Glen Cairn Community Makes a Difference (UTRCA Weekly, March 11, 2021)
London, ON – In 2015, the UTRCA approached community partners in London’s Glen Cairn neighbourhood to see if they were interested in collaborating on projects aimed at improving the local environment and transforming the neighbourhood. The initiative took root, focusing efforts on a local park with garbage pick-ups, tree planting, and much more! The Glen Cairn Community Partners have been able to engage the community as they transformed this park, situated on a former landfill, with new playgrounds, benches, and improved trails. While the pandemic has put this project on hold, the UTRCA looks forward to resuming this great partnership and continuing to improve the local environment while building the Glen Cairn community, when public health guidelines permit.
In the meantime, we spoke about the project with David Corke, Chair of the Glen Cairn Community Partners.
How did the partnership between UTRCA and Glen Cairn start?
“I recall that I had an initial meeting with Julie Welker and Teresa Hollingsworth from the UTRCA; they were interested in connecting and working with an urban community within the Thames watershed. I believe they had long had a desire to connect with a community with a purpose of engaging in awareness building and education about the river, associated water system and environments. Wonderfully, that offer of partnership provided support and brought some coordinating structure to our loosely developed group of community organizations.”
When did you get involved with the Glen Cairn Community Partners?
“To begin with, a small group of Executive Directors of four social service organizations located along Adelaide Street in the Glen Cairn neighbourhood had come together to consider how we might collectively do something positive for the community. We learned about the existence of a long forgotten park – Glen Cairn Park – and also the City of London’s park sponsorship program, which had a minimum commitment of two park clean ups a year. A shared interest in environmental issues grew (pun, sorry) into our Terms of Reference – developed again with considerable help from the UTRCA. Over the years, hundreds of trees planted, community BBQs, seasonal celebrations, and participation by residents, faith groups, local businesses, the City of London, and more, have all transformed the park into a beautiful community asset.”
Why is the Glen Cairn Park project important to you? What does it offer the community?
“The park project is important to me because it provides a way for people to come together. It unites them in a shared project that lifts this neighbourhood and says we have a history and a gem here. It’s a very positive environmental recovery and community development story. You can see this expressed throughout the film (linked below) by many voices. I am particularly pleased to have caused the City to create new paths through the woodlots as this creates a safe and accessible way for people to enjoy them. My future wish would be to see the invasive plants replaced over time with local species.”
What has been the greatest accomplishment of the Glen Cairn Community Partners?
“It would be easy to say that the recovery of the park was the greatest accomplishment – and it is in a tangible way – but I think the greatest accomplishment was bringing people together to create positives and to replace negative perceptions about Glen Cairn. The unearthing of community spirit is a worthy accomplishment.”
Check out these videos and photos about the Glen Cairn community and the project:
• “The Spirit of Glen Cairn” (video produced by Philip McLeod)
• Glen Cairn Park clean up and tree planting (2013)
• Glen Cairn Park (2014)
• Low Impact Development project (2015)
• Glen Cairn Park (2017)
• Glen Cairn Park (2017)
• Stream of Dreams at Glen Cairn Public School (2017)
• Glen Cairn Stream of Dreams (2017)
• Community Day (2018)
• Glen Cairn in Bloom (2018)
