| October 2019 | – Action strategy – Prioritization by major cross-functional project – First major joint central project |
| December 2019 | – Implementation of the action plan – Working group meeting – Game plan, rules for working together |
| February – March 2020 | – Identify other major cross-functional projects – Analyze the 42 actions |
| April – May 2020 | – Feedback from neighborhood stakeholders to prioritize projects – Mobilization and communication strategy |
| June – July 2020 | – A draft of a neighborhood plan – Neighborhood plan ownership exercise |
| September – October 2020 | – Setting up new working groups – Management by major project/change |
RESULTS OF MAJOR EVENTS
The start of the strategic planning process, which began in 2018, materialized with the identification of priority issues for the neighborhood.
Issues identified
An initial portrait of the neighborhood was presented to the community in 2018 and identified and retained the following six issues:
- Schooling for young people : Dropout problems; Primary-secondary continuum; Graduation
- Vulnerable populations : Social disadvantage of – Young people, seniors, newcomers, etc.
- Employment and poverty Low income; Recognition of prior learning; Inequity; Discrimination; Professional integration-training; Internship; Entrepreneurship; Social economy
- Housing conditions Affordable housing; Social housing; Gentrification; Size of dwellings; Sanitation
- Neighborhood compartmentalization: Enclavement (railroad, surrounded by wealthy neighborhoods…); Population rarely leaves the neighborhood; Northern part of the neighborhood less well served; Different division (municipal – provincial)
- Communication
Grand Rendez-vous on April 12 and 13, 2019
This unifying event will bring together the various players in the neighborhood, including residents, to equip themselves with :
- A shared vision for the neighborhood’s next ten years
- Five changes are desired in the five years following the start of the neighborhood plan.
- Five values to adopt in the realization of a neighborhood plan.
- 120 actions in line with the five desired changes.
The neighborhood’s vision for the future: Parc-Extension is about living together, growing and developing thanks to the richness of our diversity, for a neighborhood that is accessible, fair, inclusive, proud and supportive.
The five values :
(Collaboratives to be defined, incessantly)
- Trust
- Transparency
- Solidarity
- Opening
- Respect
The five changes :
- More quality, affordable and accessible housing for all vulnerable tenants.
- Diversity of integrated food security actions for vulnerable populations.
- Diverse types of developmental support for children and youth aged 0-25
- More citizens on the path to socio-professional integration for the 18+ age group.
- Citizens who know about and use the services they need, especially vulnerable, isolated people with little access to networks.
120 actions from the five desired changes
Between the two major meetings, PSQ committee members had 11 meetings during which, together, they succeeded in :
- Analyze the synergy of the 120 actions emerging from the five desired changes.
- Refine, prioritize and retain a total of 42 actions.
- Identify targets by change, pending further refinement.
- Prepare and organize the second major event in October 2019.
Grand rendez-vous on October 9, 2019
At this latest gathering of the neighborhood’s various players, the 42 actions prioritized by the PSQ committee during the summer of 2019 were cross-referenced and analyzed collectively.
This collective exercise led participants to come up with six proposals, all converging on the implementation or creation of a first major cross-cutting project for the neighborhood. That of a new community center housing various activities and services for citizens.
Selected action strategies
After October 9, PSQ committee members confirmed the decision to adopt a more cross-functional action strategy for each major project. To clarify this strategy, PSQ committee members held nine further meetings, during which they put in place :
- Operating structures for each working group managing a major project.
- A game plan for PSQ committee members to continue rolling out the neighborhood plan.
- A proposed game plan for the new community center task force.
- The roles and responsibilities of the PSQ committee and the working group.
- A clear timeline for the realization of the neighborhood plan.
A HUMAN RESOURCE FINANCED BY THE PEAK :
In the first year of its existence, the Table de quartier recruited its first team as PIC resources. This team fulfilled its mandate by acting in parallel on two levels:
1- Organize and pursue work within the PSQ committee to finalize the neighborhood plan and its implementation, including the implementation of other major projects.
2- Coordinate and support the working group(s) on the major new community center project.
This PIC human resource consisted of a liaison officer, a mobilization officer and a communications officer.
Continuity of PIC projects.
In the last few years, between 2020 and 2023, the ICP has led to the development of various Table de Quartier projects. We’d like to focus on three initiatives in particular:
- The Bureau d’Information de Parc-Extension (BIPE), which also represents the first project marking the beginning of the realization of the neighborhood plan, according to the conditions of collective impact.
- Setting up a neighborhood assembly to work on mobilizing neighborhood stakeholders around community issues and needs.
- Development of the new Parc-Extension community center.
In April 2023, the Table de quartier submitted to Centraide the final activity report concluding phase 1 of the collective impact project in Parc-Extension.
A new application for CIP phase 2 will be submitted no later than October 2023, to support the changes the new community center will bring to the lives of neighborhood residents.
Project monitoring and evaluation
Collective Impact Project (PIC)
The Projet d’impact collectif PIC du quartier de Parc-Extension (PIC collective impact project for the Parc-Extension neighbourhood) is the main lever behind the creation of the neighbourhood’s Table de concertation. For several years now, Parc-Extension has been without a Neighborhood Table, and this has been a difficult period for community consultation. Today, the Parc-Extension neighborhood is welcoming the arrival of Projet Impact Collectif (PIC), financed and supported by Centraide of Greater Montreal.
The ICP is also part of the neighborhood’s ongoing strategic planning process, which can only take shape once this collective process has been completed and the neighborhood’s action plan has been put in place.
