Social Innovators write about The PLOT
The PLOT is getting noticed by Community Visionaries and PLOT seeds are being planted all around the World
Vickie Cammack features the PLOT
… violent crime is up 36% this year. Gun shootings and gang violence are on the increase. The media as you can imagine is having a field day. Fear, especially in Newton is growing. But there is another side to Surrey that the media often miss. The force of caring is on the rise… In an abandoned field turned it into a community garden. They call this garden: The PLOT. The PLOT is a field right behind the arena where Julie Paskall was killed. And in this field trust, abundance, beauty and life are bursting forth…. please read more
– Vickie Cammack – is a Social Entrepreneur and Care Innovator. She is a member of the Order of Canada and the recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal of Canada, the British Columbia Community Achievement Award and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work in the field. The Women’s Executive Network named Vickie as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.
Al Etmanski Blogs about the PLOT
The PLOT exists in the heart of a community with its fair share of challenges. So it’s natural that the effects of poverty, homelessness, addiction, abuse and loneliness would show up in the PLOT.
Here’s the thing. This beautiful container shines a light on human ingenuity and suffering in a way that invites a human response. A flexible response. A caring response… please read more
– Al Etmanski – is a community organizer, social entrepreneur and author. He is a founding partner of Social Innovation Generation (SiG) and BC Partners for Social Impact. He was recently awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia.
Mike Lewis and The Newton Commoners Plot for Renewing Community
…Originally a creative art installation that aimed to engage citizens in its creation as well as culinary benefits of a collective food growing experiment, the Plot has been an amazing unfolding of community building and the creating of a new commons. By providing the access to the property, the local government enabled the blossoming of a connective conviviality and new relationships, not to mention the nutritious fresh vegetables I and others were able to regularly harvest….. please read more
Author Mike Lewis is the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Community Renewal in Vancouver. His book ‘The Resilience Imperative’ was co-authored with Pat Conaty, a fellow at the United Kingdom’s New Economic Foundation. The two blended their lifetime of experiences examining local economies, and brought together a patchwork quilt of local innovations — from fossil-fuel free Kristianstad, Sweden, to local food movements in Latin America — to highlight plausible ways to make our society more sustainable.
Mike’s personal motto: ‘Make hope more concrete and despair less convincing.’
Theresa Forte: The PLOT — more than just a garden
…Newton, one of six centres that make up the city of Surrey, has been plagued with gangs, drugs, poverty and homelessness for some time. The city encouraged artists to beautify the town centre as a way to soften the harsh environment. Visual artists Cora and Don Li-Leger proposed a garden as social practice art project, they received a small grant and were offered a piece of vacant land, next to the arena where a hockey mom was killed while picking up her son. (Social practice is where human interaction actually becomes the art itself.)
To get started, they invited 12 people to come together: How could they make this empty field into something? The PLOT (short for Peas-Lettuce-Onions-Tomatoes) was born…… please read more
– Theresa Forte – is a Niagara Falls-based gardening consultant whose columns appear regularly in the St. Catharines Standard, Welland Tribune and Niagara Falls Review.